I've never understood the mentality of lining wool long-underwear with cotton... the cotton holds moisture and ruins what wool does best, which is wick moisture away from the body.
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Keeping warm "out there"
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I've never understood the mentality of lining wool long-underwear with cotton... the cotton holds moisture and ruins what wool does best, which is wick moisture away from the body.
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zogger
Tree Freak
As for pants, you can kill two birds with one stone here for not very expensive bucks and use the chainsaw cutting pants instead of chaps in the cold weather. I could afford one or the other, so bought the husky chainsaw pants, very comfortable, has a wedge pocket along with regular pockets, real easy to get over boots, and warm. Those layers of kevlar fabric or whatever they use are comfy.
Their rubber kevlar boots are also warm, and you can buy oversize and get felts for them. The boots can be studded but I didn't pop for that feature. Get much oversize for the felt option or they will be too tight.
Yep, bonafide hot in the summer, go back to your chaps and alternative cutting boots then.
Much cheaper than those filsons I just looked at. I am sure those are nice, but 250 is several years total clothing budget for me. Husky cutting boots and pants will run around 170 or so total.
Their rubber kevlar boots are also warm, and you can buy oversize and get felts for them. The boots can be studded but I didn't pop for that feature. Get much oversize for the felt option or they will be too tight.
Yep, bonafide hot in the summer, go back to your chaps and alternative cutting boots then.
Much cheaper than those filsons I just looked at. I am sure those are nice, but 250 is several years total clothing budget for me. Husky cutting boots and pants will run around 170 or so total.
Vermonster
ArboristSite Operative
Wool for base layers. Maybe add a goose down vest and then some kind of a wind resistant shell on the outside.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mentioned our own Johnson Woolen Mills....the unofficial state garment... Jac Shirt in red/black or green/black http://www.johnsonwoolenmills.com/
As well as our home state spun Darn Tough socks, guaranteed for life. http://darntough.com/
Woolpower from Sweden.....the finest merino wool undergarments available.
http://www.woolpower.se/en/
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benp
Addicted to ArboristSite
Jeans, merino socks, tshirt, sweat shirt, boots, jacket, gloves, stocking cap. This is for 90% of my outdoor firewood activities even at -30. I live in Merino socks in the winter. I don't know how many pairs of Wigwam Merino Trail Hiking socks I have.
Any extended activities, I break out the Carhart Arctic Bibs. Keeping your trunk warm plays a big role in not getting cold.
My boots were nothing special. Just Bogs Tradesmans with felt insoles. Those got retired tonite for a pair of Cabelas 1400gm 14" side zips. Just used them for evening stove fill. Only questionable point would be insoles but they have that reflective material on the bottom so I'll give them a chance. If no dice, I'll throw felts in.
Any extended activities, I break out the Carhart Arctic Bibs. Keeping your trunk warm plays a big role in not getting cold.
My boots were nothing special. Just Bogs Tradesmans with felt insoles. Those got retired tonite for a pair of Cabelas 1400gm 14" side zips. Just used them for evening stove fill. Only questionable point would be insoles but they have that reflective material on the bottom so I'll give them a chance. If no dice, I'll throw felts in.
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memory
ArboristSite Guru
I just wear three layers for the top half, basic t-shirt, basic sweatshirt, then a good carharrt jacket. For the bottom half, I wear a pair of blue jeans and a pair of insulated carharrt bibs that zips up to the chest. I never had a problem getting cold in those areas, it's the fingers and feet that get cold real easy. If it is in the single digits or colder, I will put on a ski mask and wear two pair of gloves.
vanhalenps4
ArboristSite Lurker
When it's really cold out there(4 degrees here today in pa) I wear a dust mask that has a one way valve on it for cutting and splitting. Your breath warms it up and retains some of the humidity. I find it doesn't matter how many layers you wear if you're breathing in air that's 0 degrees. You'll cool from the inside out. With the dust mask my nose doesn't freeze and my lungs don't hurt when I start breathing heavier. They're only a dollar or two at the hardware store too
Big_Al
ArboristSite Guru
Another wool fan. I have some filson, woolrich, codet & Johnson pants, bibs and shirts. Haven't noticed any difference in warmth between the brands. Really like the filson wool vest for added warmth & pockets. Like the carhartts too but they tend to absorb moisture & wool doesn't. Wear sorel style pack boots for warm dry feet.
