There are many different breeds of sheep each with it's own grease content. What will work with one fleece can be a disaster for another.
There are some references to the suint (product of the sweat glands surrounding the fiber follicle) on fleece assisting in the cleaning process. Also some references to dunking unshorn sheep into the nearest brook to wash off the dirt and let them dry before shearing. It may depend on the breed. At my first spinning class we washed the sample fleece, which was probably a Romney, in shampoo and warm-hottish water. Good success. So I bought some more fleece and all that was left was Merino. I tried the same thing. Complete mess. The grease remaining turned to what felt like contact cement. So I tried other things in the books. And found out if you put a Merino fleece into cold water, it'll just float on top for days. Cold water won't touch the little balls of dirt/wax on the tips. I tried wrapping little bundles of locks with rubbers bands in the middle as suggested by a breeder and washing in hot soapy water. It worked pretty well except under the rubber band. That was still very greasy. Finally I found some square mesh baskets designed for pond gardening and I layer the locks between 2 baskets and use a very hot and very soapy but short soak. Dawn plus Washing soda works well in my fairly soft New England water. I use to use Ivory Soap Flakes before it became "detergent". - sigh - Then a hot rinse, check for greasiness, repeat hot-soapy soak if necessary then hot rinse 2 x. Those baskets work well to get the soap all through the fleece without felting. I use them on all greasy fleeces and fleeces with distinctive locks that I want to comb or flick. Your average low-grease meat-sheep fleece which I intend to card, doesn't need the care that the other fleeces do so I'll just dump them into hot slightly soapy water, short soak, hot rinse, re-rinse and dry. I've become pickier over time and won't buy any fleece with more than 1/2 inch of the tips with dirty stuck tips on them. I refuse to pay for "dirt", and also to pay for shipping it across the country. I have enough in my garden! Barbara Clorite To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
