care of wool before invention of the dryclean

[smaughazard]

I'ts my understanding that in centuries past, prior to the development of cleaning solvents, ripenned urine was used. Because it had a high ammonia content, it had the ability to remove the sheeps body oils and grime from the wool fabric. Whether or not it was used on an ongoing basis... ??

Not exactly your lemon fresh Tide!

Actually, it was used after weaving to remove the excess lanolin. Look up what a "fuller" did for a living. (thanks to my friend David Fuller for educating me on this one day when we were discussing the origins of names)

[angerli]

Hi, gang...

Well, one thing you can say for urine: it's dirt cheap!!

I also knew an antique-auto restorer who used urine to case-harden bolts. He'd drop them, red-hot, into a bucket of piss. He claimed it worked and, yep, the material was dirt-cheap...

Sandy