I realize that this was a few years ago. BUT. A lot of medieval cloaks were lined with linen, and doubtless waxed during winter, making them wind proof. Mittens, wool inner mitten, waxed linen outer mitten. Boots, leather boots, waxed linen over boots in winter. In real winter, wet is dead. They knew that for sure. And yes, these are real solutions, historically accurate. I grew up before gortex, waxed canvas was our winter friend. Central Alberta.
It's also worth mentioning that there is a very good reason why people in the far north avoid travelling in the wet, and will do most of their travelling when it is so cold that nothing is melting. The out-of-print book, "The Winter Wilderness Companion" covers the topic of far north travel using traditional methods very well. Liquid water is the worst. Once it gets so cold that all precipitation comes down as snow, you are good to good.
Mittens, dude. Take some advice from the Northern Germanic folk. We have ample evidence, from primary sources, sagas, and archaeological finds (though those are rarer) that the Norse and Anglo Saxons both wore mittens pretty regularly in cold weather, and for pure warmth they're superior to gloves because the individual fingers are now sharing heat. The only thing you really need your fingers for is fine motor activities, like lacing, fine cutting, etc. Much of that will be done inside, and if you have to do it outside, you can just take your mittens off. Otherwise, you can split wood, carry wood, haul water, carry a feed bucket, and do *most* other outdoor chores in mittens with just a little practice. Aside from a bow or late-medieval weaponry (such as swords with more advanced grips/guards), it isn't hard to swing a one-handed sword, maneuver a shield, or strike/parry with an axe or spear while wearing mittens.
I suppose, if you don't mind a bit of cultural mixing, you could try using an Eastern style thumb-draw if you really needed to do archery while wearing mittens. Not sure how well it would work, but it might be worth testing.
I just wanted to say that, having lived through Northern New England winters with temps down to -25F, wool can do the job, but it cannot do the job alone. You need to have an outer layer over the wool that traps air, whether it is finely-woven cotton or leather, or something else. Obviously, cotton and leather are really only suitable when it is so cold that rain is not a probability, but I have been perfectly comfortable doing outdoor tasks even as low as -10 to -15F with a couple of thick layers of wool and a suede jacket over that. In wetter conditions, you will want waxed cotton/oilcloth or the like as your outermost layer. For handwear, I like wool gloves with waterproofed leather "chopper" mittens over them.
Another great video. I too was wondering why you didn’t have your hood up. Saw your reply in a comment. Sometimes, fashion over function is the way to go. ;) Cody Lundin, a wilderness survival expert and teacher, famously does not wear shoes. Ever. During his winter episode of Duel Survival, he only wore thick wool socks. Three pair. He kept a fourth pair dry for the campsite, in case he needed them while the others dried by the fire. He didn’t. The socks had superior gripping power and insulation to his partners modern cold weather boots. I gave up on water proof/resistant shoes years ago. I now go with fast drying, well ventilated shoes. As far as socks go, I only wear wool these days. Light socks in the warmer months and heavy socks in the colder months. (All the light ones are identical. All the heavy ones are identical.) The shoes I wear daily are a modern mess style that dry quickly and do not hold water in them. The wool holds water, but wicks moisture to the outside over time and keep my feet from getting that bathtub wrinkle. The initial shock as the water or snow/slush soaks through to my feet goes away quickly as the wool socks go to work keeping my feet warm. I always keep an extra dry pair in the car or close to hand. I have been using this style of footwear for over 6 years through every kind of weather from 100+F to near -20F in the ozark mountains without issue. In my opinion, wool socks are a huge player in keeping your feet warm and reducing or eliminating the chance of trench foot.
In the middle ages and Renaissance, wooden clips were not exclusive to the Netherlands. They were common throughout much of western Europe. Certainly, the peasants wore them, however I am certain that freeman and adventures also took advantage of their dryness.
