If 100% wool blankets need dry clraning, why do people recommend them?

[DrivebyTrucker]

I like to stay dry.

 

[mckrob]

I've been working in the woods/arctic for almost 20 years now, at least half of that in the winter, and I, like most of my colleagues, have through trial and error come up with my own clothing "systems" that change depending on I am going and what I will be doing. The majority of the time I am active and trying to control the amount I sweat. I love cotton, polar fleece, and Helly Hansen ProWool (polypropylene layer next to skin with fine wool layer on outside of material).

If the temp is from say +5c to -10c, on top it's a cotton tshirt with cotton over-shirt followed by Goretex layer, on bottoms it's ProWool base directly under one piece goretex or HH Hellytech pants.

For colder temps its ProWool top and bottom, light polar fleece over-shirt, heavier polar fleece jacket, followed by goretex on top, and on bottom ProWool under goretex TNF Mountain Suit bib-pants.

I always forego "pants" and wear the ProWool on my skin right next to the goretex layer, it seems to perform best this way, and I like the extra mobility.

On the hands it's Duray three finger wool gloves all the time, with OR goretex mitts for the long snowmobile rides. On my head I always stick with a polypropylene touque (HH or Wigwam).

So a mix of natural/synthetic, cheap/expensive seems to work best for me.

As far as wool blankets go, I love them but really don't use them camping as too heavy to lug around, my Marmot Snow Goose down bag keeps me warm at night at a fraction of the weight.

I wash all my wool blankets (including alpaca) in the washing machine with woolite on gentle, and hang to dry, never had a problem.

 

[Shotgun]

What about washable wool blankets that have been out a few years? Also any kind of wool makes my hubby itch. Me, I like wool and cotton.

I have a pair of merino wool long johns that feel like silk. The best long johns I've ever had.

 

[PayetteRucker]

Payette, I remember when that article surfaced in 2009... great read... it says that wool can absorbss 30% of it's weight in water before feeling wet and makes no claim to 90% of anything. I'm a fan of wool but where are your sources for the 90% claims?

The first place I heard it was years ago on one of Les Stroud's episodes, and more recently by a local woolworker out of McCall. Wool absorbs 30% of its weight in water before feeling wet, but the entire second half of that article goes into detail on how wool farther reduces insulation drop when wet due to its fiber properties.

But there are some other more complex elements to the wool fiber that aid in warming you in the wetness, as well...

The crimp in the wool fiber forces each strand to butt against each other, as opposed to lining up side by side or laying down flat together. This keeps the tiny air pockets intact, acting as little insulators -- the key to being able to keep you both warm and cool. Air has the ability to move heat by convection -- in other words, by moving and circulating. Through convection, air can transport heat from one place to another. When air is contained in very small pockets, it can't circulate easily, so heat is retained. Same goes for cold. Think Styrofoam cooler -- the Styrofoam's tiny pockets of air act as an insulator for heat or cold (depending on what's inside the cooler). The same concept goes for wool.

There's also some science at work here. Wool fibers are made up of cortical cells, and these cells are wrapped in cuticle. This scaly outer layer is then covered by yet another layer, the epicuticle -- a filmy skin that helps to repel moisture. What's more, the epicuticle also helps out in high humidity because it has tiny pores that draw in the moisture vapor to the center of the fiber where it's absorbed by a chemical process. The hydrogen bond of water, H2O, is actually broken, creating a chemical reaction with the wool fiber molecules to generate heat when it has taken on a lot of moisture. But because the air pockets allow moisture to evaporate from your skin, you won't overheat when you sweat.

The combination of the fiber's natural crimp and the chemical and physical processes that take place when wool meets moisture make it the best all-season natural insulator on Earth. It actually absorbs water from both your skin and the atmosphere around you to create a dry and warm environment where it counts -- against your body. So the next time you pass a herd of sheep standing around in the pouring rain looking dopey, remember the complexity of their protective coat.

There you have it. Wet doesn't necessarily mean 'cold'-wool insulates air pockets even when wet and thus provides more insulation when wet, not just postponing the cold until it contains 30% water by mass. I'll hunt down the episode tonight but I've seen it multiple times and distinctly remember Les saying that wet wool only loses 10% of its overall insulating value.

