Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Wool Care Question

Merino obviously isnt "cheap" and so with Carolyn having ordered 500 bucks worth, I"m looking for care opinions.

Woolite in the gentle cycle and line dry?

Dry in dryer low temp with softener sheets?

Its a bit of LL Bean Merino long underwear if that matters, mid weight.

Just don't want to do it wrong. We've always just washed the old pair or two we had with normal soap and on gentle and hung to dry in the past.

Now that its starting to be a big dollar investment I want to make sure we don't do anything overly stupid. LOL

Thanks in advance.

Any wash instructions on the label or their website?

I've got a pile of merino and I use the regular wash cycle with cold water and usual laundry soaps with no problems and some of it is 6-7 years old. Dry on medium heat.

One precaution:
After fishing a cold and wet day, I removed a new set of Smartwool and threw bot pieces in the tent vestibule before donning dry clothes.

Next morning, that set of underwear [$200] was full of large holes where mice/shrews chewed their way through. Hang em up!

My wife washes mine with regular laundry soap in cold water and then we hang dry.

Sometimes one of them makes it in to the dryer and nothing really bad happened though.

I've got some merino that is 7+ years old. Moths have done more damage than anything.

Someone told me you do your best to imitate a smartazz... LOL

So far sounds like what we have done so far, more or less normal wash, is what everyone is doing.

Thanks

I take it real easy with wool; all wool. I still have King of the Mountain wool which is preshrunk and supposedly very washable; it mostly is, but I had a shirt Jac go from an XL to a postage stamp while following exact instructions. Yes, they did replace it.

On my merinos I choose to wash cold and slow and air dry. I'm not saying you'll run into problems going more aggressively than I have but I'm just not in a hurry anymore.

Not a smartass post for a change.

I just do what the maker recos.

My, rest her soul, mom once knitted me a bright orange sweater for hunting. Fit my 6' 4" frame to a T. Cookie gave it a good hot water wash and dryer treatment, and turned it into a 7lb sweater for a 6 month old.

Yeah , that's what happened to those miniature sheep!

My wife, God bless her she puts up with me all these years, once when young, decided that the black felt hat I"d worked so hard to get nice and.. well lets say had the used look to it, she decided it needed to be cleaned. Clothes washer.

I never could find that hat for the longest and I finally asked... she broke down in tears. I laughed my AO... its just a hat, its not important.

We are going with a bit milder than the actual instructions, and will go the woolite route on very mild cycle and line dry. Or maybe a bit of air dry in the dryer to get some more moisture out, and then line dry.

Well, at least he beat me to it!

I've always had luck with labels on wool...some can be washed machinewise, others not. It's not just heat either; agitation can sometimes cause problems when it comes to hardening/shrinking.

Whatever you do, don't let my wife get her hands on it. She has ruined stuff I've taken care of for years!

LOL, I had the shoulder straps and waist belt of a Dana Astralplane chewed to pieces in the Tetons, critters love the sweat salt.


mike r

Since the ladies said quit being stubborn and read the directions....

Cold water, delicate cycle, no heat or better yet line dry... going to buy some more woolite and follow directions. LOL.

So simple a Texan can do it!

Major surprise eh?

nah...

One of the boys' merino sweaters got into the washing machine recently, got caught between the washer and dryer and laid out flat to dry. Didn't matter, it's been several years since he could wear something that size now.

I am very careful with my wool stuff. Some of it can go through the washer (mostly long underwear and socks) and other stuff can't. I've had watch caps you could do anything with, no problem. Others I've hand washed in cold water with mild soap, laid out flat to dry and they've never been the same. Never know. Filson coats, Filson and Pendleton wool shirts....those all go to the dry cleaner, no ifs ands or buts.

I don't wash mine often mostly hang it up to air out. When I do I use sport wash , cold delicate lay flat or hang up to dry. I have one pair of sears long john bottoms that is 40 years old. I wore it a couple of times this year already.

another texan with a ?, i'm going to buy me some wool longjohns since i'll more than likely be doing some work in wyoming and the dakotas. do i buy them my regular size or get them a little bigger to allow for some shrinkage.