About Wool

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 8, 21 February 1907, Page 30

About Wool

Many — in fact, the majority— of our readers have but a" very, imperfect idea of . the various processes -to which wool is subjected before it is. spun into, thread. As the wool season has now . commenced the follow- - ing article on our staple product will be of* interest : So many wool-growers (says the ' South American - Journal ') seem to think "that when they sell their clips, the wool goes direct to the woollen factory to be turned into • cloth, without ever thinking that it must first be sorted,' classed, and usually blended together with other clips until a nice pile is put together previous to being scoured. We should say that— seven bales" out of ten of even Australian^ South American, or Eng-_ lish grown wool never goes straight inito the woollen factory,- but is first of' all destined for the process of topmaking and worsted spinning, - and when the yarnsare sold it is then that they go into the hands - of ■ manufacturers and are destined to be made into cloth: It -has been asked many a time, ' How is it that the trade is divided up into so many sections, when, if the wool was taken in hand -by a man in the raw -state and turned out in the-- manufactured cloth, we should, then get a better price than when it.- is handled by so many men before, it reaches a state fit to be worn by ■ man ? ' We might here say that woollen manufacturers do this very thing, they buying the wool in London, and the same not leaving their premises until it is finished and complete as a wearable fabric. But . in the topmaking industry this is no); the case except in very few instances, "and it is because of the universal production oh ' tops '- and ' noils,' that we desirebriefly to explain the meaning of These Technical Trade Terms, which are used a thousand 'times every day. It is taken for granted that ■ when a man buys -wool ho Knows expressly to what purpose it is going to be put, and the largest buyers of wooi are the topmakers. The preliminary process in the production of wool tops are very simple, but very important, and when many a novice has seen sorters engaged in preparing a blend of wool, he has spontaneously exclaimed, ' I oould do that.' To the uninitiated the work may seem very simple, very ordinary and commonplace, but it needs a good deal of experience to be done properly, so that we have not a 'spoilt top.' We have seen many an excellent top in many respects, but literally" spoiled by a few coarser ficeces having got into the wool, and though "at the time 'it was thought 'they would not be seen, yet they have cropped up afterwards in a stronger fibre being seen when v the- top has been drawn^ Hence it is that experience is needed in classing wool, even on the sheep farm, for "it is a -huge mistake to put into any bale' two qualities of wool. When this is done and it is seen, the buyer estimates the worth of the wool by the lowest quality and not the finest. When - ■

' A > Blend of Wool is Made, it is not long before we have a sample of top. First, the wool is scoured, and it is done well on purpose to get the best color possible, this being an important and valuable factor in tops. Readers can put it down as a fundamental principle that better the color and better - the price, so growers should not tamper with the; growing fleece by dipping it into any sheep dip at all injurious to the color of the wools. After being scoured there are the burrs, to extract, then comes the preparing, carding, gilling, and combing. To describe all these processes is beyond, the scope of this article, but to any sheep and 'wool man they are indeed highly interesting and educative in their influence. It is, however, the combing . machine which gives ,us ' tops ' and ' noils,' and it is -the price of these corn-

moditics which always .determines, the actual price of the raw material. By ' lops ' we mean the long ' fibres of wool got together by the combing machine, ' every one of which, is placed parallel to each" other until a long silver -is formed, resembling Very - much a string of tape. Nothing is more attractive about *"a . wool-combing plant than to see a pile of balls of tops, all- ready for being sheeted. -The white, clean finished appearance of- the wool in itself is a- picture, ". causing many a one to wonder concerning the ingenuity of man at inventing such a -process as that of woolcombing. ' • ■ ■'' -• - Previous to Machine Woolcombing v * it was all done by hand, but how in "the -World it was possible to get a ' long continuous silver is 'more than we can" tell. Of course, tn those days," saj 60 __ years ago, the great thing in wool was • length" of > staple, and the * longer the staple the moire valuable the wool. In those days the hand combing of ttie merino was impossible on account of the shortness of the staple, but to-day thousands of bales of- short six, months' wool are _used_ for carding purposes in- the manufacture of "woollen cloths, and it speaks- volumes • for the. advance which ' has been made in machine construction" when wool can be combed* of. Ax months' growth. Sixty years - ago only such wools as the Lincoln and Leicester could/ be combed;* but to-day almost anything can be combed --no matter how .shor\t or -"-tang," though in speaking of short' combing- wool the staple should not be less than 1J inches in length, that is, if you want to .make a -decent top.*- . -" As wool is passing through the, combing machine it leaves behjnd all the short .fibres, - : cff. really they are thrown out, and are known as ~ .' noil.' These noils are usually filled with bits of shiv, Burr,' and" refuse, which have remained, fast to the. wool during previous operations, and it is a "remarkable thing, that „■ however much foreign matter there is in the -noils,- it can be dealt with successfully ; whereas, if this refuse was in the top, it would practically ruin it. - Now these" " noils are usually taken and extracted, or carbonised, and- it is here, by ' the application of chemicals - that all.- this foreign matter- is destroyed. Once -more The Ingenuity oi Man asserts itself, and instead of these short fibres of wool being worthless, they are of considerable value, in that the maker of- woollen cloths can use them to advantage. Hence readers will see that throughout the whole process of wool manufacture, either on the principle of combing ' for worsteds, or carding for woolleiis," it is . a question of ' gathering" up the fragments that nothing 'be lost.' Taken .throughout, both' tops and noils are useful and even indispensable; for being able to put the noils to another purpose, their value "helps -to reduce the" cost' 'of ' the combed top," ' this really meaning -that the public at' large gets 'the benefit of cheaper fabrics -than they jyould otherwise do were the -noils of no value. Readers may take it for granted that whereas' to-day a good -60's merino top is worth .24£ d per lb, the nails out of such tops will sell from 15d to 16d per lb, the color and amount of foreign material in the- noils soon ma/ting a difference of a penny per ib, dther up or downs Less burr and shiv there is, and of course better will be the price, but the -top must be- clean whatever else is, and this makes all wool combers particular about getting out as_ much foreign matter . as possible in the shape of ' shoddy ' and ' burrs,' more refuse there" being here and less there will be in the noils and tops. In the trade we have two -distinct sets of men who deal with tops and noils, the former being called ' topmarkers,' and the latter ' ' noil dealers,' and- both parties are indispensable to the -wool trade. No matter what quality, of wool it is, be it, 40's crossbred or 60's merino, tops and noils are produced just - the