generally b of carpet c although backing b used in connection with carpet c can be of various compositions in one preferred embodiment backing b is polypropylene having a latex coating thereon a length of carpet c is fed into separator s with as shown in fig1 a the face fiber f side of carpet c facing downwardly it is to be understood however that carpet c can be fed into separator s with face fiber f facing up if desired as shown in fig1 c and 3c through 3 g in one preferred embodiment a dedusting system generally d fig3 c is provided which directs high pressure air against carpet c during the feeding of the carpet c into the separator s a roller 16 having brushes 18 thereon which engage face fibers f of carpet c to assist in propelling carpet c beneath a guide bar 20 and onward to presentation to a circulating knife blade generally 24 knife blade 24 is preferably continuously sharpened with a sharpening device not shown and cooled such that it does not overheat and such that it continuously presents a sharp cutting edge to sever face fibers f from backing b as shown in fig3 c two rollers 16 with brushes 18 can be provided if desired with one roller being above carpet c and the other roller contacting carpet c from below in one preferred embodiment at least one roller has brushes and another roller 16 does not for example in fig3 c the roller 16 on the upper side i e on the side of the fiber pile of carpet c and could have brushes.