June writes:
<<Is the soap flakes
and alcohol method truly the best way to really get rid of the lanolin
permanently?>>
Emphatically, NO! :) I bow to none in my respect for Cyril and his
fabulous fleeces, but this recipe gives me the shudders every time I
hear about it :)
Soap is alkali, and can damage wool, while it's also hard to rinse out
if you have hard water. The key to removing the grease, particularly in
a fine fleece, is HOT water, at least 160 F (gotta figure out the
conversion one of these days :) and lots of detergent, not soap.
HOT water because finer wools have waxes as well as lanolin, which have
a much higher melting point. HOT water so it doesn't cool too much
while soaking. If you have a sufficiently large container that your
wool isn't squished in, a 15 minute soak is sufficient, 30 max as the
water will start to seriously cool, possibly allowed grease to redeposit
on the wool.
LOTS of detergent--I use liquid dish detergent, and for the 8 pounds or
so of wool I'd expect to wash if I had a full Correidale fleece, I'd use
at least a full cup of the detergent, probably more--keep pouring it in
until the water feels slick to the touch.
I don't know what alcohol will do to wool, but I wouldn't use it. I've
washed the finest Merino--from Cyril--using these methods and not had it
become sticky even years later.
For the full story on washing wool, see my website:
http://hjsstudio.com/wash.html
Yes, some people disagree with me. Particularly on the soap issue. But
most soap is alkali, while wool, a protein fiber, is based on acid.
I've got 15 years of washing raw wool behind me, as that's mostly what I
use in my work. My methods, when followed carefully, have never failed
me--only when I get careless and don't use hot enough water or enough
detergent, do I have a sticky fleece later on.
Holly
To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
