Post by Larry Koschkee on May 13, 2004 10:43:50 GMT -5
The question of how U.S. Regulars cleaned their wool clothing was posed in a thread titled "Updated" under subject heading U. S. Regulars on this message board by Mr. Greg Carter. Greg responded but I decided to put the question under this subject heading to further address the question.
I have experimented with cleaning wool clothing, bed blankets and saddle blankets in a varity of ways.
Many years ago I would soak and swirl wool saddle blankets in creeks and rivers and air dry them over a wood object such as a tree limb, hitching post or fencing. The result was okay for a horse. Drying on a metal object such as fence wires left rusty marks on the blanket...Not good.
Next improvement was boiling the blankets in a galvanized wash tub or cast iron kettle with Ivory soap chips cut from a bar with a hunting knife. The result was a much cleaner blanket.
Next improvement was washing with rain water (soft water) and Ivory soap chips in the aforementioned containers. The result was a cleaner, softer blanket, but I do not think the horses knew the difference.
The next attempt at further improvement was adopted from my clothes washing techniques learned while working for the U.S. Forest Service during college summer breaks.
A old, wise gentlemen (foreman) said to get clothes clean they must be agitated. On the first Saturday afternoon trip to the nearest town for supplies and a little fun the old man had us fill several 10 gallon milk cans with water and load in the back of the pickup trucks. He then instructed us to put our dirty clothes in one-half of the milk cans with Ivory soap and off to town we went. Before we returned to our base camp we were instructed to take the clothes out of the cans and put in the other milk cans that held clean water. And so it went, every Saturday afternoon was wash day. The movement and sometimes bumpy ride in the pickup trucks supplied the agitation and water movement through the fibers of our clothing. Hang the clothes out on a line to dry in the sweet mountain sunshine... it does not get any better than that.
This technique proved to work well with saddle blankets as well, however, I purchased an old Maytag wringer washer at a auction and to this day use its slow agitation action and soft-water to keep the saddle blankets clean and in good shape. I subject my "Buffalo Plaid" wool shirts and Melton wool pants to the same old Maytag washer with good results.
My re-enactment uniforms are a different matter... At times they have been hand-washed in soft-water and Woolite, but for the most part been dry-cleaned.
Any thoughts on how wool clothing was cleaned in the 1820s - 1830s.. domestic or military?
Larry K.
I have experimented with cleaning wool clothing, bed blankets and saddle blankets in a varity of ways.
Many years ago I would soak and swirl wool saddle blankets in creeks and rivers and air dry them over a wood object such as a tree limb, hitching post or fencing. The result was okay for a horse. Drying on a metal object such as fence wires left rusty marks on the blanket...Not good.
Next improvement was boiling the blankets in a galvanized wash tub or cast iron kettle with Ivory soap chips cut from a bar with a hunting knife. The result was a much cleaner blanket.
Next improvement was washing with rain water (soft water) and Ivory soap chips in the aforementioned containers. The result was a cleaner, softer blanket, but I do not think the horses knew the difference.
The next attempt at further improvement was adopted from my clothes washing techniques learned while working for the U.S. Forest Service during college summer breaks.
A old, wise gentlemen (foreman) said to get clothes clean they must be agitated. On the first Saturday afternoon trip to the nearest town for supplies and a little fun the old man had us fill several 10 gallon milk cans with water and load in the back of the pickup trucks. He then instructed us to put our dirty clothes in one-half of the milk cans with Ivory soap and off to town we went. Before we returned to our base camp we were instructed to take the clothes out of the cans and put in the other milk cans that held clean water. And so it went, every Saturday afternoon was wash day. The movement and sometimes bumpy ride in the pickup trucks supplied the agitation and water movement through the fibers of our clothing. Hang the clothes out on a line to dry in the sweet mountain sunshine... it does not get any better than that.
This technique proved to work well with saddle blankets as well, however, I purchased an old Maytag wringer washer at a auction and to this day use its slow agitation action and soft-water to keep the saddle blankets clean and in good shape. I subject my "Buffalo Plaid" wool shirts and Melton wool pants to the same old Maytag washer with good results.
My re-enactment uniforms are a different matter... At times they have been hand-washed in soft-water and Woolite, but for the most part been dry-cleaned.
Any thoughts on how wool clothing was cleaned in the 1820s - 1830s.. domestic or military?
Larry K.
