There are simply methods for removing lanolin and other greases from animal fibers. While soap and oils are closely related as "ungava" notes (because soaps are made by hydrolyzing fatty compounds using a base solution), they are also different in important ways that facilitate the removal of soaps from fibers (think of the difference between trying to remove grease from your hands versus soap) and it is easy to convert oils into soaps. Thus it would have been fairly straightforward to treat animal fibers with lye derived from wood ash in a solution to hydrolyze the fats, which could then have been easily removed by washing. It would be even easier to achieve the same end now by using a degreaser solution, but at no point in the past 3000+ years (until maybe the last 50) would common folks have had much trouble in taking care of this problem.
I don't know if there are other issues with animal hair that would make it unsuitable for cottoning, but the oiliness would *not* have been a major obstacle even using readily available materials and common knowledge of almost any time up to the present, when most of us think of soaps and oils as things we buy from stores with no knowledge of how they are made. -Arle --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