Poindexter
ArboristSite Operative
Good question. I don't disagree with any of the above. First base layer should be synthetic, like poypropylene, like UnderArnour. I have heard good things about UA, don't own any. Acually I bought my wife a UA set a couple years ago and she likes it fine. If its an option choose the "active cut" even if you are very skinny. A good way to get a base layer to bind up in your armpit is to pick up a splitting maul.
First step up from brand X blue jeans I heartily recommend the flannel lined work pants by Carharrt. Great stuff. If you are still cold with a polypropylene base layer and flannel lined Carharrts its time to think about a wool base layer to wear over the polypropylene, or some kind of bib to wear over the pants. I own three base layers and a bib, hopefully it won't get that cold at your place anytime soon.
Feet, my winter boots are about half a size bigger than my summer boots. Liner socks work surprisingly well - if you can fit them in your boot without compressing the loft. Smartwool liner socks are the warmest, but have merino wool in them and tear most quickly if you don't keep your toenails short. Spandex liner socks are almost as good as the smartwools, don't have wool in them and will last longer on toenails. Another one for "really" cold days is toe warmers, just like handwarmers, only thinner and peel-n-stick. I like Little Hotties brand pretty good, I put them outside my liner sock under my toes, my hunting buddy sticks them to the outside of his liner socks above his toes. We're both happy, and were both willing to try other brands.
For outer socks, the thickest merino socks you can afford. Smartwools are great, but they aren't the only folks in the biz. If you have to compress it to put your boots on you need either bigger boots or a lighter weight sock.
Another advantage to leg gaiters is they stop cold air from running up the inside of my pant leg. My favorite ones have a ring of elastic at the very bottom, a second ring of elastic about five inches up and zippers up the side. Hard to find anymore, the ones with the velcro up the front are less favorite for me.
Shirts, layers. Poly base layer and then do what you have to do. Look for a neck gaiter. Like a muffler or a scarf, it'll keep heat from escaping out your shirt collar, only just a short tube of something with no loose ends hanging in your way while you are trying to work. Common in the hunting aisle, also check the skiing aisle for patterns with no camouflage.
if it is cold enough for me to put on my fox fur trapper hat it is too cold to be do anything with firewood except bring more indoors for the stove. I like a simple pullover toque or tobaggan style hat, with thinsulate. I love thinsulate. The hat needs to be generous enough to cover my ears all the way down to the bottom of both ear lobes.
A couple other points.
1. It is Ok to feel cold in the cold. If you stay out in it longer and stop feeling cold, that is when you need to get indoors right now. That loss of sensation signals imminent frostbite, get inside and stay inside for a while. Warming up is going to hurt probably. Whatever it is that is really cold and painful as you warm up, don't touch it. Don't get it wet. Keep it dry, stay close to the stove, don't touch and think about upgrading your gear.
2. Keep your skin dry. The only thing I know of more miserable than cold is cold and wet. If you are sweating under all your layers your body is going to give up a TREMENDOUS amount of heat.
3. Keep your body hydrated. This takes practice, cause stopping to pee and dealing with all those layers is an adventure, but being dehydrated reduces your cold tolerance.
4. No shame in recognizing your limits. If you are cold in ten minutes, that's fine. Try hanging out in a +50dF garage for maybe ten minutes, without going into the +70dF house and then go back outdoors a second time. If you are real intentional about it you can get a whole lot done in an afternoon taken in ten minute bites. But when you are done just recognize it and call it a day; you'll still have tomorrow this way.
First step up from brand X blue jeans I heartily recommend the flannel lined work pants by Carharrt. Great stuff. If you are still cold with a polypropylene base layer and flannel lined Carharrts its time to think about a wool base layer to wear over the polypropylene, or some kind of bib to wear over the pants. I own three base layers and a bib, hopefully it won't get that cold at your place anytime soon.
