When you're processing your own raw fleece, one key step is removing excess water after washing and rinsing. For years, I used a simple yet effective tool—a salad spinner. It worked, but as my wool-washing endeavors grew, so did the need for a more efficient method. In this post, I’m diving into my experience using both a salad spinner and the Ninja centrifuge spin dryer to remove excess water from wool fibers, yarn, and dyed fleece, cutting down drying time significantly. This video and blog post is going to by all about how I spin water out of washed wool using a salad spinner or spin dryer.
Why Spinning Out Excess Water Out of wool using salad spinner or spin dryer is Important
After a fleece has been skirted, scoured, washed, and rinsed, one final task remains before drying the wool —getting rid of as much water as possible without damaging the fibers. Squeezing the wool by hand does work, but isn't as effective at removing the water as you think it might be. Wool can soak up an astonishing amount of water which is one of the perks of using it for garments to keep it off of your skin, but it makes it harder to dry after washing than some other fibers. That's where spinning excess water out becomes essential in my opinion. Investing in the right equipment can help you save time during the drying process—a game-changer, especially when processing large amounts of wool or dyed fiber.
My Experience with the Salad Spinner
For years, my go-to tool for removing water from fleece was a dedicated salad spinner. This simple kitchen gadget was:
Inexpensive
Readily available
Compact
Surprisingly effective
While the salad spinner worked wonders, the process could be labor-intensive. You have to manually pump up and down to get the spinner going, which can become tiring, especially when handling large batches of fleece. I recommend the salad spinner for those just starting to process their own wool—it's a low-cost solution that gets the job done. You don't want to waste a lot of money on a tool you might not use anymore if you decide you don't want to process raw fleeces after all. The salad spinner is perfect for someone who is going going to wash small amounts of raw or dyed wool at a time or a skein of yarn at a time. I cannot even tell you how many pounds of wool have went through my salad spinner over the years but it's a lot! It has served me well, but as I increased production I just simply outgrew it. My shoulders have thanked me for upgrading to Ninja Centrifuge Spin Dryer.
Upgrading to the Ninja Centrifuge Spin Dryer
As my wool processing grew, so did the strain on my joints due to my hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). Manually spinning wool in the salad spinner became too much, so I upgraded to the Ninja centrifuge spin dryer.
While it was a larger upfront investment compared to the salad spinner, the benefits were clear:
No manual labor required
Faster drying times—what once took half a day with the salad spinner took just a few hours with the Ninja spin dryer
Wool came out almost dry to the touch, drastically reducing time spent on drying racks
After using the Ninja spin dryer, the wool dried in just a couple of hours, even indoors. Water would literally pour out, leaving the fiber ready for the next steps of dyeing or spinning.
Troubleshooting: My Ninja Spin Dryer Experience
It’s worth noting that my first Ninja spin dryer did have some issues. Randomly, it would make a terrible banging and clanking sound when stopping, and it would jump around. You can see this happening in the video. After troubleshooting with customer service, I received a replacement dryer, which works perfectly. The replacement fixed the problem, and I now enjoy consistent performance from the Ninja spin dryer.
Why Invest in a Spin Dryer?
If you’re processing a lot of wool, yarn, or dyed fiber, the Ninja centrifuge spin dryer is a game-changer. While the salad spinner served me well, upgrading to an automatic spin dryer has saved my joints and cut drying time in half, if not more. For those who wash a lot raw fleeces, dye a lot of fiber, or spin a lot of yarn that needs to be washed to set the twist, I highly recommend making the switch to an electric spin dryer.
Be sure to follow along with my Raw Wool to Roving series for more tips and insights on processing wool! Whether you’re working with freshly washed wool, dyed fiber, or washed yarn, removing excess water efficiently will save you time and effort—making the whole process smoother.
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