Every time I clean a wool rug with the cimex and 4807 brushes with DS, the rug sheds like mad. There is a bunch of loose fluff everywhere. Is this normal? Should I be concerned?

It sure looks nice afterward, though, even if it's a little less of a rug than what it once was.

THAT IS NORMAL

Natural fiber is constructed from short pieces of fiber. In the case of wool, it comes from a sheep. Sheep grow hair that is an inch or two in length. Those hairs are sheared and then spun into strands of fiber. So the yarn is made up of little short pieces of fiber. These SHORT pieces of hair can work their way loose from the rug. Properly woven wool rugs won't shed as much as the JUNK rugs that people buy today from places like Home Depot, department stores, etc. Yet ALL wool rugs will shed somewhat, it's the nature of the fiber.

By comparison, synthetic fiber is extruded. It is continuous. It's not made from little short pieces of fiber. It consists of very LONG continuous strands. And that is why they don't normally shed fiber as easily. Occasionally synthetic materials (especially new or cheap carpets) will shed some staple fiber. "Staple fiber" is the excess loose fiber in the carpet that occurs during manufacturing. Cheapo "builder's grade" carpets will often shed more staple fiber than most. But shedding with synthetic carpet is not nearly as prolific as wool, because it's continuous fiber.

Always use care to minimize the shedding. Recognize that shedding is a natural occurrence with wool fiber because you're dealing with animal hair that only grew to a certain length. When you are cleaning natural fibers such as wool you can always expect to see more shedding than you will with synthetic fibers. So always keep the brush wet, keep the machine moving, and use good judgement.







Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Thanks Rick. I'll keep that info in mind.

All that fluff was pretty scary, but at least now I know what to say if someone asks.