8—SOME COMPARISONS OF SKIN WOOLS WITH SHORN WOOLS FROM THE SAME FLOCKS

Processing and product comparisons of sweated and sulphide-painted wools with shorn wools from the same flocks of sheep show top-yield advantages for the fellmongered wools. There was, however, a tendency for the tearing strength and abrasion-resistance of fabrics made from the fellniongered wools to be lower and for the colour to deteriorate, and, though the fabrics dyed very evenly, colour intensity after dyeing was different. This suggests that careful fibre-mixing is necessary in blends of skin and shorn wools. Fellmongered-wool fabrics were appreciably more yellow than shom-wool fabrics, but, after irradiation with imitation sunlight, differences between fabrics were very much less. Skin-digested wools could be processed satisfactorily, but the yams and fabrics showed appreciable loss of strength, extensibility, and colour compared with the shorn wools. Top yield was also less.