lanolin oil

[Toddy]

'Oiled' wool, is just that. It's usually some kind of mineral oil these days.

It's really a hangover from the carding/spinning processes.

Somewhere I have a link to a site that explains it better than I do

Think on it like this. Raw wool is scoured (cleaned of all gunk, debris, dirt, fleas, ticks, scabs, etc.,) and then it has to be carded. Mechanical carding is a bitty brutal on the fibres, and it's wasteful, so the wool is oiled to make it easier all round.
At home I use an emulsion of olive oil or baby oil.
Lanolin's very good, but it goes sticky, even more so than olive oil, and it has an unmistakeable smell to it fine in a field or outdoors, but when I'm spinning in my living room, it's not terribly pleasant after a few hours.

The oiling of wool for jumpers and so on, is just the commercial application of the oils used in the carding process. It stops the wool being 'dry', it greatly improves it's waterproofness, it really discourages moths

cheers,
M

 

[treadlightly]

Shucks! I thought oileed wool was wool which had hung on to its natural lanolin in the journey from sheep to jumper! I have a jumper whose label reads: 'pure natural british oiled wool'. I won't think of it in the same way again.This also means i think - and please correct me if i'm wrong - that you don't need lanolin to make wool more water resistant. Any vegetable oil will do???

 

[Toddy]

Yep

I found the link..........here you go

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/ics475.pdf

 

[treadlightly]

Thank you Toddy. I have learned something today but am still confused.

Does this mean that all commercial wool is oiled, that is all our jumpers etc are made of oiled wool?If so, what is the virtue of black sheep, the makers of my jumper, boasting that it is made from oiled wool? Is there a legitimate point to putting that on the label or is it just marketing doodah?

 

[Toddy]

Basically it's an extra process. It's a skiddle (messy, footery, time consuming, needs resources and space and seperate packing areas) to do well, and it does increase the end use value of wool; albeit for certain, and specific, applications........like us wandering outdoors

cheers,
M

 

[treadlightly]

I see now. Thanks again

 

[Teepee]

ooh, maybe not then
Somewhere I have a bottle of fibre lubrication......it's the stuff that's put into 'oiled' wool. I'm wondering if that might work ?

cheers,
M

Looking at the amounts of lubrication needed for wool, I suspect cotton will need even more and so looks prohibitive, costwise. I'm wondering if a big tub of olive oil from the cash and carry would do the job better and cheaper.

Time to experiment I think

 

[Toddy]

I've been thinking about the cotton, Teepee. In America they used to use cotton oil as a machine oil. It's pressed from the seeds. I know of it being used for fabrics too though.
Nowadays they can remove the toxic goss???? from it and it's used to fry food.

I'm wondering if that's maybe what's in your dropcloths There's certainly no excuse for it being expensive since there must be millions of tons of the seeds produced.

I'll see if I can find some links.

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

According to this link, corn oil is used as a wool oil..... we live and learn

http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/mach...ale-and-Train-Oils-Part-2.html#Cottonseed_Oil

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Teepee]

Good digging there Mary

The sheets I have at the moment smell of lanolin, Ive had cloths before that smell like fish and others that I cant identify. They are all quite waterproof though-it puts nikwax to shame. I left one outside in the rain last night, it got drenched but water was still pooling on it and a few shakes saw most of the water off again.

Corn oil, cotton oil aswell as Olive oil, may the experiments begin

I'm sure these are film forming oils that oxidise quickly and could spontaneously combust, I'll be hanging them on the line to dry and set

 

[Toddy]

Smart man
I was wondering about that aspect of it too.
I had a thought about the stuff that's used to prep canvas for painting, but that usually leaves the fabric almost starched.

Be interesting to find out what is actually used though.
Do sailors waterproof canvas sails nowadays ?

cheers,
M