Comfort in the Cold: Wool Clothing for the Wilderness

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors discusses why he loves wool during the winter months and shows a variety of some of his favorite wool garments for the wilderness.

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Tags: black owl outdoors,nature,camping,hiking,backpacking,survival,bushcraft,wilderness,forest,backcountry,comfort in the cold,wool,woolrich,modern hunt coat

Video Transcription

hey what's up Turtles its Creek here with blackout outdoors and today I wanted to do a video talking about why I choose to wear wool in the winter I have a couple different articles and pieces of gear set up behind me so just take a walk with me and I'll get into it and tell you why I like the wool and how I use it now I have different layers and pieces of gear of wool set up on this clothesline out here which i think is pretty cool but to start right here I have a wool cap this is actually a Carhartt hat and it's a wool blend this is in that sort of cadet military style cap which I really like but for wool and in a hat it's really warm now this hats not going to cover my ears it's going to sit on top of my head but because it is wool it's going to retain a lot of heat and I just like this little green this green style it's almost has a modeling to it not just solid green almost a check velcro on the back see the Carhartt there I don't have a wool beanie a wool beanie I've been wearing sort of acrylic beanies I'm in the market looking for a wool beanie so if you know any companies and that watch cap style that I like to wear let me know and you know this is just as you know from head to toe wool from head to toe in the winter is really great for a few reasons one because it's super super warm wool is very very warm now it's heavy compared to a synthetic but that's the trade-off you're going to get for other characteristics that make wool really great and I'll touch on those as I sort of go back into these different garments I have underneath the Hat right here I have a pair of wool socks I think maybe the only thing that's 100 percent wool that I have right now is this blanket maybe this old Jack I'll get into that but this is a blend this is our these are smart wool socks winter heavier weight that I wear in the winter with my winter boots really nice socks I like the fact that you can see it has a little bit of constriction here of the feet keeps it really nice snuggly to your feet it's not going to move around or bunch up but this is a blend like I said as well you get the warm capabilities of the wool with the blend just to make it a little bit you know you get that stretch to it and the wicking properties of the blend the synthetic blend in here but nonetheless wool socks and I really wear wool socks not year-round in Pennsylvania specifically and when I was living in California in a more arid climate without the super humid humid weather I'd wear wool socks when I was out working with my boots a lighter wool sock but again wool socks for the winter really great activity-dependent wool was great now if I wanted to be super active if I was planning on covering miles and miles and I wasn't going to stop and hang out for most of the day I probably wouldn't wear too much wool just because it's going to be heavy is really warm once in the winter when you're moving a lot and you're generating a lot of body heat you really don't need to wear that many layers if you're continually moving this is more for if I'm going to maybe walk a few miles come out to camp and hang out hang around camp get a fire going and just you know maybe do some bushcraft cook just hang out that type of basic basic activity level in the forest not for a really really high activity level am I going to wear too much wool this is a military surplus wool blanket that I found at a thrift store I paid $2 for this this is a hundred percent wool I don't know where the tag is but I would show you if I could find it easy but this is 100% wool I'm not sure the exact dimensions on this but I've already done a video on why a wool blanket is really great you can wear it as an outer layer as a garment you know put a hood in it I usually use this to put over top of my ground top of them and be hanging out someplace to sit down keep keep the cold from creeping through the ground tour because wool is very insulated the thicker the loft you get the more insulated properties you're going to who will keep its insulative properties when it's cold but it gets ridiculously ridiculously heavy when it gets wet it'll still keep that you know warmth as it gets wet but it becomes super heavy and really uncomfortable to wear so if it's going to be precipitating you know snow you know maybe not that big a deal but I really wouldn't want to wear wool as my outer layer if it's going to be raining and or snowing just because it's going to absorb absorb it depending on the blend if it has a waterproof layer but most wool is just going to be the will not really have a waterproof membrane wool blankets just clutch super super clutch to have there's a lot of variability in wool blankets price quality weaves all that but like I said for two dollars 100 percent wool this is a super great find and I'm going to miss the wool actually as the seasons progress in spring and summer come I'm going to miss wearing more moving on to the wool jacket I have in this lineup as the outerwear goes like a why I like to wear wool jacket is because it's super warm like I mentioned before it's going to be heavy but if it's quality wool constructed with quality materials craftsmanship all that it's going to last a really long time this is a hunt coat made by Woolrich and this was our grandfathers Stoney and I grandfathers this was bought brand-new in 1947 that's pretty crazy you think you know what is that over 60 some years old this jacket is still very functional a few signs aware need to maybe a little bit of stitching in a few places but nonetheless completely functional to wear in the winter this is a hunt coat like I said it sort of has the pocket set up that you'd see in a field coat that traditional field code style if you hand warmer pockets right here I've been wearing a few different Woolridge coats in this winter that I have a lot of people ask me about what they are the one was bought brand new which is the black and red one that you've seen and also the tan sort of plaid style that's was found in a thrift store for pretty cheap it was a present given to me but I like wool as my coat in the winter for a reason

