True felt

Published On: October 1, 2010

I have a client that is interested in having a replacement friction pad made for a chrome drum and is specifying a “true” felt. He says that anything else will scratch the drum. What is a true felt?

Your customer is probably referring to a wool felt. Traditionally, to be considered a true felt, a felted fabric had to be made mostly of wool. In its simplest form, a felt is a mass of fibers that have been densely matted together. Wool, when viewed under the microscope, is covered in tiny scales and, under the proper conditions, those scales will lock together, resulting in a felt. Today, synthetic felts are much more common and a similar texture is achieved by needle punching. Wool felts are typically 95 percent wool and are used in a variety of applications, such as for wiping, sound deadening or oil absorption.