 

[fmajor007]

^ Give me the *SCIENCE*!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JV3]

^ Give me the *SCIENCE*!!!!!!!!!!!!!

indeed. i've seen les stroud baton his knife using a rock (the alaska episode where he found a dead salmon nearby). he also threw away chunks of top ice before sipping the water underneath/storing it in the bicycle inner tube. the next day he complained about lack of water again - that's the "canyonlands" utah episode. [insert forehead slaps here]...even les stroud is human and makes mistakes (although that utah episode might be deliberate to keep him in that tight spot longer).

 

[stabman]

I believe Tesco sells a sleeping bag, probably with a good amount of chicken feathers in it, and for weight, volume, and performance I don't think you'd need anything better than that to trounce an equivalent weight of wool blanket. Clearly that bag is pretty low end so I'll say any bag exceeding such a humble baseline standard as that, then I don't need to type a great bit list of stuff.

Wet feather make terrible insulation.
Wet wool still does okay.
Wool also handles sparks/embers better than many synthetics.
It's only real downside is weight.

 

[Thomas Linton]

a local woolworker out of McCall

When someone says wool - or any garment material -- "insulates" when "wet," ask what is meant by "insulate" and "wet."

The weight of water able to be absorbed by a fibre [sic] as a percentage of its dry weight is known as its regain. For synthetics the regain can be as low as 1%, while for cotton it’s 24%. Merino has the highest regain of the popular textiles with an ability to absorb 35% of its own dry weight in water (Fig 1).

Source: Australian Wool Innovation [a trade organization] This quote is the norm for wool trade organizations except that 30% is the typical number and "one-third" is also used, both without separate consideration of Merino wool. (Retailers of wool garments and wool housing insulation make more extravagant claims but cite no sources for those claims.)

The structure of wool keeps it, unlike cotton or down, from collapsing even when saturated (over 30%-35% water by weight of the wool), so it potentially has some insulation value: there may be some air trapped in the saturated garment with all the water. Wool also produces measurable heat as it absorbs moisture, to a point. However, a saturated wool garment still feels wet to the touch according to every wool industry site I could find and my own experience, and wool trade groups are very pro wool. Hold up a saturated wool garment and water will run out of it by gravity. Hardly optimal for insulation.

The performance of wool would improve if it was, like it is on sheep, covered with more lanolin, but lanolin gets rancid over time and most do not wish to smell like a wet sheep -- or a dry sheep, for that matter.

Polyester also keeps its loft when wet. And a saturated polyester garment is also wet to the touch. Also not good for insulation. But polyester is less likely to get saturated in the first place, and it dries out MUCH faster. That is partly due to the fact that, unlike wool, the polyester fibers absorb almost no water (See wool industry statement above.) and partially due to the fact that water runs off more readily from the plastic (Polyester is a form of "PET" [AKA "PETE"] plastic.) than from the wool. Polyester is more hydrophobic. Want a test? Wash comparable wool and polyester fleece garments in a washing machine, and, after the washer spin cycle, see which one feels dryer. No contest. Remove sources of additional wetting, and wet polyester fleece (especially if treated with silicon as the higher-end stuff is) will dry on you from the action of your body heat driving the moisture out. Try that with wool, with its drying times comparable to cotton. Faster, easier drying is important "in the field." And polyester is lighter than wool for a given insulation value and outwears wool by several times due to its greater abrasion resistance and tensile strength. So no polyester fleece mops and no wool ropes.

Just keep polyester (like nylon) away from sparks and fire - a significant negative for some camping styles and those encountering IED's. Wool, in contrast, takes 750C to ignite and is self-extinguishing.

And if, for any reason or no reason at all, you like wool better, you will surely use it. Hell, people like Scotch.


http://www.dui-online.com/tech_wool.html
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/physed/research/people/giesbrecht/Cold_Weather_Clothing.pdf
http://www.andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/the_art_of_not_suffering
http://www.verber.com/mark/outdoors/gear/clothing.html

 

[Codger_64]

Trapped air is what insulates, not the fibers themselves. Hollow fibers help, but it is the air trapped between the fibers that insulates. Wool is good about maintaining it's loft when wet and also over time. Most synthetic fibers eventually compress and lose loft. My poly fleece Patagonia jacket feels wet when it comes out of the washer and takes a while to dry. My wool shirt feels almost dry when it comes out of the washer. If I put the jacket in the dryer and the shirt on a hanger, the shirt is usually dry first.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Air. Largely. Hence

there may be some air trapped in the saturated garment with all the water.

. Although microfibers do some strange things that are hard to explain, as documented in a Nantuk (sp?) Center study that I read a few months ago.