I've already stated but why really like war rich coats some of the design features is one the high collar and I get this all buttoned up how high this collar comes keeps the draft from going down by excuse me down my neck and down my back the advantage of having a high collar as opposed to a hood is that it's going to keep my peripheral open and just my sort of bubble of sight if you will is if I have a hood coming down here really restricts what I can see in the forest and my hearing but I have a collar here all this is still open in front of me it stops the cold I can even wrap you know maybe a scarf Bandera bandanna or shemagh around my neck if I need to but that's really nice I really really like these high collars I don't ever find myself missing a hood wearing these jackets even in the coldest weather it's been this year which has been very very cold with that being said a warm hat is important if you're not going to have a hood in really cold weather if you're just going to have a high collar but nonetheless really great these hand warmer pockets up here too are super nice really comfortable to hang the arms really comfortable position and this is a hunt coat and as you can see back here if I wanted or if I was going to use this for small game in colder weather this is would be the pocket you can store it in and there's a flap on each side squirrels you know rabbits fowl whatever you're going to hunt you can carry this then without having a bag on you to feature you see in a small game vest and this jacket is really cool just an awesome all-around Jack and just really cool to have something that's this old that was part you know part of the family has been passed down and it's still functional still have no problem wearing this and being warm in the dead of winter and one more thing touching on this jacket a lot of wool garments that I am drawn to is just a simplistic design and this being full buttons is really nice zippers fail eventually going to fail snaps are going to probably eventually fail have the potential to but just a simple button or you know really in the line with the toggle system as well last forever

super easy to you know switch them out they get worn out they break put a new one on just the hole through reinforced edges really simple really easy going to last really lasts a long time and this jacket is a direct example of that moving on to the mid layer that I have on this line right now I actually have this wool sweater that I haven't really worn that much this winter last winter I wore it a lot that's just kind of how things get cycled through in my collection but this is a wool sweater a lot of people ask me about where I got the sweater when I was wearing it a lot last winter and this is actually I believe it was bought at Gap not really an outdoor maker but I think I don't even know why I was at in the Gap store but anyways it was it was a wool sweater the price was right it was cheap on sale probably just trying to get rid of it for spring or something like that I'm always looking out for um looking out for a bargain and it's really great for a few reasons why I like the sweater and one is the collar up here I've been looking for something like this for a while now people have asked me about it where I got it if there's something similar I haven't found any but one is this high collar comes up on the neck it has this really nice faux you know whatever material making sure what this is some sort of synthetic but it's really nice around the neck even when I button this up as you can see down here one of these buttons came off no problems so two back on you some contrasting color green food just snazz it up a little bit put my touch on it and actually had to sew this on - you can actually see some of that bright green straight stitching in there as well that's no problem at this simple material you know it's wool a blend this is not a hundred percent it's a blend something like that so way through it can do a quick fix good as new and this is a mid layer so if I was going to be more active around camp didn't need to wear a jacket this is still going to keep me really warm with just maybe a long-sleeve base layer on I would potentially wear this under my wool coat depending on the activity I'm going to be doing but this will work as an outer layer even in really cold weather if I'm going to be active and I don't need to wear a coat it's still going to keep me really warm even though it's not as heavy as a coat just because the properties of wool is just going to keep me warm really like this sweater I really do if you have found any sweater that's sorted in this style with the collar the buttons even though extra material up there let me know please I know there's other people that have been watching our videos have asked me about this so I'd be great if you could if we could direct them in there the right way and the last thing I have on this clothesline is sort of another mid layer can be doubled as an outer layer depending on the weather depending on the activity this is actually Stoney's this is that traditional Wooldridge Buffalo check style this was bought new earlier this year or excuse me late last year early this winter wool rich again got a rep Pennsylvania got a rep Wooldridge just love this stuff you know it's from our home state really not too far away from us through the woollen mill creates blankets this will come from their comes from the middle process there and this isn't quote a quite a shirt jacket just as your jackets coax I think there's an actual second material as a liner in there you can see this doesn't really have a liner but I still have no problem calling it a sure jacket for another feature that's present on this I'll show you again button really simple you see there's no inner liner it's just that same same pattern on the inside again while I'm going to call this potentially a shirt jacket as outer layer because it has these angled hand warmer pockets right in the front here so even though you might not want to wear this as an outer layer in the dead of winter you're going to need a jacket fall spring you know most seasons in the year at least where we live in the climate we live in Pennsylvania right now wool can be worn for most of the year now when the summer comes as I mentioned before when the humidity comes and all that definitely no wool I'm not really wearing any wool for those humid months of the year but even in arid climates where I live in California where I used to live in California Arizona where you still get that arid coolness at the night depending where you are in the country will can be warm pretty much all year and it's just great quality just love wool one of the reasons why I love was having it next to a fire synthetics next to a fire never want to wear I never want to wear my synthetics next to a fire because little embers pieces of the fire coming out are going to put holes in synthetics very very easy and maybe as a superficial thing it's not that big a deal but I just don't want to put holes potentially through my synthetics so it's a little bit more expensive synthetics are great for certain applications but wool I always want to wear a wool next to a fire because ember going to hits it it's going to maybe singe a little bit it's not going to do the damage that it would want a synthetic I hope this video was helpful if you want to share experiences of how you like to wear wool if you wear wool if you choose to wear a different type of material in the winter months let me know always looking to learn more from you who are watching this as part of reason why we're doing all this is to learn more so it really pays for us to put out these videos they take a lot of time for us you know sort of the payment we asked is for you just to comment share your knowledge share your you know critiques constructive criticism opinions all that it really really makes it worth it when there's an exchange happening on each video so I want to thank everyone who continues to comment remember

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