You would do well to get a pair of thin, dress socks and a pair of thick 100% wool socks. Firstly; wearing multiple socks avoids blisters and hot spots on your feet when walking. Secondly, traditional wool retains 80% of its' thermal value when wet and also swells to become fairly water proof (Especially if it still has lanolin, hence traditional). The doubled socks will make walking more comfortable and keep your feet fairly dry despite wet boots. Another tip is to change your socks often; whenever you find dry land you should stop to dry off your feet, change your socks, and wrap your wet socks in a dry cloth (layer the socks and wrap it up so its' spiraled with the dry cloth). that'll keep your feet dry long enough to get the feeling back in them, as well as begin to dry off your socks incase you HAVE to wear them again. Always settle for camp before all your clothes are wet - you want to have dry clothing while setting camp or else you're label to shiver while making fire. Lastly, and this is the biggest; remember CBAN: Cold, Burning, Aching, Numbness. If you let yourself get numb, you're potentially going to lose a digit - don't let it happen, period. Let people know where you are, have a cellphone, have flares, have quick-burning product like oilcloth and a windproof lighter. Those last few hours before you die, you're not thinking about how badass Aragorn is - the woods don't give a shit about your fantasy, you can fuck around - but you cant fuck up.
Some tips about modern wool. Most "army"/governmentally issued wool items have 3 drawbacks for people who are looking for the performance of traditional wool. First, they are almost entirely devoid of lanolin. That is the natural oils that add the water resistant property to the wool. Lanolin also helps with heat retention. Second, the material is often "recycled" wool. That means it is actual wool but is has been re-manufactured from broken, shorter fibers than "proper" wool. This also adds to the scratchiness, loss of water resistance & some heat retention. 3rd and final, is the combo fiber make up. Adding poly to wool makes it cheaper and easier to work with but it changes the "weave" of the material creating more gaps that loose heat and it also makes it prone to deforming during exposure to direct/campfire heat. There are products and methods to reintroduce lanolin back into wool but be careful using them because you can end up smelling like the sheep the oil came from, which may not be bad depending on you uses but it has also been anecdotally proven to attract more biting insects as sheep & goats are the target of many of the nastiest of these. I.e. Deer flies, Black flies, mosquitos, gnats, midges, no seeums but especially ticks!! Neat channel and I'm glad I stumbled on it.
YES! Lanolin is the biggest key to making proper water resistant and WARM wool. It makes such a difference when the wool stays dry. If your running into issues with biting insects you can spray some essential oils of a few different types and it repels them powerfully. Lavender and peppermint in particular are very effective though DO NOT USE LAVENDER if you have pets... the Oil is toxic to our furry family members.
Once it is cold enough to have "dry" snow, the problem of winter footwear is somewhat simplified. But, you are in the "barely frozen" winter slush range...and that is hard to manage. You may need to have winter boots made in a size or two larger. Have a second bit of sole leather added to the bottom. Look at "canoe" moccasins for an idea of how to attach this second sole layer -- in particular, offset the seams to help limit water ingress. If practical, add a 1/4" (6mm) thick layer of cork between the two sole layers. This helps provide immediate insulation from the ground. Inside the boot, add felted wool liner to the base of the boot -- 1/4"-1/2" thick (6-12mm). Overall, this should give you a net-net insole to ground thickness of 3/4" to 1". These boots will be stiffer and heavier than your 3 season boots -- but the additional protection from cold may be worth while. Wear a second pair of wool socks. It is important to have LOOSE socks when layering. You do not want to have the socks squeeze all the blood flow out of your lower legs and feet. Be sure the boot is large enough to contain your foot and all that sock material without overly compressing the insulation. There are modern waterproof socks that may help, if you are willing to consider such things. Outside the boot, use a "water proofing" wax to help seal the boot against moisture. SnoSeal is one modern option. Heat the boot up with a hair dryer or a heat gun on LOW. Apply a thin & even layer of the wax. Heat the leather again until the wax absorbs into the leather. Pay special attention to the welt seam where the sole attaches to the upper. Reapply a leather conditioner and additional wax as needed.
At one of my first major SCA events i picked up a mundane 'modern' tri-fold chair. It was a small chair that i could open and sit upon when i needed. Awkward to carry though. So i found a leatherworker willing to spend most of the event making me 20 sheathes for the case of 'M1 bayonettes' throwing knives i had purchased. He also made me what looks like an arrow quiver that holds the tri-fold chair. I can carry that, it looks period, and i can sit anywhere without getting wet or dirty. More importantly as i've gotten older (52), my knees cause me serious pain getting up and down from the ground, this chair fixes that. BTW, you can get rolls of sticky paper intended to line cabinet shelving at the Dollar Store that has a wood grain...wrap that around aluminum poles and other modern things to disguise them.
