Wool blankets

Nice thing about wool blankets to sleep is by using two blankets and some "blanket pins" you can make a useful sleep bag. Also if warm, you can lay on various layers of the folds and have less above you. I have some Hudson Bay blankets that are very nice. Kind of pricey butyou can pick some up at sales if you keep looking. Like them better than Army blankets. They are bulky and heavy but I don't back pack in them. Big plus is that by a fire it won't smother and burn you up, just turn to ash.
 
I haven't used wool blankets, but I did go on a high elevation (8,000 ft) backpacking trip with Wiggy's Poncho Liners instead of a sleeping bag. Three kept me toasty warm through a freezing night with only a tarp as a tent. I could have been alright with two.

Jason
 
hannibal lecter spyderco said:
I beg to differ, the insulating value of the wool fleece or fabric is determined largely by the pockets of air trapped within the fabric. The amount of water vapor in the air within the wool fabric is a function of the temperature and the amount of water in the fibers, and affects the heat conductivity of this air. All else being equal, when the amount of activity or the ambient temperature increases the body perspires more, the heat conductivity of the air trapped in the wool fabric increases, and the insulating value of the wool decreases. So when blanket is soaked wool fibers swell up and there goes your air pockets. Wet blankets keep you warm? Wet cold blanket sucks more body warmth out of you than sitting there in open air. I honestly don't know where you get your wool blankets, but any wool products that includes suit smell when they get wet after awhile, I would bet that most people on this board would recognize the smell of wet wool. Sure some man made fibers aren't all that, but the original posting was about wool use instead of, you can get some great products these days that is superior to wool .
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each to their own. I have never been cold in a wet wool blanket (yet i have been hypothermic in a modern materials bag that cost hundreds) , nor have i experienced this smell you talk of. Lets agree to disagree. :cool:

Now, excuse me while i go out into the woods wioth my wool pants, wool shirt, wool sweater and toque. :thumbup:
 
hannibal lecter spyderco said:
they provide no insulation when they aren't completely dry.
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Wrong.

Not only can they stay warm when wet, but they stay flexible longer when saturated (compared to synthetics, which quickly freeze solid). If anything, it's the one advantage wool has over modern fabrics, and the reason it has yet to be completely replaced.
 
Bushman5 said:
each to their own. I have never been cold in a wet wool blanket (yet i have been hypothermic in a modern materials bag that cost hundreds) , nor have i experienced this smell you talk of. Lets agree to disagree. :cool:

Now, excuse me while i go out into the woods wioth my wool pants, wool shirt, wool sweater and toque. :thumbup:
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LOL ok no worries, I'm not gunho about such issues, hope you don't catch a cold when your wool pants, wool shirt, and wool sweater gets wet :D
 
Moving Target said:
Wrong.

Not only can they stay warm when wet, but they stay flexible longer when saturated (compared to synthetics, which quickly freeze solid). If anything, it's the one advantage wool has over modern fabrics, and the reason it has yet to be completely replaced.
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This is really a science fact issue no air pockets no insulation.
 
^ but wool fibers are HOLLOW (and there are LOTS of them) , therefore they have insulation ;)
 
hannibal lecter spyderco said:
LOL ok no worries, I'm not gunho about such issues, hope you don't catch a cold when your wool pants, wool shirt, and wool sweater gets wet :D
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You really won't. I have a wool sweater I've worn for 10+ years that's still going strong. It's uncomfortable to wear most of the year, so it's saved for the coldest of cold weather.

Wool is a great insulator, as mentioned, because when it finally gets soaked past the point that it just sheds off the water, it's still very warm. It also breathes.

At least in my experience--and at my price range--only Polar Fleece is warmer. The trouble there, of course, is that you may end up sweating in the cold because your gear is warm, but doesn't breathe well. This may seem OK, but once you get far enough past the point of comfort where you're sweating inside your clothes, it becomes a big issue when you have to take them off.

Now you're overheating and wet in a cold climate. I don't know I'd ever trust myself to get by with only wool blankets over a sleeping bag, but I'd definitely bring some wool clothing, and probably a small wool blanket.
 
You are not dumb, Cpl. Punishment!
Just like the people who just don't get batoning wood, some people don't get wool blankets. For myself, I like Batoning wood and using wool blankets for the same reason. It is fun.
Wool blankets are also good for making do with what you have, making other things like make shift packs and shelters.
 
Ok, but not a real good analogy. Better would be someone not understanding how batoning works, not why people do it.

I don't understand how a 5 pound wool blanket can keep me as warm as 5 pounds of sleeping bag and bivy. If I understood how, I'd probably do it (liking traditional stuff as I do). Unfortunately, all I've seen for answers is one side saying it doesn't work, the other saying it does.

I guess a better question is "How do you use a wool blanket (assume a surplus one like the Swiss or Italian ones) to keep warm in cold weather?"
 
Wool (which is not hollow) feels dry to your skin because it absorbs moisture -- to a point. In fact, to a point, wool is exothermic; it actually creates warmth while absorbing moisture. Beyond about 30% of its weight in water, wool stops absorbing moisture and feels wet and allows evaporative and conductive cooling.

Polyester feels dry to your skin because it transports moisture. The fibers are hydrophobic - absorb no moisture. Moisture is driven away from your body by the push of body heat. This is why damp polyester will dry on the wearer several times faster than wool.

Insulation, as noted above, is provided by "dead" - trapped - air. No magic. Just air. So, generally, thicker is better = more trapped air. As the air spaces are filled with more and more mositure - up to liquid water - insulation declines to zero. Using "wet" in its usual meaning, wet wool does not insulate and wet polyester does not insulate. But water will run out of wet polyester whereas wool absorbs water. Thus, wool is more likely to freeze stiff than ployester 'cause it takes much more tiem to dry.