Polyester fleece does not compress worth a damn. That is a problem for some backpackers. Polyester batting, if left compressed, cold forms like PET will and loses loft as a result. Both a well-documented phenomena and why polyester-batting-insulated sleeping bags should be stored in an uncompressed state.

If a wool shirt feels dryer after a spin cycle as compared to a polyester fleece jacket, the wool shirt was likely significantly thinner (like my wool shirts compared to my fleece jackets) or you need to write it up for the Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics. -___-

 

[Rick Marchand]

Thanks Thomas.... I especially liked this link... http://www.verber.com/mark/outdoors/gear/clothing.html ... which was chock full o links, itself.

I need to look into synthetic fleece a bit more. Truthfully, I couldn't tell you if mine are polyester or polypro. Maybe I'm not giving synthetics a fair shake from the get go.


Rick

 

[OwenM]

Maybe I'm not giving synthetics a fair shake from the get go.

Not if you believe the crap that gets posted here. When people make their ridiculous performance statements about wool in relation to synthetics, you'll notice "synthetics" is all they say. I have never once seen any of them explain how great any particular type of wool is in comparison to a specific synthetic material, and expect that I never will.

Check out Polartec's site: http://polartec.com
Not very in-depth, but they don't make any outrageous claims, and if you click on the "technical highlights" by each fabric, it gives a general description, since you're interested in fleece.

What's really funny is that Polartec's page about wool under "technologies" actually has a nice description of wool fiber, how and why it does what it does, with none of the BS or unsupported superlatives of Smartwool and Icebreaker's sites.
Wool Structure
Wool has a very complex structure making it one of nature’s greatest defenders from cold, heat, and wetness. Microscopic scales cover the surface of a wool fiber, similar to roof shingles. The scales are hydrophobic, and their stacking gives the fiber water repellency. Yet, moisture vapor can penetrate under the scales where the cortex, or inner structure, is hydrophilic. This gives the fiber breathability. Wool can be processed to give a garment water repellency or water absorbency (wicking), depending on how much of the scales are left on or removed. In addition, the chemical make-up of the cortex causes wool to release and absorb heat as moisture is attracted to and released by the fiber.
On a more macro level, wool is a crimped fiber, meaning it has little curls. This creates pockets between the fibers for air entrapment, which promotes insulation against both hot and cold temperatures.

 

[Rick Marchand]

My fleece clothing is Polyester.... which is supposed to be a good material, correct? Now I have to see if the manner in which it was made is high quality or not.(The brands are Polartec, Kombi, WindRiver and Dakota) As it stands, I prefer wool over the polyester fleece. I have Gore-Tex, Ventile and Smart-Tex shell to use with them.

Bottom line is if I am using the stuff properly and it still doesn't measure up, then all the factoids and labratory testing amounts to nothing. In 25+yrs of outdoor activity with a penchant for gear, I have tried a lot. I like the traditional aspect of wool but am very serious about performance.

Rick

 

[OwenM]

I would think that wool would be great for you in the conditions you often describe and show pics of, but you mentioned wet weather hovering around freezing-that is typical for winter here, and I do prefer some synthetics, including several of the Polartec renditions, a majority of the time. I've had cheapo synthetics that didn't work well anywhere, though. Personal experience always trumps what I read online, or what some test says, for me, too. I don't get to try a lot of the midlayers or even outer wear, even though constantly out in the elements, since I have my outerwear dictated to me at least 5 nights per week, and it doesn't get very cold for long here. My baselayers see daily use when the temperature is 40 or below. My problem is that I keep trying different stuff instead of sticking with what I already know works, so I've got all these different tops and bottoms, but actually only use a handful of them on a regular basis. It would make a lot more sense to standardize, but curiosity about new and different fabrics always seems to get the better of me...

 

[Rick Marchand]

I would think that wool would be great for you in the conditions you often describe and show pics of, but you mentioned wet weather hovering around freezing-that is typical for winter here, and I do prefer some synthetics, including several of the Polartec renditions, a majority of the time....

I agree with you here... Wool would be good in the short term or if you had a hot tent to dry it out in. If not, that wool will be wicking(from you and everything around you) the entire time you are wearing it. After a day or two the performance levels will drop. Wool likes to hang on to moisture. I can hang out my poly fleece at night and shake off the ice in the morning. Wool needs a little help but is worth it for me. Good thread. Gets me thinking about things I have thought of in a while.

Rick

 

[PeterPHWS]

I suspect some climates suit a greater number of "options" between natural and man-made fibers ... and others generate a "leaning" to a given type ...

