CAROLYN AT THE SCOURING TUBS Scouring - The scouring process does not remove vegetation from your fiber. Scouring is done only to dissove and rinse away greasy residue and animal oils. While a certain amount of dirt or vegetation can be rinsed away during scouring, that is really a lucky byproduct of the operation, and not its primary purpose. Simply stated - if there is any vegetation or other contaminants in your fiber, it will still be there after scouring.
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CARLA AT THE PICKER Machine Picking - Opening and teasing apart locks of wool either in preparation for scouring or as a preliminary to further preparation. It is at this point we do the blending of other fibers if it is wanted or required. Skirting generally removes bellies, necks, eye pieces, topknots, and stained areas around the outside of the fleece. Hand Picking is needed in heavily contaminated fleeces and is the second step in the skirting process. Hand picking is the removal of weed seeds, hay, straw, unscourable paints, thistles, burrs and a serious wool contaminant - small pieces of Polypropylene baling twine.
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