Wool blanket funk question

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gadgetgeek

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May 19, 2007
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So I recently found myself in possession of a rather ugly orange and white checked wool blanket (It's AWESOME) and since it will fit nicely in my swag bag, I figured I'd clean it up and use it. It has an odd "old person" smell, and I'm not sure if it is 100% wool, or a blend. What should I wash it with to restore some of the natural oils and such like? I have no idea how its been cared for, probably just machine washed with whatever was handy, and its been in storage for a very long time.
Anyone have any tricks for figuring out if a blanket is pure or blend? the fibers seem consistent, no weird color threads leaking through. Not that it matters much. Anyway like I said, I'm planning on rolling it up in my swag for the non-tropical trips, and I'm really stoked to use it. however the smell of the canvas oil, and the blanket would be too much at the moment, the blanket needs a cleaning!
Thanks guys, and hey, no arguing ok?
 
I wish I knew a safe way of washing a wool blanket so I will watch this thread. Woolite is the only detergent (and hand wash) I know, and it is not practical with a large blanket to me. I have only taken them to the dry cleaners and you pay sometimes more than they cost new.
 
Gently use a lighter to see if there's any nylon in the fluffy bits. If someone has already hammered it in a washing machine you've nothing to lose by doing the same. A weak emulsion of baby oil and water can be used as an effective alternative to using lanolin when you refinish it. It smells better than sheep grease and is easier to work with.
 
I wash mine in my washing machine all the time, whatever the lightest and shortest setting it has, Cold/Cold, with maybe 10% of the regular amount of detergent, lay it out flat to dry.
 
I'll pick up some woolite or equivalent and report back. Is it even possible to wash all of the lanolin out of wool? should I worry, or how could I tell?
 
Go to the Woolite web site. I was looking into this a while back. I believe they have a detergent specifically geared toward delicate fabrics washed/laundered in an automatic washer. I don't recall the product... black? Anyway, I looked for it at several grocery stores and could not find it and my interest dissapated.

I have a couple wool blankets that I have had stored in my garage due to the odor for years. One of my dogs seemed to like lying on the blanket and became impossible for me to get it clean and remove the hair. I hate to throw away a good blanket just because of some dog hair and odor. I hung them out for days at one time with little affect. Get it wet and it stinks like "dog".

I use spray Febreze & lay mine in the sun for a whole day. It works great.
Click to expand...

Sounds good for odor, but is it "clean"?
 
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I wash by hand in a bucket of hot water. Use special wool detergent, or pure soap flakes. Repeat twice with just water for rinse.Then put it in the machine for spin dry.
Wool doesn't mind heat, but it hates aggitation. if you have a problem, it will be due to aggitation. Don't put it in a tumble dryer.
I wouldn't bother drycleaning. It doesn't work as well, IMO.

IT's a bit of an effort, but you don't have to do it often.
 
I can't stand fabreeze, as it seems as soon as the item heats up you get original smell plus chemicals. not my idea of fun. I found a local product here that should work, I'm trying it now. This is the first time I've had an odor problem with wool, all my other wool stuff has been great, one of the reasons I LOVE wool. I figure once I get the smell out of it, I'll wash it next time with mitchels wool fat soap or something as an experiment. And if that doesn't work, I'm sure I'll be able to find some lanolin around, it is australia after all!
 
couple more runs through the machine, and its still a bit odd smelling when wet, I'm going to air it for a few days and see what happens when its dry. I wish I could describe the smell, like nothing I know of, I wouldn't worry but it is annoying. could be lizard piss for all I know....
 
22-rimfire said:
I wish I knew a safe way of washing a wool blanket so I will watch this thread. Woolite is the only detergent (and hand wash) I know, and it is not practical with a large blanket to me. I have only taken them to the dry cleaners and you pay sometimes more than they cost new.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use Woolite. My wife knits; and the concensus among her knitting friends is that it is still too harsh, even though it is marketed for wool.

Avoid drycleaning, too....nothing but chemicals. Although your wool blanket is probably nowhere near as fragile as a hand-knitted garmet, you really want to use something that a knitter would use on something hand-knitted.


Check out this website:
http://www.knittersreview.com/article_how_to.asp?article=/review/profile/010125_a.asp

Avoid phosphates and alkalines.
 
Honestly if it wasn't for the stink, I'd have just rinsed it with water, most of my other wool stuff, (swedish army pants and fire-fighters shirts) I've washed with just the barest minimum of soap, just enough to keep the dirt in the water during the rinse. like I said, it smells like nothing I know, and it is not nice, a little wool smell would be fine, it's going in an oiled canvas swag, and that smells pretty strong still, but you know what I mean, some smells are fine, some are less so.
 
Check the major outfitter sites (campmor, Gander, REI, etc.) for synthetic fleece blankets. They are generally lighter and more compressable, not to mention easier to launder.
 
well, another day on the line seems to have taken the majority of it away. Then my wife tells me that that blanket had smelled as long as she could remember (it was her Nan's originally). There's no way I'd be able to afford to replace it at the moment, and the camping stores around here suck!
thanks for the help guys.
So for anyone worried about washing a wool blanket, if it can fit easily into your machine, and you trust the temp control. go ahead and do it. if its too delicate for the machine, its too delicate for the bush.
 
For my US Surplus blanket that I used as a camping poncho

I used to fill my bath with cold water and Woolite
And tread on it like they do for wine
Then repeat twice with cold clean water

Dry it out of the sun
Once it is dry, air it in the sun

Woolite is fine for delicates
My Mother has been using Woolite for her cashmire woolen cardigens longer than anyone here on this forum has been alive!!
 
Great idea with the bath tub approach. Going to try that one.

We have no shortage of sun these last couple of weeks.
 
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