# extracting lanolin?



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

I would like to extract lanolin from my wool but have never done it. Here are directions that I found on the internet: 
_
To extract the lanolin from unwashed wool you boil the wool in water for a few hours, adding salt to improve the yield of lanolin. Next, you reduce the solution by boiling off most of the water. After you filter any undissolved solid material from the hot solution and let it cool, you should be left with a pale-yellow waxy solid floating on the surface of the water. This is impure lanolin. You can purify it, as we did on the show, by taking the crude lanolin and shaking it with a mixture of olive oil and water. The impurities will dissolve into the water and the oil, leaving you with a solid layer of off-white, waxy 'purified' lanolin suspended between the oil and water._

boil? I thought that was bad for the wool? Will it ruin it for spinning? What about felting?

thanks


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I read some articles about this too. It seems that you do end up ruining the fiber for spinning. 

Maybe just use coarse fleeces for lanolin extraction? Ones that wouldnt be good for spinning?

I suppose you could 'almost' boil the wool and get most of the lanolin out, then remove the wool before you reduce the solution.

If you try it please take pics. I would love to see how it works.


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

i was always wondering how to get the lanolin extracted but without ruin the fiber of course. would love to use the lanolin for making lotion 
yes please, let us know how it goes.


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

Lanolin melts right at boiling tempature so you do have to boil. 

I have read that you are suppost to boil all the lanolin out of the wool and when you come to spin it you add oil (olive or mineral I think). It just sounds horrible to the wool. 

I am going to try it on some wool from my meat breeds. Then try to felt it.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I think you would comb out the wool to get as much debris and dirt out as you can, then soak it to get more dirt out. Then, boil it. I've accidentally boiled wool when cleaning it and it turned out fine. But, I didn't boil it for hours, just a few minutes. In fact, I just boiled some wool in the final rinse, it's drying now. I also made the mistake of putting in a little dab of cider vinegar instead of white vinegar, which I think is why it's no longer white. But, that's okay.

You don't have to boil the wool to get the lanolin out if you use detergent.


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

the point wasn't to get the lanolin out of the wool. It was to get the lanolin out in a useable form so that I could make my own lotion. I suspect that you would have to boil it for more than a few minutes from what I have seen on youtube.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't know about that. Try it yourself. Start with 160 F. Go up ten degrees at a time and find a temp that will work.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Since I don't keep sheep (it's less expensive for me to support local fiber flocks than it is for me to keep my own) and I can buy anhydrous lanolin so inexpensively for my lotions that I will continue to buy my lanolin and not ruin the fleece I get from my local shepherds.


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