What is a Rag Sorter?

[Rena]

In the Batley area of West Yorkshire, Rag sorters were employed to sort rags in the Shoddy mills. The rags were sorted according to the materiaal they were made of, they were then 'reconstituted', mixed with a proportion of new wool and made into cloth. The cloth was used to make uniforms for the armed forces. They also made Mungo in the batley area. Mungo was similar to shoddy.
Rag sorters were skilled workers as they could identify the different materials they were sorting.

Francine

Additionally, secondhand cotton cloth and secondhand woollen cloth were re-used in the manufacture of "worsted" cloth.

Woollen clothes, such as coats and dresses, made from worsted cloth were beautifully soft and expensive to buy.

[brigidmac]

I'm in Leicester and remember the rag and bone men shouting " any old rags and bones"  from their carts in early 60's
Don't know when they stopped .

[Skoosh]

I remember the ragmen & their carts & trumpets, it was rags they were after & wouldn't have thanked you for a bone!

Bests,
Skoosh.

[brigidmac]

Ours collected metal objects too ..I always wondered why they asked for bones too...just an expression I suppose ..I never saw any bones tho I'm sure there are used for them and I'm all for recycling.

In some areas of the city now you can put furniture or white goods outside the house and they will be whisked away with in the hour ...all done very silently

Once rang council to book appointment to collect some carpets and had to call back and cancel !

[Rena]

Bones were crushed and either used for glue or garden fertilizer.

My dad kept his glue in an old round tin.  The colour of the glue was brown and it wasn't runny - it was a solid block which he turned into a thick liquid with heat from an old fashioned blow torch.

That blow torch came in handy for heating a kettle of water for cups of tea when on a day out in the country side.