Scouring Wool

 
 

Scouring Wool at Home

You don’t need a fancy scouring set up to clean the grease and dirt off raw wool. Follow these instructions to get your wool clean using the materials you already have in your home!

Wool scouring is something that takes practice and experience. Please reach out if you have questions or need to trouble shoot - but keep trying, you will totally figure it out!

TOOLS needed to scour wool at home:

  • mesh laundry bag

  • scouring soup (unicorn power scour is excellent, I also recommend Blue Dawn Soap)

  • hot water (around 160 degrees)

  • tub or basin for washing (a rubbermaid or a laundry sink, or bathtub depending on how much wool you are washing and how you can drain or dump out the water)

STEP 1 - Prep the Fibre and Workspace

The most important first step in scouring raw wool is skirting and prepping the fibre. We have some useful info about skirting wool on our website here. Ensure that all manure or heavily soiled areas are removed before washing.

To wash wool you will need access to hot water and to a place that you can dump dirty water. If you have a laundry room with a large sink, or the bathroom (warning that it will smell like wet sheep) or outside if you have access to hot water.

If you are washing a small amount 200g or a couple of ounces you can use a small bowl or rubbermaid type bucket. For a pound of raw wool you will need a 15-18 litre bucket or sink (4-5 gallons). For an entire fleece you can use a bathtub (I don’t generally wash a full fleece at one time - but break it up into smaller sections).

STEP 2 - Bag the Fibre

I like to use mesh laundry/lingerie bags for washing my fibre, it allows me to move the fibre more easily between wash basins and to squeeze out water during the scouring process. The size of bags will depend on the size of wash basin - you can buy these ones from soak, or you can use whatever you have access to (we use large sinks that have a drain in our mill).

  • Depending on the size of your wash bin weigh out an appropriate amount into the mesh bag. (I generally do 1lb of fibre at a time)

  • Gently pull apart the fleece to open it up as you prep it for the wash and put it in the bags.

  • Scouring will remove lanolin and dirt, but will not remove the VM (veggie matter) contamination - so it’s best to remove any straw, hay, burrs etc before you begin the scouring process.

STEP 3 - Hot Water Soak

Hot water is key to removing lanolin and dirt from raw wool. Unicorn Power Scour does not require the water to be as hot as other scouring agents. I like to have my water at least 160 degrees, and I find the hotter the water the smaller number of washes I have to do - I generally boil water to add to the hot tap water for my first soak.

  • Fill your sink or bucket with hot water and soap (I generally use 5% the weight of fibre of soap).

  • Lower the bag of dirty fibre into the hot water and push under the water with gloved hands or a potato masher until the bag is fully submerged.

  • Let it soak for 15 minutes undisturbed.

  • Remove the water from the bucket (disposal of dirty water will depend on your sewage or septic system. I do not worry too much about it going down the ‘drain’ especially if you put more hot water down the same drain throughout the day - the grease does not build up). The soaps I have listed are biodegradable - and often I will use the waste water to irrigate my lawn or other high traffic areas in my yard.

  • Gently squeeze any remaining water out of the mesh bag (no wringing or serious agitation) the more dirty water you squeeze out the shorter the overall washing.

  • Refill the bucket or sink with hot water and more soap if it is VERY dirty. (I often only use soap for the first wash - but this is one of those times when practice will help you determine if you need another soap rinse).

  • Let it soak for 15 minutes undisturbed.

  • Repeat the water removal step.

  • Repeat the above steps (fill - soak - squeeze) until the water runs clear.

STEP 4 - Dry

Once the water is clear and the fibre is clean you are ready to dry it. The more water you can remove from the fleece at this stage the shorter the drying time.

I will often put the mesh bags into my top loading washing machine for the ‘spin cycle’ only to remove all the excess water.

Lay out the fibre to dry in a well ventilated room, or outside (if there isn’t too much wind). A mesh screen or rack to lay it on will provide the quickest drying.