SLIPE WOOL

The wool obtained from the skins of slaughtered sheep by treatment with lime. Through contact with the lime, which penetrates the fibre, wool treated by this means is harsh in handle and grey and dull in colour, while the operation of washing is made much more difficult and expensive. Lime is only sparingly soluble in water, it loosens the fibre quite well, but it also dissolves substance and leaves the wool drier and less elastic. The lime also combines with the internal yolk, forming a lime soap which is exceedingly difficult to get rid of. Besides this the " slipe " usually contains free lime in the form of small pellets embedded in the staple. Some wools are put on the market containing 8 per cent of free lime, while the combined lime may amount to 2 per cent of the weight of the wool, depending on the strength of the solution and the duration of the immersion. Every pound of free lime destroys 15-lb. of soap. "Slipe" wool is largely employed in crossbred top-making for serges and hosiery of medium-class types. Low qualities are also employed in the manufacture of cheap hosiery, carpets, woollen suitings, blankets, flannels, and rugs.

These are the product of the fellmongering industry as carried on in the Colonies, on the Continent, and in this country to a smaller extent. They consist of the wool removed from the skins of sheep slaughtered for mutton purposes. Many of these " skin " wools are of excellent quality; but large quantities, through unsatisfactory treatment during separation, and because of the absence of sorting, and neglect in skirting, picking, etc., are only useful for medium and low-class goods. Such wools lack spinning property, have a harsh handle, and do not mill and dye in the manner of the " fleece " wools. " Skin " wools are of the following types: - (1) Sun-dried and removed from the skin by a process of sweating; (2) separated by chemical agency, chiefly by sodium sulphide; (3) sliped from the skin after fibre separation through the application of lime (see slipe). Mazamet, France, is a great centre of the fellmongering industry, and a big business is done. Wools that are often of excellent quality and colour are taken from skins collected from all the principal wool-growing parts, and forwarded to all the important manufacturing centres through agents. Wools of Class 2 are largely the product of Colonial fellmongering stations in which the industry is of more recent growth. The system employed is the sodium sulphide process. Sodium suphide has the property of destroying the epidermis of the skin while improving the quality of the pelt. A 10 per cent solution of sodium sulphide will dissolve wool completely in 15 minutes. After washing, the skins are painted on the flesh side with thick paint of sodium sulphide. The skins are allowed to lie overnight, and the roots of the wool become loosened, the hair bulbs being destroyed, after which the wool is readily pulled by hand.

A term given to wool shorn from the skin of dead sheep. Felt wool or slipe is the same.