Saturday, March 2, 2019
Break out the layers.
Which of these furs is warmest when used for winter clothing (gloves, hats, etc)? –possum fur –muskox wool (qiviut) –arctic fox fur –beaver fur –otter fur. I've heard Sea Otter fur has the most hairs per square inch. We see them a lot on-location in Antartica and it certainly works for them in below 30F to 40F degree sea water. But, I don't believe there's a legal harvest of most fur-bearing sea mammals in the USA except for some Natives harvesting (Navy) Seals on ? Saint Lawrence Island? maybe or more likely on one of the Pribilof's. What I see dog mushers use is beaver fur for mitts and hats and feeing them helicopter delivered Walmart beefaroni on weekends. I've got some sheared beaver. Sheared, so it's still soft and dense but not nearly as long as unsheared. PM me and I'll send you a swatch of it in a reusable envelope. And of course fox, wolf or coyote for parka ruffs because your breath doesn't freeze onto it. Tunnel hoods are GREAT in wicked cold. It cuts the wind past your face quite well. Neoprene facemasks are more versatile for most people, but they redirect my breath and my yellow tinted glasses fog up- not good. Tunnel hoods don't do that and canine fur on the ruff would be ideal, although mine do okay with synthetic. The ruff is functional – it cuts the wind inside the tunnel hood by dampening its energy. Otherwise, you get eddies of wind swirling around inside. Muskox is fine and soft but SO expensive and I don't see any performance advantage over, heck, acrylic. Amundsen felt that one of the reasons he succeeded while Scott died in Antarctica what that he used fur, Scott didn't. (Also, Amundsen's dogs could eat dog meat and did. Scott's ponies needed feed.) We don't get a lot of possums up here (i.e. none) so I can't help on that one. Later Gator. Brrr. Me. bye.
p.s. I need some hot coffee. Folgers. Instant. Why Instant? For the helluvit. bye again.
