Getting rid of old wool smell

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:01 pm

I'll provide you with a tried & true secret... provided that the payback is with 10-12 pounds of elk tenderloin.

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:01 pm

I don't think there's any lanolin in it now anyway, since it's processed, spun, died, woven wool. Wool woven with the lanolin in it seems a rarity these days.

I just want to get the mothbally, dead animally smell out of it.

Tom

p.s. Wiki is wrong and Nano's right on the kilt. -mor means big, it's the Great Kilt that one pleats onself out of, essentially, a big wool blanket (or plaid, to be proper). The fillibeg is the small kilt, that is usually pretailored and only covers from the waste down.

Niether of them, in my experience, smell like mothbally dead animals. Maybe I should take my kilt bowhunting.

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:21 pm

brianc wrote:I'll provide you with a tried & true secret... provided that the payback is with 10-12 pounds of elk tenderloin.

That would have to be one doozy of a secret, buddy!

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:51 pm

Hi. I'm a full time handspinner, and work with wool every day. If it is pure wool, no matter how much it is washed (and if you're not careful, you can ruin it pretty easily) it will always have a "wooly smell". There will always be a small amount of lanolin left in it.
You can wash wool, but you've got to be really careful with it. I would only do this as a last resort with tweed.
Use warm water, with some shampoo dissolved in it. GENTLY swish the fabric in the water. Make sure it has plenty of room and isn't all squashed in a small basin. DO NOT rub, or agitate the fabric, as the heat and agitation will cause it to felt and shrink. GENTLY squeeze the water out, and rinse in cool water until the water runs clear. Pull the fabric back to it's original shape. Hang up the fabric to dry. Don't tumble dry it. Press it with a damp cloth when it is dry. If you are scared to do this, maybe you could cut a small amount of fabric from along the edge, wash this and see how it goes.
Dry cleaning it won't necessarily get rid of the smell. When you are storing it, you'll have to protect it from moths.....you can get lots of different moth repellents now....they don't all smell of mothballs!

Alternatively, you could try hanging it on the washing line for a couple of days and see how it goes. I'd be tempted to do this...the smell will soon be unnoticable once it is being regularly used outside.
Hope this helps.
Cass.

ps....if it all goes horribly wrong...don't come running to me!

djm · Post by **djm** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:07 pm

Why is it that moths don't attack sheep? Wouldn't they be a veritable feast on four legs? (Lamby, are you out there?)

djm

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:39 pm

The best way is to get rid of the old wool.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:58 pm

Alternatively, you could try hanging it on the washing line for a couple of days

This would also be my suggestion. Several sunny breezy days on the line should do the trick.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:48 pm

djm wrote:Why is it that moths don't attack sheep? Wouldn't they be a veritable feast on four legs? (Lamby, are you out there?)

djm

Our natural inclination for fresh air and sunshine deters them. An occasional roll in the hay helps, too.

It is not the moths that savage the wool; it is the larvae. They require undisturbed, dark places.

Wool has a very pleasant smell if it is well-kept. The oils in your fabric may have gotten rancid. That, along with mothballs and years of being closeted without good ventilation, produces a dreadful odor.

Just wash your fabric in shampoo, as was suggested previously. It may require several changes of shampoo-water solution. Squeeze gently, but do not agitate, or you will end up with felt. Dry flat, in the air, squaring the fabric along its threads.

During the last rinse, add liquid lanolin, which you can get at most natural foods stores. Or, if you truly do object to that odor -- and I'm at a complete loss to understand how that could be -- use heavy mineral oil instead.

A bit of shrinkage might improve the fabric for your intended use, as it will render it more able to hold heat.

Are you certain this is wool? Shred off a bit at one edge and light it with a match. If it smells like burning hair and produces a fine ash, it is wool. If it smells like burning plastic and produces little hard balls of residue, it is synthetic.

Be sure this is not something like a Harris Tweed. Is the fabric only about one yard wide? Is "turf fire" part of what you are smelling?? Does it have a label saying "hand woven?" Does it LOOK hand-woven? If so, you've got something quite valuable.

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:35 pm

WyoBadger wrote:
brianc wrote:I'll provide you with a tried & true secret... provided that the payback is with 10-12 pounds of elk tenderloin.

That would have to be one doozy of a secret, buddy!

OK... 7 pounds!

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:23 pm

Ok. I've only been hunting a couple of times and that was for rabbits and quail, which I guess is different from elk hunting. It seems to me (a novice, I admit) that the wet wool aroma could be an asset in your hunting. You just need to change your game from Elk to other big game like say grizzly, wolf or mountain lion -- the ones that are more inclined to fight back, and they would also be the ones with a taste for lamb or sheep. In this way you're sort of the bait cause when they come sniffing around for those tasty lamb chops, they find you instead. Then its mono-on-mono, and as they say, to the victor go the spoils. Makes me think of Hemmingway's code.

How do you get rid of the wet wool smell? I'm not sure. The smell does remind me alot of wet dog, though. Sorry I can't be of any real help.

In reading my post it sounds like I could be someone who has a problem with hunting - just wanted to let you know that I don't. I was just sort of wondering how well my idea of attracting certain big game would work - not that I really care to be the one to try it out of course.

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:10 pm

Will,

Thanks, that is very helpful.

Bear hunting, as it's done around here, never interested me. Sitting for several days over a decomposing horse or barrel of rotten donuts...not my idea of a quality wilderness experience.

Lamby, this isn't harris tweed, and it doesn't look hand woven, but it definitely is wool--I'd know the feeling anywhere. And for the record, I rather like the wool smell (though this does have a twang of mothball to it, which I could do without). It's the elk that don't seem to care for it, based on experience.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. As it's turning out I'm not going to have time to finish up hemming the thing before my trip anyway...
Tom