(Wool) blankets... What for?

[FrenchBen]

Hi everybody!

As my title puts it, I'm wondering about blankets.

Read a bunch of you bought some of these, but I'm having a hard time figuring out why...

I didn't ever use any, but it seems to me they're bulky, heavy, (often quite small too) and not as thermally efficient as a sleeping bag would be for the weight...
However, I guess you have your reasons and they're probably good! :)

Do you use your blankets as sleeping gear or else?

I know wool has obvious qualities and every single pullover of mine is made out of this great material, but i'm curious about the relevance of blankets in a backpacking perspective.

Cheers,

Ben :)

[Martin]

Ben, are you familiar with the story of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'?

Martin ;)

[FrenchBen]

Ben, are you familiar with the story of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'?

Martin ;)

Well Martin, you DO reply fast! )

As for the story you're talking about I think I know it more or less correctly. It's about an emperor being convinced by his taylor that his transparent clothes are made of the finest possible material. In fact the emperor is actually naked and no one dares saying it when he shows in front of the crowd except for a kid...

But I'm not sure to see what you're driving at...:ashamed: Could you explain me?

Thanks ;)

[Martin]

That's the very story Ben and my point is that there are some people who will believe that as long as it's made of natural materials and is 'old fashioned' it must be better than the modern alternative. This certainly seems to be the case with woollen products of all types.

Having been issued with woollen trousers for hill walking nearly 30 years ago, I know that my current trousers made from 100% man made fibres are better in every way. They are lighter, dry quicker and don't chaffe my legs to the point where I get blisters on them.

I was also issued with a feather filled, polyester cotton sleeping bag that was inferior in every way to my modern synthetic sleeping bag, although I conceed that modern 'down' filled bags are better.

So, like you, I don't understand the fascination with sleeping with woollen blankets when there are warmer, lighter, cheaper, better alternatives.

Martin

[Kiltie]

Its a kind of nostalgia with the wool blankets, a couple of years ago I bought a 100% polyester fleece from Lidl and I swear this thing is almost 'self heating' , its very light weight and I can vouch for this-will transform a 2 season sleeping bag into a 4 season sleeping bag :camping:

[paul standley]

Its a kind of nostalgia with the wool blankets, a couple of years ago I bought a 100% polyester fleece from Lidl and I swear this thing is almost 'self heating' , its very light weight and I can vouch for this-will transform a 2 season sleeping bag into a 4 season sleeping bag :camping:

I'm not sure I see the facination for Woolen blankets myself either. There are pro's and con's of course and it's down to personal preference I guess but personally, I love man-made fibres for clothing for being out and about (light, fast drying etc) and my man-made fibre sleeping bags work well and I also bought a cheap 100% polyester fleece that i've used with my summer bag in colder weather, it seems to 'give out' warmth like Kiltie says.

[beechnut mick]

a good lighter replacement for a sleeping bag in the warmer nights,packs down smaller,also a good addition in the winter to your sleeping bag system to improve thermal layering and has other uses as an emergancy stretcher or makeshift rucksack for one,but best when worn as a wrap around the camp fire.Its purely a preference thing bud.

[CanadianMike]

I love my wool blankets and have even started a small collection of them. Benefits of them are fire resistant (so you don't get little burn holes from sitting close to a fire), they will retain warmth when wet, etc. Sure there are lighter and warmer materials out there, but wool still has it's place, just depends on if you want to invest in it or not. All my blankets I bought from a thrift shop, so it's not like I spent much cash on them.

[myotis]

Not sure if linking to "another place" is acceptable, but here are some comparisons I made between blankets and a sleeping bag

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39027&p=516250#post516250

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39027&p=519341#post519341

To summarise.

I used a hot water bottle under the sleeping bag/blanket and measured rate of heat loss.

JRB (sleeping bag) lost heat at 6 degrees per hour
two layers of Alpaca blanket lost heat at 6.6 degrees per hour
dutch army blanket lost heat at 7.8 degrees per hour
one layer of Alpaca blanket lost heat at 8.4 degrees per hour

In terms of bulk and weight, the packed sleeping bag (uncompressed) is slightly bigger than the single Alpaca blanket.

The Sleeping bag (quilt) is 2m x 1.2m and weighs in its stuff sac 580g.

If you were to cut the blankets down to match the sleeping bag size, it would make the
Alpaca blanket 464g (928g for two Alpaca blankets) and the dutch army blanket 1.94kg.

So can I draw any conclusions from all this, well not many.

I have only collected data from a single sample in fairly dodgy experimental conditions. I'm also not sure, that in terms of real world performance, whether this can be applied to a human body generating heat, compared to a hot water bottle losing heat.

None the less, things have performed as anticipated with the ranking of the four test items falling where you would expect them to.

As to exactly what it means in practice I'm unsure. The sleeping bag seems something like 3 to 5 degrees warmer than the double alpaca. The double alpaca something like 3 to 4 degrees warmer than the single alpaca, and 1 to 2 degrees warmer than the Dutch army blanket. The dutch army blanket is about 1 to 2 degrees warmer than the single alpaca

In terms of staying warm vs weight the sleeping bag came out best (but don't take the numbers too literally). However, I personally find lightweight nylon based sleeping bags rather sweaty and unpleasant, and while I can't see me ever using blankets for backpacking, they are my choice for car camping.

I even found, as results of these experiments, where I slept under the blankets at home, I stopped using my fairly expensive goose down duvet, and use the alpaca blankets instead.

Graham

[RobbC]

I got a shot of a wool blanket in the winter, and i loved it. Think il be getting one soon.

Robb

[myotis]

Robb,

In the right place, I don't think you can go wrong with a woolen blanket, the Dutch army ones are especially good if you aren't concerned about weight, but the Alpaca ones are a delight. Mine came direct from Ecuador, and although pricey they were a third to half the price of the ones in the UK.

Graham

[RobbC]

Thanks for the tip Graham, il have a look.

Robb

[myotis]

Robb,

If you don't find anything I can pass you on sources for both the Dutch army and Alpaca blankets, but you may want to investigate things on your own first.

Graham

[RobbC]

No problem il keep that in mind. I know where to get the dutch blankets, but i have never come across alpaca blankets before.

thanks, Robb

[myotis]

No problem il keep that in mind. I know where to get the dutch blankets, but i have never come across alpaca blankets before.

thanks, Robb

Mine came from this unlikely source

http://great-gift-ideas-etc.com/soft-alpaca-products/alpaca-blankets.html?SID=fc979fc5d1848697495e36cc07041c8e .

There are several alternatives on E-bay, but I found that when I made enquiries none of the cheaper ones were 100% alpaca. You also need to be careful that its 100% "baby" alpaca . The non-baby alpaca is used to make horse blankets and cheap products for tourists (and ebay sales !!). Baby alpaca actually comes from adult alpaca, but only part of the fleece is suitable.

When I bought mine, they worked out including carriage, Duty and VAT at £60.00 each.

[moontanboy]

I found a wool blanket in TK Maxx for £6.99, I did dye it green as cream wasn't too stealthy.

Very handy to wrap around yourself for a jump out the hammock call of nature during the night.