I've found the foam problems with some of the scouring liquors from the commercial chemical companies. They don't want to rinse out very well. The more you handle a fleece the more chance you have of felting the cut ends. After washing commercially for over 10 yrs, doing over 20,000 lbs of wool and related fibers we find that the clothes detergents are low sudsing, easily rinsed out and if the fibers are not overheated or over soaked will give you a nice soft, lofty spun yarn. We have found that the fibers that damage most easily are the soft merinos, that will felt on the cut ends from too much handling, or the longer coarser fibers, whose tips are weathered and become brittle if left in the scouring solutions too long or the heat is too high.
We have consulted with TX A & M wool and mohair research laboratory on what to use to wash wool and their recommemdations were a wetting solution, detergent, (they use a lye based powder) and soft water temps not over 140 degrees. They wash at 140 and use two cool down washes and rinses of 125 degrees. Their comment on soft water was that hard water redeposits minerals on the fiber and the grease doesn't release. They also prepick all the fiber before washing. We have elected not to do that as it would mean a separate picker which we don't have room for. Whatever works for you is what you should use. Not everyones situation is the same. It's taken us a long time to get our washing where we wanted it. Gail White . To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
