It might be poly fill. I read somewhere from either JC or Janty that they are filled with wool. Not sure where I saw it. If I had to bet, I'd say it is wool because when it does burn a little it doesn't taste like plastic. I would think polyester would taste pretty horrible if it burned.
Anyone know for sure what they are filled with?
Hi Arizona ... Minnesota here.
I asked a similar question about wool on another thread. I wanted to know if anyone used "real" wool from sheep/lambs/whatever, since Johnson Creek refers to "wool" in their carts. I was a little confused, because some people wrote "wool" on the other thread, when it sounded like they were talking about "polyester". Terraphon replied that some people use the terms "wool" and "poly" interchangeably.
Then, Shadowdr said that he looked at Wally world for wool yarn, but ended up buying some acrylic yarn, and he's trying that now.
The Johnson Creek cart material does look and feel different to me than polyester fiber stuffing, and I thought it held fluid better than anything else that I've tried so far. I tried some poly that I had on hand after I read about how many people were using that, and thought it tasted terrible ... but that could have just been the type that I had (it had that silky feel like someone else had mentioned).
I got a few boxes of blank cartridges from Johnson Creek when they had them on sale recently, and I sacrificed one in the name of science today. There are tests that are easy to do to tell if a fiber is wool, acrylic, polyester, etc., and what the basic properties are when you burn them. I was unable to post the URL because I haven't made 15 posts yet, but if anyone's interested in a more comprehensive list (and wants to sacrifice any more cart material) I got the info. from the carpet industry after searching "fiber identification", but it's all the same fiber that we're discussing.
Here's a quick copy/paste about identifying the fibers that we're mainly talking about:
Wool
The test of wool is very easy. If it is wet, it smells like a wet dog. There is another test namely the burn test. For this test use a butane lighter to melt or ignite an unknown fiber. This will help you in the determination of its types. Butane lighter avoids masking the odor of the burning fiber. Burned wool smells like burned hair. Moreover wool dissolves in undiluted chlorine bleach.
Acrylic
If the fiber is acrylic it will melt and shrink as soon as the flame comes into its proximity. The fiber burns with lot of smoke rapidly with bright, sputtering flame. Even after it has been withdrawn from the flame it continues to burn, melts, and drips. It has an acrid odor and results in a hard, irregular black bead.
Polyester
Polyester too melts and shrinks from an approaching flame. It burns and melt slowly. Melting takes place in drips. While burning it smells sweet and
produces a hard, shiny black or brown bead.
I did the burn test with both the poly filling and with the JC cart filling, and I'm pretty sure that the JC is real wool material. The wool burned into an irregular black chunk that you could crumble into ash ... where the poly burned into a HARD black chunk. I'm going to get some of that wool material through the Joanne Fabrics link, and I'll let you know how that works. In the meantime, I'm going to be washing and fluffing my old material ... and looking for a deal on blank carts, because I'm heading on a road trip soon, and have already experienced the pain of dripping and driving.
