Washing Day

Today was set aside for the wool scouring (washing) trial that I have undertaken for one of the Knoxville guild members.  I have samples of Coopworth and Ramboulet that came from fleeces she bought and is interested in getting washed/carded and potentially spun.  I said I would do a trial with the methods we used on the Clun Forest wool (which successfully cleaned some fairly dirty wool).

Both wool types are verging on that 'fairly dirty' category that generally precludes them from commercial/small scale wool processing, without heavy extra fees.  If I can clean the wool to an acceptable state without adding too much to our process I can take on the larger job of washing the fleeces and charge accordingly.

The testing set up for the Coopworth wool

The first trial was with Power Scour at 140 degrees for 15 minutes using the recommended 2% mix.  It also had a second wash at 1%.  This was followed by a plain rinse and final rinse (with 2.5ml white vinegar).  The first wash really removed a lot of the grease and dirt, the second not a lot more so in the second trial I didn't include a second wash.  The locks remained fairly matted at the tips which contained the majority of the dirt and vegetable matter (VM) so I took the second batch and ran it through the picker first (a Kaydessa Lil' Dynamo) to open up the matted wool.

Wash water after the first wash.

 In the end the wash has managed to get a lot of the dirt out and remove most if not all of the grease (I like a little bit left, but if all is removed, some oil can be re-introduced before spinning if necessary).  For both the locks and the picked wool the carding process will be needed to remove much of the remaining VM.  Then finally when spun the last can be removed.  I will have to let the wool dry before trying the carding, but I am starting to think that this wool is a bit passed the simple processable stage.

Clean picked wool

Clean wool locks

Along with a pause to spray the weeds on the drive, meet the propane delivery man who came to fill up our tank before winter, and assembling some shelves for the computer room - it has been a busy day!!