I think for myself, when it comes to my feet I want to make absolutely sure they stay dry. I'll most likely be getting a pair of modern, simplistic work boots that are already weather proof and wear gaiters/greaves over them so that way they don't stick out like a sore thumb. Great video, Kramer! I really enjoy these old videos of yours.
Awesome to see people watching them! Nothing makes me appreciate modern convenience as much as wearing ununsulated, non-waterproof shoes in the winter.
As someone who regularly goes to places like Goodwill, I highly recommend trench coats that are a size too big, for having my denim jacket under the trench, making an excellent raincoat and great insulation. With those big pockets my scarf, light gloves, heavy gloves, thermal hat, glass cases, extra bandana, and chapstick all fit, so that is all I need for a winter day is my jacket and my coat for a below 0° (f) walk, that is comfortable.
Speaking as someone who has lived in a cold climate, you definitely need a hood or a hat (or both-layer the hood over the hat). If you only have a hood, wrapping a scarf around it to keep it in place and protect the face is a good idea (and easy to remove if you get too warm). For feet and hands, definitely get wool socks (layered even) and mittens (unless you absolutely need the manual dexterity of gloves, mittens will keep the fingers warmer).
I would think some types of irish knitted wool sweaters and caps would with the theme as well. I can wear my sweater with a military fatigue shirt or dress shirt and it replaces a jacket to the point I have let others less prepared use my jacket.
Also, when people knew they were going to have to walk in wet places, some people wore wooden sabots on over their shoes or boots to at least have a chance of staying up a couple inches higher and maybe out of the water.
I just had a Capote made from a wool blanket in the design of the fur trapping era, it may be too "modern" for a ranger type garb but it definitely suits the idea of a heavy wool overcoat for when the winter wind is trying to flay you
*high fives* Huzzah for functional winter garb! My current winter cloak is faux serpa suede, not wool, but it's thick and has wide overlapping panels at the front that get belted down. I also added some loop/hook securements to the side slits to keep the back from flapping around uselessly in strong winds. That addition alone makes it more complicated than a historically accurate cloak, but when I'm going for warmth, it still keeps the aesthetic well enough that I'm not worried about it. I plan on making a thin but properly wool cloak next, using a much simpler pattern, and layering that under the thick one as needed. Boots come after that, then from there I'll start working on non-costume-y tunics. Fabric is expensive though, and my sewing machine keeps breaking, so that'll be rather far off in the future. Keep making awesome videos! It's great to see other people being as fashionably weird as me, and even more so! Very inspiring! :D
Or if you are our camp/adventuring/traveling and staying out of doors that illustrates how nice a spare pair of socks would be while drying the day's socks and boots by the fire.
Even though you might not start out with waterproof items, like boots, there are relatively easy (and period-appropriate) DIY methods of waterproofing. I would suggest considering researching that.
I would imagine with the wax they had for candles that a lot of their kit was highly water proof and not just water resistant and many had fur lined everything if they lived in climes that required more insulation...Mind Set of One Who Has lived and Seen the Truly Tested Kits and Gear
Cold showers are a good way of training your body to endure extremes in temperature. I think Dunedain Rangers has talked about cold endurance; another good channel for that is ReWildUniversity. And then of course there's Wim Hof . . .