Feet, my winter boots are about half a size bigger than my summer boots. Liner socks work surprisingly well - if you can fit them in your boot without compressing the loft. Smartwool liner socks are the warmest, but have merino wool in them and tear most quickly if you don't keep your toenails short. Spandex liner socks are almost as good as the smartwools, don't have wool in them and will last longer on toenails. Another one for "really" cold days is toe warmers, just like handwarmers, only thinner and peel-n-stick. I like Little Hotties brand pretty good, I put them outside my liner sock under my toes, my hunting buddy sticks them to the outside of his liner socks above his toes. We're both happy, and were both willing to try other brands.
For outer socks, the thickest merino socks you can afford. Smartwools are great, but they aren't the only folks in the biz. If you have to compress it to put your boots on you need either bigger boots or a lighter weight sock.
Another advantage to leg gaiters is they stop cold air from running up the inside of my pant leg. My favorite ones have a ring of elastic at the very bottom, a second ring of elastic about five inches up and zippers up the side. Hard to find anymore, the ones with the velcro up the front are less favorite for me.
Shirts, layers. Poly base layer and then do what you have to do. Look for a neck gaiter. Like a muffler or a scarf, it'll keep heat from escaping out your shirt collar, only just a short tube of something with no loose ends hanging in your way while you are trying to work. Common in the hunting aisle, also check the skiing aisle for patterns with no camouflage.
if it is cold enough for me to put on my fox fur trapper hat it is too cold to be do anything with firewood except bring more indoors for the stove. I like a simple pullover toque or tobaggan style hat, with thinsulate. I love thinsulate. The hat needs to be generous enough to cover my ears all the way down to the bottom of both ear lobes.
A couple other points.
1. It is Ok to feel cold in the cold. If you stay out in it longer and stop feeling cold, that is when you need to get indoors right now. That loss of sensation signals imminent frostbite, get inside and stay inside for a while. Warming up is going to hurt probably. Whatever it is that is really cold and painful as you warm up, don't touch it. Don't get it wet. Keep it dry, stay close to the stove, don't touch and think about upgrading your gear.
2. Keep your skin dry. The only thing I know of more miserable than cold is cold and wet. If you are sweating under all your layers your body is going to give up a TREMENDOUS amount of heat.
3. Keep your body hydrated. This takes practice, cause stopping to pee and dealing with all those layers is an adventure, but being dehydrated reduces your cold tolerance.
4. No shame in recognizing your limits. If you are cold in ten minutes, that's fine. Try hanging out in a +50dF garage for maybe ten minutes, without going into the +70dF house and then go back outdoors a second time. If you are real intentional about it you can get a whole lot done in an afternoon taken in ten minute bites. But when you are done just recognize it and call it a day; you'll still have tomorrow this way.
Poindexter
ArboristSite Operative
Are your guys's Filson pants really holding up while you fool with firewood?
I have a pair that I bought in 2007. Considering how much I love them and how much they cost me I just don't deal with firewood while I am wearing them. If it is really really cold I will put them under my quilted carharrt bib overalls to go hunting, but stacking firewood in them just seems like abuse maybe given what I paid for them compared to flannel lined carharrts.
I have a pair that I bought in 2007. Considering how much I love them and how much they cost me I just don't deal with firewood while I am wearing them. If it is really really cold I will put them under my quilted carharrt bib overalls to go hunting, but stacking firewood in them just seems like abuse maybe given what I paid for them compared to flannel lined carharrts.
Greenland South
ArboristSite Operative
Cotton kills has been the moto I grew up with.
Greenland South
ArboristSite Operative
J
Just read your post, I've been wearing my Filson wool pants for 3 years now. Every day I spend outdoors in the winter they're on. Everything I own, I buy with the full intention of wearing out. When I look at all the Filson gear I've been using for a long time now, bullet proof comes to mind. Apologies for the crappy pic.
