Boiled wool mittens

[TartuWolf]

Greetings!
As I've been quite annoyed by my hand freezing while wearing various gloves that I have during this Estonian winter, I've been researching gloves and glove warmth a bit lately.
First, perhaps obvious, realization was that mittens > gloves apart from dexterity.
Then I tried to investigate sheepskin vs knitted mittens.

In terms knitted mittens I tried to understand what are the differences between:
- Sheep wool
- Lambs wool
- Merino wool
- Alpaca wool
- Angora wool
- Mohair
- Camel wool
- Yak wool
- Goat down
Etc...

But one interesting piece of information that I stumbled upon was the idea of "boiled wool (mittens)".
After reading about it a bit it seems like it's a straight up improvement over over regular knitted (any) wool mittens.
Ordered a pair of these for testing : https://edz.co.uk/product/edz-boiled-wool-mittens/
Ordering a pair of wool mittens at the end of winter, very smart, I know..

I guess these are the most famous ones:
https://www.sweaterchalet.com/dachstein-woolwear/dw-3112-adult-mitts/

And then I found this article:
https://newengland.com/yankee/magazine/boiled-wool-mittens/

This part sounds astonishing to me:

Time was that when a man went out in his boat in winter, he took his wool mittens off a nail on board, dipped them in the warm water from the engine, wrung them out, and put them on wet. Then he clapped and beat his hands and swung his arms until his fingers were so red they stung. After that he could work all day, hauling traps from the frigid salt water, working with sloppy, half-frozen bait, or even clamming, and his hands would stay warm.


When he peeled his mittens off at the end of his day, his hands were red and so warm they steamed in the cold air. He hung the mittens up again by little loops on their cuffs and went ashore.

The boiled wool mittens had an amazing insulating quality when wet. They may have been knit by his wife, or he may have bought them — handknit — from the same store that sold him his trap stock, boots, netting shuttles, and other gear. Wherever he got them, they were big, maybe a third bigger than his hand, and made of oily, cream-colored yarn. Some men took them home and soaked them in hot water; others put them in the bilge of their boats and walked on them all day while doing other work. And they shrank. The wool became thicker, the stitches tighter than can be knit, and as the fisherman wore them, wetting them each time in salt water, they shrank and matted even more until they were shaped to his hands and quite stiff when dry.

I would love to hear some thoughts from you folks who have any knowledge or experience with boiled wool mittens (or gloves)!

 

[Carlos840]

I have worn these:

https://www.climbers-shop.com/clothing/gloves-and-mitts/dachstein-mitts__1377025

They are warm as F, they where used by everest climbers etc, not really necessary for everyday life.
In the end, they are just warmer because they have more wool content, ie they are shrunk to fit, so a L size would have started as XL for example and shrank to L, meaning you have more wool on your hand than if you had bought a regular L size. They also have far less holes for air to go through them.
The hole "warm when wet" thing isn't specific to boiled wool, that's true of all wool.

Personally i have found them vastly overkill for everyday life, but i don't live in a place where it gets that cold.
To me they are in the same category as a B3 jacket, they only make sens if it is -10c outside and you are going to be standing around all day...

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I believe boiled is what makes Filson wool different than all other wool. The Filson aficionados can correct me. I don't have experience with mittens, but I do have experience with boiled wool socks. I found them in an antique store a very long time ago. Very dense, and maybe 1.5-2cm thick, and they go up to the knee. This was a long time ago, and I paid $15 for them, which was quite a lot at the time. I believe them to be military surplus, but with lazy searches, I've never found anything similar. My plan was to wear them as winter slippers. That's how thick and dense they are. I never really have because the house would have to be freezing to not overheat in them. I've never been sorry I bought them though. They're a cool, interesting item.

Great topic. Thanks for the links. Wool never ceases to fascinate me. And though the cold, wet thing is rather counter-intuitive, it does make some sense. I believe wool can absorb 40% of its weight without feeling wet to the touch, and like when you look for a quick fix to seal an O-ring, any liquid (water) will help the O-ring seal. In my convoluted sense of things, I can see why water could help seal the wool. I'm guessing the wool absorbs the water, expands, and crushes the fibers into each other, like that wet O-ring does against the sides of the canister.

 

[TartuWolf]

In terms of Filson there does seem to be some relation/similarity between Mackinaw wool, Melton wool and boiled wool. Those socks sound awesome! I bought a pair of thick Alpaca socks recently but I cant wear them - they won't fit into any of my existing boots!

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

well, with another try at searching, I found these images. I haven't looked at mine in a bit, but I'm relatively sure these are the same things