Like the OP I am from the UK and for us the main issue is protection from the rain ... you can probably pick either for "warmth" as base layers ... and body odour being the only noticeable distinction perhaps ... or "itchiness" if the wool is'nt soft enough ... but you can definately get away with both as base layers ...

However, for outer layers I would'nt have considered wool as good an option for rain as man made materials ... although I have limited experience of trying it ... and in fairness I am a serious "gear buyer".

I live up on the Moors of Derbyshire in the Pennines and it rains here as bad as the Lake District ... seemingly "all the time" ...

My outer layers are many and numerous ... Gortex in many forms ... Paramo jackets in many weights and types ... Ventile in single, double and even a triple thickness ( over the shoulders for the third layer on a custom made jacket) ... and Loden Wool from Germany which is meant to be one of the best of the Wool types ... and Waxed Cotton jackets ... and a special waterproof fleece which is rare and very expensive from a company called Nomad-UK ...

Dealing with Nomad's fleece jackets first ... they have never had a "leak" in the 20 years they have been made and I have two sets of them and have used them for 5 years ... I use them especially for Deer Stalking as you can lie in a puddle with them and the pressure created by your body does not push the water through the fabric ... this is the only type of water proof I have ever had which works this well which is breathable ... but it is quite warm and would not be ideal for warm wet weather ... it excels though in "winter" use ... but it's expensive.

I have also used my Loden smock for Deer Stalking and again it is a very expensive jacket ... but it will let the water through when crawling over a field and does take a while to then dry out. Both the Nomad Fleece and the Loden get pretty "heavy" when wet. They also don't pack down very well.

The Ventile is perhaps the best breathable and waterproof natural fibre I have used. Again though ... very expensive. My jackets were custom made to my designs by Westwinds and the triple layer jacket has kept out the worst driving rain ... it is on par with the Nomad clothing when stood up ... but when crawling over wet grass and Moorland it does let the water in. Only the Nomad clothing does'nt.

Waxed Cotton is pretty good if heavy duty cotton and waxed well ... about on par with double skinned Ventile ... but the Ventile is a lot more breathable.

Waxed Cotton does'nt gain in weight though when wet like Ventile but Ventile does become as stiff as Waxed Cotton once wet.

These "hunting" jackets though don't pack up small and are quite heavy in comparison to my Gortex and Paramo shells. For serious Hill Walking I tend to use these as they pack down well and can be brought out when the rain starts. In really bad rain the top Gortex works better than the Paramo jackets but the Paramo Jackets do well and are very comfortable.

What I have never tried is using my Wool jackets for extended walking ... and I do a lot of this. I enjoy long distance treks and bought my house because of it's proximity to the Pennine Way which is our longest public footpath ... which I have done 4 times in total and many more times in "stages". My house is right on the start of this path. It goes up the centre of the Pennine Mountains and is 270 miles. Doing a walk like this ....where drying off even lightweight shell waterproofs is'nt easy ... has me perplexed at the prospect of doing it with a Wool based outer layer.

However, I am all up for learning more about how Wool can be recommended for treks of this nature and how those using it "dry out" the jackets and trousers at the end of each days "trek". The Pennine Way takes about 12 days and I have done it when it rained every day. Some days had "breaks" in the rain ... some were solid rain for 24 hrs. I used 3 sets of light weight shell water proofs. Inter change walking with 2 and keep one dry for evening camp use and going to the Pub. Usually for a good drink and to dry out the other two ... lol ...

On bad days I would need to inter change a set of jacket and over trousers at lunch time ... the wind and driving rain just gets through Gortex eventually ...

How would you get on with Wool ? How do you dry it off or what do you do to proof it ? What make of Wool Jacket would you use and where do you get it?

As for my sleeping system ... I used a tent, gortex bivi bag and synthetic sleeping bag ... I would'nt know where to begin on using Wool Blankets ... my "pack" would be too big and heavy ... and what to do when they are wet ?

For me I like Wool because it is silent when Deer Stalking ... no "swish" which you can get with Waxed Cotton and Gortex and indeed with wet Ventile as it stiffens like a board ... but the best is the Nomad Fleece which is like Wool but more waterproof.

 

[martoonisotu]

I wash wool outdoor items all the time: hats, mittens, sweaters, shirts, coats, jacket liners, undies, sox, scarves, sweaters, AND blankets. I use the regular cycle, cool water with regular detergent (half as much as usual). Tumble dry with no heat and then hang to for final dry. No problems.

So long as the item hasn't have any loose fibers or tears, it's faired well.