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Dusty Rhodes
ArboristSite Operative
Wear flannel lined pants and a Schmidt (TSC) fleece lined canvas coat for daily outdoor chores. If its really cold and I am out in it for a long spell then its wool layers with the coat overtop. Nothing keeps me warm like wool. Never had an itch problem with wool.
jimbojango
ArboristSite Guru
You guys are wimps! lol... 1 Hooded sweatshirt, regular Levi's a T-shirt and 1 pair of uninsulated bibs. If it gets below 0 then i get the insulated bibs out and if it gets to -10 or -15 (or the wind gets blowing like a you know what) then i put the insulated jacket on and leave the hooded jacket on under it. If it makes it past -30 i really don't know because i haven't been out in weather that cold very long. I never wear gloves unless i'm handling hedge brush and i wear a baseball cap rain or shine 365 days a year.
pair
pair of sweats and Dickey's work pants, about 3 sweat shirts and a facemask of some type, most important garment for me. Have to keep the neck warm. Can't work in Carhartt's, too much bulk. Old pair of camo bibs when it is sub zero and the wind is really blowing. Still looking for a pr of waterproof gloves that are flexible enough to work in
Poindexter
ArboristSite Operative
Easy big guy. I am happy for you that you have a rip roaring metabolic rate, but with all due respect extreme cold is an area where folks need to find their own individual limits. The right gear helps, but there are folks who shouldn't go out in -30dF at all, no matter what gear they have.
I work in a hospital right next door to the nurses who take care of frostbite victims. They had a guy two years ago who went out on his deck at -20dF in bathrobe and slippers for a cigarette, locked himself out of his own house and ended up losing both feet at the ankle.
It's just not worth it folks. If you don't have the right gear to be reasonably comfortable in the weather you got, get indoors until you get some better gear.
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theswampthing
ArboristSite Operative
It all depends on what I'm going to be doing. If I'm working, it's jeans, insulated bibs, t shirt and a hoodie, maybe some long johns. Always wool socks. If I'm sitting in a tree or a boat, I wear fleece long johns, some kind of wool pants, and waders or some kind of insulated bibs. Heavy wool sweater, fleece undershirt and an old Woolrich coat.
For a hat I normally wear just a light beanie over a hat. If it's really cold, I have a fur hat, but that thing is always too damn hot. Also have all kinds of carhartt coats that usually get taken off pretty quick if I'm moving.
Most important is a good hat and socks, for me anyway.
For a hat I normally wear just a light beanie over a hat. If it's really cold, I have a fur hat, but that thing is always too damn hot. Also have all kinds of carhartt coats that usually get taken off pretty quick if I'm moving.
Most important is a good hat and socks, for me anyway.
Synthetic for the first layer - long john underwear, and a long-sleeve shirt with at least 60% synthetic fibers.
Whatever for the second layer - I've got cotton, so that works, but not as well as wool or other stuff which is more expensive. Turtleneck shirt has never failed me.
Outer layer is a pair of jeans and a jacket and hat. I've yet to really need much more than that when properly layered. I've got Carhartt bibs and heavy coats, but it never gets cold enough to need them (10 below isn't cold enough).
I do have some good thinsulate gloves. What a difference those things make.
2 pairs of socks - inner is synthetic, outer is wool/cotton blend.
And the most important thing of all - earbags.
Whatever for the second layer - I've got cotton, so that works, but not as well as wool or other stuff which is more expensive. Turtleneck shirt has never failed me.
Outer layer is a pair of jeans and a jacket and hat. I've yet to really need much more than that when properly layered. I've got Carhartt bibs and heavy coats, but it never gets cold enough to need them (10 below isn't cold enough).
I do have some good thinsulate gloves. What a difference those things make.
2 pairs of socks - inner is synthetic, outer is wool/cotton blend.
And the most important thing of all - earbags.
Greenland South
ArboristSite Operative
Post is turning to my dik is bigger than your dik. It's good to be warm.jimbojango
ArboristSite Guru
I figure you had best be moving if you're dumb enough to be in it. I'm not sitting still and outside below 0. So you guys that think I'm mean calling you wimps probably have a different version of outside. I hate sweating and being cold so I'll take a little extra cold and make use of my pockets for my hands if they aren't actively doing something. I have been out cutting wood and hand splitting for hours well below 0 though and thought I had to many clothes on often.
