First string your feathers, being careful to place the string on the
end of quill so as not to get any of the flues under the loop; then
slice down according to quantity of feathers to be washed, from one
to more pounds of soap in boiling water, and boil down to a liquor;
after which fill a clean tub half full of luke warm water, and pour
soap into it; then enter your feathers and give them a slight rubbing.
Then push them well under the surface of the water, cover them up and
allow them to remain over night. In the morning run off dirty water and
squeeze out your feathers; enter your feathers in a tub of clean luke
warm water and use an ordinary wash board and a soft scrubbing brush.
Rub bar soap on feathers, and brush gently, being very careful not to
tear out the flues. Soap and brush one string at a time, manipulate
them much after the manner of a woman handling a large wash. Be careful
to give minute attention to the bottom portion of the feathers, as the
flues are always more closely stuck together with the natural grease
of the bird, and it often requires an amount of hard labor to remove.
Repeat the washing operation and rinse off in about three luke warm
waters, starch and dry.
In starching rub the feathers around well between the hands for the
purpose of getting all the flues thoroughly expanded, squeeze out of
bath and hang on lines to dry. Put no more out at once than the dyers
can comfortably handle, as it is well to have them beat out on board
at regular intervals of a minute or so; thereby expanding the flues
to their utmost. The process of selecting the different grades or
qualities follow, and it is necessary for the person performing this
work to be familiar with the application of dyestuffs to feathers, to
insure the dyer less trouble; as the different qualities all put in the
bath together, and going through exactly the same process will come out
different shades of color, will cause the dyer a great deal of trouble
and labor getting them all an even color. When a batch of feathers are
intended for white it will not be necessary to dry them first; simply
wash and rinse, and prepare your white bath as per recipe, and pass
them through it. It is scarcely necessary to remark here that natural
black and gray feathers must not be washed at the same time with
whites, as the latter would not be improved.
Strings should not contain more than fifty plumes, for, if they are
made much longer, it would be awkward to handle them. Tips, however,
are often strung three or four in a bunch, according to size, and an
ordinary string may contain two or three hundred. In washing natural
black tips it is advisable to use a brush on them during the first
rinsing to remove all particles of soap therefrom.