Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get tool plans

User Tag List

Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Harvesting silk manually - GIF

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Altair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    12,020
    Thanks
    1,365
    Thanked 30,313 Times in 9,998 Posts

    Harvesting silk manually - GIF

    Harvesting silk manually.




    Previously:

    Wool carding tool from the 1940s - GIF
    Making silk thread from cocoons - GIF
    https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...461#post135645

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Altair For This Useful Post:

    baja (Jun 7, 2020), high-side (Jun 6, 2020), jimfols (Jun 6, 2020), mwmkravchenko (Jun 6, 2020), Philip Davies (Jun 6, 2020), Scotty12 (Jun 5, 2020), Seedtick (Jun 5, 2020), Tonyg (Jun 6, 2020), Tule (Jun 7, 2020)

  3. #2
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    596
    Thanks
    284
    Thanked 222 Times in 150 Posts
    It'd be interesting to know the pH of the liquid.

    2,000+ Tool Plans

  4. #3
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    401
    Thanks
    38
    Thanked 209 Times in 116 Posts

    Elizabeth Greene's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by neilbourjaily View Post
    It'd be interesting to know the pH of the liquid.
    My understanding is it is just water. The cocoons are boiled to loosen them and kill the pupa before this step.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Elizabeth Greene For This Useful Post:

    neilbourjaily (Jun 7, 2020)

  6. #4
    Supporting Member marksbug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    1,939
    Thanks
    775
    Thanked 382 Times in 308 Posts
    why kill the pupals?

  7. #5
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    401
    Thanks
    38
    Thanked 209 Times in 116 Posts

    Elizabeth Greene's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by marksbug View Post
    why kill the pupals?
    Left alive, they will gnaw through the silk and emerge as moths. This shortens the silk fibers and discolors them.

    There are some karma/eco-conscious silk producers that don't kill the moths. They wait for them to emerge and then make products from the lower quality silk.

  8. #6
    Supporting Member marksbug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    1,939
    Thanks
    775
    Thanked 382 Times in 308 Posts
    oh...so they cant just remove the pupa live then harvest before the dammage is done.

  9. #7
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Posts
    302
    Thanks
    1,081
    Thanked 91 Times in 64 Posts
    At my wife's home it Thailand they take the live silk and pupa and drop it in hot water to kill it and then start unwinding the little bundle of silk by pulling a little loop of it and winding it around a spindle. It floats in the hot water and unwinds I don't think it unwinds completely and the in the end have to remove the dead worm from the remainder of the bundle. As I remember they maybe unwinding 4-5-6 bundles at the same time onto the same spindle. I am not sure what happens after that. I usually go out and pick mulberry leaves to feed more silk worms at that point.



    2,000+ Tool Plans

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •