The stock-dyed woollen route runs through a woollen mill: loose stock is dyed and spun into yarn first, then the fabric moves from loose-stock dyeing through spinning and weaving (with yarn steaming) into wet and dry finishing — there is no separate dyeing step left in the finishing chain. On this route, milling is the one step nothing skips; everything else — how scouring and milling are set up, which decatizing method runs — is a choice between throughput and setting depth. QL supplies the yarn steaming autoclave in the weaving workshop, plus a full range of scouring, crabbing, raising and decatizing finishing equipment in wet and dry finishing.
The logic of woollen finishing: wool milling is the core step
Milling is the one step nothing on a woollen finishing line skips: without it, the fabric never gets the full, covering, substantial handle that defines woollen cloth. A wool fibre's surface scales all point one way, so under damp heat and mechanical action they hook into their neighbours and drag toward the root — an irreversible felting contraction that thickens the fabric in both directions, buries the weave, and leaves it warmer and more abrasion-resistant. Mainstream worsted qualities skip this step to keep the weave visible; woollen finishing runs the opposite way — milling sets the course for everything that follows in wet finishing. QL's wool milling machine, the WPF-1S, is built for this stage.
Scour–mill set-up, one of three: separate, combined, or mill then open-width wash
Scouring and milling share one decision point, and any of the three set-ups works — the choice comes down to batch mix.
- Separate: mill, then scour (mainstream) — the wool milling machine WPF-1S mills first, and the fabric runs on the rope scouring machine WPF-XN, staying in rope form throughout; the simplest flow, suited to batches steady in colour and weight.
- Combined: scour and mill in one machine — the four-channel WPF-4XS puts scouring and milling on one platform, each channel separated and independently set, so fabric of different colours and weights runs together without queuing for a shared recipe.
- Mill first → open-width spreading → open-width washing — the WPF-1S mills, the fabric is scutched and opened, and washing runs on the discontinuous open-width washing machine WPF-JXPX, the whole piece sewn end to end and washed in open width throughout, avoiding the creases rope processing leaves on crease-prone qualities.
Wool milling: how far heat, moisture and mechanical action should felt the face
How far the fabric felts is not judged by eye — it comes down to temperature, liquor ratio and the number of squeeze cycles, and fabrics differing in wool content, yarn twist or weave density need different run times to reach the same result; exact settings are set by trial on each quality — ask QL for the process sheet. Repeatable milling batch to batch comes from fixing those variables into one recipe rather than stopping by feel. QL's WPF-4XS combined scouring and milling machine offers an optional speed-detection, single-channel auto-stop system, letting each channel target its own shrinkage level and stop automatically; the wool milling machine WPF-1S is built around the same mechanism to set squeeze intensity and cycle count.
Crabbing and wet brush-setting: setting inside wet finishing
Wet finishing sets the fabric twice: crabbing gives the whole piece a permanent set in a hot-liquor bath, fixing width and length and guarding against distortion or creasing further down the line; wet brushing and setting grooms the nap into one direction while it is damp, then a setting step locks it in place.
- Batch (mainstream): batch crabbing on the WPF-ZN keeps the piece shuttling between a pair of cylinders inside one bath, so every pass sees the same liquor and the whole length comes off with a single, even heat history, loading 6–8 pieces of worsted fabric per bowl.
- Continuous: the crabbing section of the continuous crabbing and drying line WPF-LXZH runs the fabric in open width through a series of baths, set bath by bath; it can run as one line with the drying section or stand alone.
Once crabbed, woollen routes commonly move wet fabric on to the wet brushing and setting machine WPF-SSMDX, which combs the nap flatter and more uniform while it is still damp.
Teasel raising and face styles
Raising sets the style of the nap. QL covers both media: teasel raising runs right after wet brushing and setting and before mangling and drying; steel-wire raising runs later, in dry finishing, after moistening and conditioning and before shearing. Teasel raising is a wet-nap method: the fabric is still damp and the wool fibre swollen, and the brittle hooks of natural teasel heads give way under resistance instead of tearing through the fibre; repeated hooking curls the nap into a wave, the water-wave finish standard on wave-pattern overcoating and jacquard blankets, with a flat, fine, even nap and a gentle action. The teasel raising machine WPF-CG, developed in-house in 2017, was China's first vertical teasel raising machine, producing a water-wave finish on both faces in a single pass. Steel-wire raising switches to sharp steel pins, usually run dry, with more force and a longer, fluffier nap common on flannel and fleece — pre-owned equipment is available from QL. For a water-wave nap, WPF-CG is the route; for a fuller, fluffier nap, take the pre-owned steel-pin route.