There is simply no way that a 3/16" thick wool blanket, regardless of quality, can be a superior insulator to a thicker polyester fleece or fiber garment. (A sleeping bag is just a special sort of garment.)

All Artic and Antartic expeditions I can locate have, for decades, used wool only for socks.

All the lovely "boiled wool" trousers I have, and wear, are courtesy of the German and Swedish militaries dropping wool over fifteen years ago in favor of nylon and polyester.

Polyster fleece breaths well. Indeed, it resists wind less than some high-quality, dense wool fabrics -- which can be bad. That's why we select outer layers that resist wind while still breathing some (unlike Gore-Tex that freezes up/shut in severe cold).

Wool is clearly superior in resisting sparks, which melt - melt - holes in nylon or polyester. Ever try using polyester or nylon for tinder? You won't like it much.

Smell? I like the smell of wool, expecially compare to polypropylene stink.

None of these facts mean anything to anyone who is uncomfortably warm at -35F in a single blanket of any kind plus a deadly, non-breathing poncho to collect perspiration. (Check for aliens amongst us. :eek:)
 
Tallquietman1 said:
Magnussen? Would you elaborate further about your cold weather training? I've only been on a few cold weather trips and am always looking for new ideas. How did you use 1 wool blanket and a poncho in -35 deg weather?
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I'd also like to hear more about this...I spend a lot of time in the cold myself and more information is always great!

In my experience, although I do like wool for some things, it is just too heavy to get enough insulative value out of it for packing around. I am pretty sure that in order to match my 2 pounds of down sleeping bag, I would have to haul around 20 pounds of wool.

I am not interested in that kind of weight!

But I really want to hear about Magnussen's experiences because I love the lightweight, high-speed options!
 
Wool has a hollow core:

wool.jpg



There is simply no way that a 3/16" thick wool blanket, regardless of quality, can be a superior insulator to a thicker polyester fleece or fiber garment. (A sleeping bag is just a special sort of garment.)

and yet when i'm in my wool blanket and it is wet, i am warm. I simply cannot say the same about my fleece blanket, i freeze in it.

EDIT: Furthermore, for over 200+ years, thick wool sweaters were worn by fidherman off the eastern coast of Canada. - 30 celcuis temps , constant WET, adn yet they were warm.
 
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Only one person has touched on the concept of using a 'vapor barrier.' Has this gone out of fashion for extreme cold weather? We used to use this method all the time for sub-zero backpacking trips. Vapor barrier socks and long johns kept our clothing and sleeping bags from getting wet from body moisture. We could use thinner outer layers as we didn't have to worry about 'wicking' or transporting sweat. We also didn't lose as much body fluid through sweat. Several companies made special vapor barrier liner socks and underwear for winter high altitude climbing. For emergency cold weather survival, we were taught to put plastic bags inside our socks, and plastic garbage bags under our clothes next to our skin with another layer of non absorbent wind-proof nylon or plastic over our insulating layer. We could stay warm as toast at -40. We just didn't smell real good...

Stitchawl
 
Bushman5 said:
Wool has a hollow core:

wool.jpg



There is simply no way that a 3/16" thick wool blanket, regardless of quality, can be a superior insulator to a thicker polyester fleece or fiber garment. (A sleeping bag is just a special sort of garment.)

and yet when i'm in my wool blanket and it is wet, i am warm. I simply cannot say the same about my fleece blanket, i freeze in it.
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The point is fleece can be wrung out and most of the water can be removed. It will keep you warm when wet but not as well as wool. Water will also drain naturally out of fleece nbot so with wool. Fleece dries dozens of times faster than wool. IT weighs a fraction of wool. It does not become dead weight when wet like wool.

Other than its melting properties fleece is superior in every way. Lb for Lb I hazard to guess fleece is at least 5 times warmer than wool.

I like wool I wear it but only for feet and underwear and only Merino wool as it wont stink or itch.

I spent months above the artic circle and can tell you with 100% conviction no wool blanket on its own is going to touch real cold no matter how you spin it. Look at your history up north and how many wool clad expeditions met their peril while locals thrived in fur skins.

In ambient climes of the south wool will work for you to a point but not beyond.

Skam
 
I wore wool when hill walking in the British mountains.
I found that wool woulld keep me warm even when soaking wet.

For exteme cold weather camping (-40), I found wool clothing to be extemely comfortable and warm.

I camped in England with woollen blankets in the Scouts, we could not afford sleeping bags.
I was cold.
Later, I used an old US army blanket as a poncho for summer hiking in the NE Seaboard, and it was fine for fair weather.

But to use a woollen blanket in very cold weather is not something I would do want to do!
I camped with a polarguard sleeping bag, a parka and a good mat in the very cold.

Insullation depends on loft, the thickness of the insulating material.
And an inch of insulating is an inch of insulating, whether it is polyester or wool.
I have yet to see a wool blanket an inch thick!

The next factor in insulating is the thermal mass of the material.
Trapped air is the lightest thermal mass and if it is not circulating heat the best insulator.
There has to be material to trap the air.
How much heat do you need to invest in heating the material.
Wool has a much higher thermal mass than polyester, so the heat you expend in warming the wool is greater.
And the weight of wool is much greater.

Those that want to cold weather camp with a wool blanket, please do.
I will decline the offer, thanks!!!
 
All these "scientific" arguments about wet wool not insulating because there is no airspace are not factually correct. True, the water will conduct heat, but the water is trapped interstitially and will insulate just as trapped air does. This is how wetsuits work, and I don't think anyone here would dispute the utility of wetsuits.
 
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