I'm starting this blog to post interesting things regarding spinning fiber that I find on the web - so I'll know where to find them again!
Let me be clear: I don't know anything about fiber except what I read, and my own experience. Your experience may be different.(Pseudo) Fermented Suint Method (FSM)A friend of mine,
Maureen Burns* (see below) told me about FSM and was doing it; I was so curious! What was going on? I've taken 3 quarters of Chemistry, have had some experience with wine making and a tiny bit of Biology. By the way, FSM is a way of cleaning raw wool fleece by soaking one or two unwashed fleeces in rain or distilled water and just re-using that solution for subsequent fleeces. Apparently, it can be quite stinky, flies can lay eggs in the solution and larva can grow. Honestly, I have no personal experience with it, yet. But, the question remains: What is going on in the solution to clean fleece?
I found a fabulous article from 1889 - You've got to read it:
Scientific American: Supplement, Volume 27It explains, to the best of their understanding in 1889, the chemical goings on with wool, lanolin and mentions FSM. Note where it says the FSM generates lots and lots of acetic acid (vinegar.) The only organism I know that makes vinegar is a bacteria that converts alcohol to acetic acid in the presence of air. So I researched acetic acid bacteria, then all the bacteria associated with sheep fleece. (I had no idea! Poor sheep! Remind me to wash my hands more often, which I probably won't "this is a natural product people have been interacting with for 10,000 years." Officially, I recommend plenty of hand washing.)
I asked my friend to do a pH test of her FSM solution and it came back 8.2; the rainwater 7.6. 8.2 is basic. Many detergents are basic, so is washing soda and so, it turns out, is sheep sweat! In fact, this information is confirmed by another great article I found:
The Holy Grail of information about wool and suint and much, much more!
SOME CHEMISTRY OF THE WOOL INDUSTRY SCOURING AND YARN PRODUCTION "In New Zealand greasy crossbred wools the suint pH is usually about 8.5-9.0" AND "so the fatty acids are ionised and act as anionic surfactants (soaps) participating in the stabilisation of the woolgrease emulsion by conferring a negative charge to the emulsion particles."
The wool sweat makes a basic solution and interacts with the oily components of lanolin and washes away. Voila! Sheep sweat and water make soap! (I'll let you research soap making to learn about that.) So, yes, you can soak your dirty fleece in the same water forever and the oiliness will be removed. If I were you I would dispose of this solution down your sewer clean out, or down the drain in some way, OR in a pit well away from streams. It's composed of soap at a pretty high pH (8.2 or so) and soil organisms and rivers are not designed to handle this. So please be eco-conscious.
The problem remains: how to get rid of the
waxy components of lanolin after the "FSM" soak. The New Zealand article mentions that their wool growers use "nonionic detergents," which as I understand (remember, I know nothing) are "surfactants." Do some research on detergents and you'll find, in general, synthetic detergents have a negative ionic group (making them basic.) We have learned that high (basic) pH is harmful to the wool fiber (pH above 9.0) so you have to be careful about the pH that you're washing your wool in.
Elaine Benfatto has done some research into over the counter (OTC) surfactants and makes some recommendations here:
The Scouring Post by Elaine Benfatto "(Elaine first posted this wonderful information on TechSpin, May 2004)" She hadn't used the surfactants then, I haven't used them yet, but with a handy dandy pH testing kit, I'm going to try!
One could make a
pseudo-FSM solution by making an 8.5pH solution in a bucket using washing soda and rain or distilled water (or soft water, you want to avoid hard water because of the Calcium and Magnesium ions will precipitate out on your fiber as soap scum) and soak your fiber again and again in that thereby potentially saving water.
I going to combine this method (making a pH 8.5 solution) and add an OTC surfactant in my bathtub, carefully testing the pH before adding any fiber. Note that the New Zealand article says that the waxy components melt at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) so the water must be hot, I'll use a meat thermometer (beef - rare) and soak for 20 minutes max. Then rinse in hot water. I'll let you know how it goes, wish me luck!
Let me know about your experiences ;-)
My fiber artist friend
Maureen sent me some links to discussions about FSM:
And
here's more information about how to wash fleeces, including FSM.
Hi, I just found this. It looks interesting. I'm trying to get the gunk out of a goat fleece.
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