Drying, fabric polishing (whether a lustre face is wanted), pre-shrinking and decatizing
Drying runs two parallel paths: keep using the drying equipment already in the workshop, or add the continuous drying section of the WPF-LXZH — PTFE-coated cylinders, tiered temperature control and alternate-face contact prevent the glazed face and harsh handle cylinder drying can leave on wool, with air-cooling before plaiting. Fabric off a dryer usually sits below normal moisture regain, so moistening and conditioning (the rotating disc moistening unit WPF-PP), raising, shearing and brushing (the Vertical Brushing Machine WPF-SM) follow in turn.
Where a bright, directional lustre is wanted, a polishing pass follows — the fabric polishing machine WPF-TG combs the pile straight to its root and heat-presses it for lustre; where it is not wanted, fabric goes straight to pre-shrinking. That lustre is only temporary and needs decatizing afterwards to hold.
Pre-shrinking is a choice of two drive types: pin-chain holds width locked throughout — the weft straightener WPF-ZW corrects skew before entry, and the pin-chain steaming-shrinking machine WPF-LTYS then locks width to spec, preventing leg twist after garment washing; net-belt conveying runs tension-free — the belt-type steaming-shrinking machine WPF-WDYS relaxes shrinkage first and straightens weft after, better suited to a knit's free recovery.
Decatizing closes out dry finishing, chosen from four methods by throughput and setting depth:
- Batch (mainstream): the discontinuous decatizing machine WPF-JXZN-MAX — a Ø2000 mm cylinder extends fabric travel, and the micro-pressure uniform-steaming chamber acts on the full width in step, for a deep set.
- Continuous: the continuous decatizing machine WPF-LXZN runs fabric non-stop, covering silk and synthetic blends, and can also run as pre- or post-treatment around batch decatizing.
- Continuous-pressure: the continuous pressure decatizing machine WPF-LXZN-P pressurises the vessel to 0–3 bar, reaching kier-grade setting depth at continuous throughput.
- Autoclave (kier): pre-owned equipment is available from QL.
For a fuller, loftier handle, an air-flow softening step can be added before final inspection — mechanical tumbling, not chemical softeners — pre-owned equipment available from QL; regular flat qualities go straight to final inspection and plaiting.
QL machines on this route
QL supplies finishing equipment across this route, from spinning to final inspection:
- Yarn steaming: the yarn steaming autoclave WPF-ZS.
- Tubular seaming: pre-owned equipment available from QL.
- Combined scouring and milling: the four-channel WPF-4XS.
- Milling: the wool milling machine WPF-1S.
- Rope scouring: the rope scouring machine WPF-XN.
- Scutching / scutching and mangling: pre-owned equipment available from QL.
- Open-width washing: the discontinuous open-width washing machine WPF-JXPX.
- Crabbing (batch or continuous): the crabbing machine WPF-ZN / the crabbing section of the continuous crabbing and drying line WPF-LXZH.
- Wet brushing and setting: the wet brushing and setting machine WPF-SSMDX.
- Teasel raising: the teasel raising machine WPF-CG.
- Mangling: pre-owned equipment available from QL.
- Drying (cylinder-type option): the continuous drying section of the WPF-LXZH.
- Moistening and conditioning: the rotating disc moistening unit WPF-PP.
- Wire raising / shearing: pre-owned equipment available from QL.
- Brushing: the Vertical Brushing Machine WPF-SM.
- Polishing (optional): the fabric polishing machine WPF-TG.
- Weft straightening: the weft straightener WPF-ZW.
- Pre-shrinking (pin-chain or belt-type): the pin-chain steaming-shrinking machine WPF-LTYS / the belt-type steaming-shrinking machine WPF-WDYS.
- Decatizing (batch, continuous, continuous-pressure or autoclave): the discontinuous decatizing machine WPF-JXZN-MAX / the continuous decatizing machine WPF-LXZN / the continuous pressure decatizing machine WPF-LXZN-P; autoclave is pre-owned equipment available from QL.
- Handle improvement (optional): pre-owned equipment available from QL.
Bring your fabric types, batch sizes and current machine list to QL and we talk process before configuration: WhatsApp +1 380 900 2442, or +86 189 2110 8080.