# Alternative uses for wool



## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Just curious what uses have people found for wool, besides spinning. 
The R value is very high, so I decided to try to use it for insulating my solar hot water heater. I have also used wool for mulch between rows. The bad side of mulch use is that until it breaks down you can't get a hoe through it if any weeds manage to sneak through. 
I have noticed when bagged and not used for a long period of time wool can get wolf spiders living in there. Does anybody know of a good spider deterrent?


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

I've heard of people using it to fill in ruts on their farm roads, mulch around fruit trees, or just composting it.

I've used it in the garden like you have. I usually just hand pull any weed that manages to sneak through.


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## Slev (Nov 29, 2003)

I know Illinois Wool & Fiber Mill actually sells/works with a produced wool for insulation use. I've heard of people using it to felt up in a kiddy pool and cut to make a thick saddle blanket. Or, once felted, I but you could cut that into row strips and no weeds would grow...


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## TroutRiver (Nov 26, 2010)

A friend of mine has been making felted hats and clothing. Much faster than spinning and knitting by hand, looks really cool and stays warm!


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

Compacted into a burlap cover, sheep wool makes an excellent archery target. Stops a fast arrow from a compound bow (really!) and keeps the tips nice and clean. You have to compact it pretty tight, but it's doable and the sportsman in your life will love it.


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## Olivia67 (Mar 6, 2008)

Wolf spiders? Really? Omg, I'm a little horrified. Maybe you could spray it lightly with a insecticide with chrysathum product? 

I'm terrified of spiders, esp large hairy ones and I hand pick all my wool before I sell it. If I reached into a bag of wool and grabbed hold of a wolf spider I think I might wind up in the mental ward until I stopped shuddering!


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Yes wolf spiders, and many of them. Do be careful when sticking your hand in an open bag of wool. 
I insulated a 100 gal. stock tank with wool for heated water storage and was pleasantly surprised the temps seemed to be close to the same a day later. I need to get a thermometer on it for exact temps.


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

Compost? I never found wool to break down very well.

Its good for stuffing. Plump up couch pillows. Making doggy beds. All sorts of things where some extra fluff is wanted.

For insects, I pack my wool in plastic bags then in 55 gallon drums and put mothballs inside the drum between the plastic bags. Everything is kept air tight too.
I have wool thats many, many, years old and in as good as shape as the day it was packed away.


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

RiverPines said:


> Compost? I never found wool to break down very well.


It does take a loooong time, by all accounts. I don't suppose you could put a lot of in into one pile at one time. But I've never tried composting it myself.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I have heard that I can be good in certain soils. If your soils won't hold water the wool is a good way to keep water in the soil but I have never tried it........ I imagine that it would take forever to break down


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

birchtreefarm said:


> It does take a loooong time, by all accounts. I don't suppose you could put a lot of in into one pile at one time. But I've never tried composting it myself.


I have wool still laying around the yard from last years shearing.
I thought it would disappear through the 4 seasons, nope. Clumps are still all over and some got partially buried and when you pull it up, the part buried all year is still wool!! LOL

I wouldnt even try composting it. Better to let the birds have it for nesting material, which we have alot of last years old decayed wild birds nest outside, with basically only the wool holding them together. I think wool doesnt break down to easily.


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

There's a pile of wool from 6 yrs ago, out in my back forty. It was off very dirty sheep so I didn't keep it. If it's broken down at all, it isn't visible. Still looks like the same dirty pile every time I see it. I tried using raw wool for dog beds once, but it made the dogs smell like rancid lanolin. I suppose if you washed it first, but that's a lot of work for dog beds.


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