Talk:Fuller's earth

Geology
Fuller's Earth disambiguation perhaps? I don't have the time or expertise to edit this, but there is a useful starting place for the geological meaning of Fullers Earth here: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=FE. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pdadme (talk • contribs) 13:24, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

Comment
Fuller's Earth is used in the illegal laundering process of removing dying agents from agricultural or marine diesel fuels, more commonly known as “red diesel”.
 * How about a news or court ref to that effect? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.73.179.150 (talk) 17:03, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

Cat Litter
Fuller's Earth is used in (some?)clay cat litters for its dessicant property. at March 2013 Lidl in the UK sell a 10 kg bag for less than £2.

Cleaning wool
Is there any source for the statement about fullers cleaning clothing? I've never seen it applied to anything other than the processing of raw fibers or unfinished cloth. The EB reference linked to in the article explicitly says that fulling was the cleaning of raw wool. Not clothing, not woven cloth, unspun wool. Chelt 18:41, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I noticed this and changed it - see fulling. I understand that olive (or other) oil or butter was sometimes added to wool to aid spinning.  This makes it unlikely that a natural grease would be removed.  However, presumably, it would be removed from knitting wool.  Peterkingiron 12:01, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * See the recently added ref from the Rabin Company drugstore product, which was labeled "for cleaning hats and fabrics". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.73.179.150 (talk) 17:01, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

It is used to clean combat clothing if it has been contaminated with agents. British CRBN respirator bags have a quantity of it in the decontamination kit. 5.44.248.3 (talk) 12:46, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Composition
I have not altered what is said about composition, but sources I have looked at for fulling emphasise Aluminium silicate. Help please. Peterkingiron 12:01, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Clay minerals are a type of aluminum silicate. I've done what I can to get the mineralogy correct throughout the article. It's tricky because fuller's earth is defined by what it does, not by what it is made out of. As such, the exact mineralogical composition varies significantly. Elriana (talk) 17:08, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds, and in particular the British modelmaking teams who worked with Derek Meddings used fullers earth to 'age up' their models in order to make them more used, available in Simon Archers' book FAB Facts, (Long since out of print after the sudden passing of Archer). Wondered if it was worthy to note that it was a staple of film SFX modelmaking.


 * There's a shot of some being used on the set of Alien here, although ideally the article would need a reference. E.g. "Fuller's earth is often used by modelmakers as a means of artificially aging models, in order to give them a vintage or used appearance (insert reference to Cinefex issue whatever). In particular example quote example reference" and so forth. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:42, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

High profile article
Since the BP oil spill, this article has become highly accessed. i have tagged it as needing expert attention, not because i think its deficient, but that it deserves to be expanded as much as possible, particularly in regards to whether the mineral is or is not relevant to the oil spill.Mercurywoodrose (talk) 19:08, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Map vs. Article Conflict
The output/production map shows the main US site to be in the northeast, but the article states production in the US is from the southeastern states. Either the map or the article is wrong. --MartinezMD (talk) 02:49, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

The USGS reference from 1992 indicates that fuller's earth has been mined in 24 states. Activity at specific localities has varied over the last 120 years. In a 1913 Bureau of Mines report, the main localities for fuller's earth are listed in the southeast (Arkansas, Georgia, Florida). But the type locality for bentonite is in Wyoming, and much of the bentonite used in the oil industry has come from Wyoming and Texas. I think the confusion comes in part from the variability of active mine locations through time and in part from the different definitions of bentonite and fuller's earth. Unless we want to be very specific about the mineralogy and timing of mining throughout the US, it is probably best not to single out a specific region. Elriana (talk) 17:07, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

fullers earth is called bleaching earth also
The other name of fullers earth is bleaching earth. pls see the reference fullers earth —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hellunter (talk • contribs) 06:34, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

mentions in literature etc.
Should there be a section for cultural references? Fuller's earth plays a role in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, which is what brought me to this entry. It is characterized there as extremely valuable.
 * WP is full of inappropriate cultural references. Most of them are added to because has some importance to . This is a bad reason to add them. IPC mentions should only be added because either: has some significance to (rare, usually happens for biographies such as where Erin Brockovich became far better known after the film about her. It could also apply to baritsu or the Reichenbach Falls). More commonly, but still questionable, when  substantially changes the public perception of , such as Apocalypse Now having become the canonical public perception of helicopter operations in the Vietnam War. Similarly the ulster coat from its use in Holmes - no effect on tailoring, but its the major public knowledge of such coats. Sadly WP now gets its Holmes coverage of the coats mostly wrong. Andy Dingley (talk) 08:41, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Recent edits focused on Pakistan and beauty industry
1) Pakistan is only one of many places where fuller's earth has been used since ancient times.

2) The beauty industry is only one of many uses for fuller's earth (even since ancient times). It is far from the most important historical use, since many more people have used fulled cloth and fibers than fuller's earth- based cosmetics. There are also countless other compounds used for cosmetics (including other clays, such as pure Kaolinite, which are not necessarily good for fulling), but fuller's earth has been the main compound used for fulling for centuries.

=> Please stop skewing the emphasis of the article by refocusing the lead on beauty and the 'etymology' section on one instance in Pakistan. The etymology section is (and should be) about why it is called 'fullers earth'. It could then include a list of alternative names and their places/times of origin. But that list should include more than 'Multani Mitti'. (Also, the 16th century is far from ancient.)

3) It sounds like someone has some references for places of occurrence outside of the US and Britain. The Occurrence and Composition section could really use some geologic context from somewhere other than Britain!

4) The sentence "It is antiseptic nature's care for skin and hair, unmatched in its qualities as; "whitening clay"" is neither grammatically correct, nor neutral in tone. Nature is not antiseptic, nor does it possess any form of 'care'. Fullers earth may remove contaminants, but it is not truly antiseptic by nature. Most fullers earth cosmetic creams that I can find online include zinc oxide for its antiseptic qualities.

=>I did my best to copy edit that sentence into something usable, only to have my efforts reverted and ignored. I am going to try again. Please consider my edits before blindly deleting them. Elriana (talk) 18:34, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

Additional note: if your clay is particularly 'lime rich', it probably isn't fullers earth. The Calcium oxides and Calcium hydroxides of lime are more reactive than the clays that make up most of fullers earth. Part of the point of fullers earth is that it can absorb oils and oil-soluble contaminants without significantly interacting with (damaging) the protein chains that make up the animal fibers. A little lime won't be a problem, but if it is a distinguishing characteristic of the clay, that clay is not simply fullers earth. It's something more.Elriana (talk) 18:59, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

Its OK, here in your first edit :- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fuller%27s_earth&diff=587987917&oldid=582514604, dated 23:17, 27 December 2013‎, you have made important additions. Why don't you review them? "Nature's antiseptic care", is right English? Please refer to :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloquialism It is used for emphasis in "novel writing", "movie script writing", or in places where you want a glamourous and friendly approach. Since I was dealing with the beauty industry here, I adopted it. Please make a separate article for "Multani Mitti" as present in nature for Ayurveda, and its uses in it. Mamta Jagdish Dhody (talk) 20:27, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%80

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicinal_clay

https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BE

Mamta Jagdish Dhody (talk) 08:52, 1 June 2017 (UTC)