You have some awesome video's :) I hope you won't get mad if I comment on to many of you're video's, and if you do, just don't bother replying ;) "How do I you stay warm on the trail?" this year I've been wearing fantasy/historic garb almost all winter (hardly using modern clothes at all - I think I've gone a bit mad because of lock-down) but I find that two, and in extremes three layers of wool, and a cloak are needed. But usually only 1 layer of wool on you're arms (you don't loose much heat and more than one layer can get in the way of movement). Some simple additions to you're kit that would help you would be mittens to cover you're fingers and a wool surcoat to give you two layers of wool over your torso to keep core heat in, also hoods are good to keep rain/snow off but I find they don't do a lot to keep you're head warm, if you get a thin wool hat to wear under your hood it will make the world of difference
Thank you! Please comment away! I could talk about this stuff all day, always happy to make a friend. Good advice with the surcoat and hat! I actually have a solution for my second layer problem, but that will be a video someday down the road ;)
@@LivingAnachronism I'm glad you don't mind, and I'll look forward to more of you're video's also, I think you have the cloak idea totally right. I find cloaks don't keep me all that warm because of all the air space underneath them, yes you can make them thicker and front fastening but then they just get in the way more. In my mind a cloak is a shell layer (like the thin waterproof hiking coats you have now) not to keep heat in but to prevent you're warm under layers from getting wet, the most optimum cloak fabric is thin-ish dense boiled wool that sheds water/snow well, but since all it needs to do is keep weather off you're shoulders and back (and bags, bed-roll, quiver, sword etc... if you have them) it fastening down the front isn't totally necessary
I wear a fur hat that has those flaps that cover my ears...world of difference keeping me warm in the winter. My intention is to make a floppy wide-brimmed hat that will velcro over my fur hat to also keep the rain off my glasses. I am blind as a bat...nearsighted, my focus is 5 inches in front of my nose, so they are not optional. I could shoot arrows just fine without them, but i wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a shabby human or a well-dressed orc.
far as the boots.. pack several extra pairs of dry socks for extended adventures. change into dry socks once or twice a day. between the scouts growing up and the Army plus 45 years of hunting in the woods in the wet an snow or northeast ohio it's like you said... "the mindset" .. it's just mind over matter... because if you don't mind... it doesn't matter.
so, i'm kind of late but, in medieval times here in spain (and in many other parts of europe if not most of europe), common folk would have used wood clogs? i think it's the name in english? (zuecos in spanish or madreñas in asturias (we have many names for them and are still used today)), because the north of spain gets really snowy in the winter and basically wet the whole year so you don't want to walk around with all that mud, so basically they are made out of a sigle piece of green wood (typically alder, beech or walnut) they are used with the shoes on and they keep the warmth and keep the water out basically, so nope people didn't like having their feet wet either, love your channel P.D: i get that clogs are not as asthetically pleasing as other type of shoes but i think it's an idea you can work around if you want like, make a base of wood that elevates your boots over the mud, medieval ones for example were more like a wood plank with a platform and then had a leather strip to make kind of a sandal for the shoe idk just giving ideas
On the wet feet and soaked boots thing. Two issues to consider, Trench foot is a thing! And as someone who has suffered from it, it is NOT pleasant and once you get it its very easy to getvit again. Two if its both cold and wet depending on the actual temperature frostbite is also a possibility! Proper wool socks would be a necessity during winter months.
I think there are methods and products that you can use to treat the boots to make them more waterproof. I think for the cloak or usually with cotton fabric you can treat it with a type of wax that makes it waterproof. But if u wash it especially with warmer water it can dissolve the wax proofing. Great videos by the way! The one about the cloaks is very cool! Im all about that classic thief / elf ranger cloak tho haha
One big thing that will help is keep your head covered. That's what ye olde fur-lined hoods were for. You have almost no insulating fat and muscle layer under your scalp and lots of blood vessels out there being heat-exchangers in the winter temps. And like somebody else said, you need 100% virgin wool, not a synthetic blend of re-used "shoddy" stuff. That's "shoddy" in the technical original meaning.
This is a great video. Do you have a group of friends that do the same experiments? If so, I hope you share your experiences and thoughts with each other. It will help simulate what medieval communities did to develop how to better survive and thrive in different environments.
Besides the hood or some other head covering, I noticed that you were wearing jeans which are near useless as winter wear. The core body extends from head to lower thigh so wool pants would have helped considerably. In this video, wind chill was your big enemy, not so much the specific temperature. Without the wind you would have likely been quite comfortable. Last suggestion, your camera girl should have been under your cloak, snuggled up to you. ;)
She was between takes ;). I didn't realize those pants look so much like jeans on camera. They are Grey cotton joggers, arguable even less warm than jeans! I've upgraded slightly since. Wind chill is the enemy haha! Thanks for you advice, Cheers, mate!
U need a longer cloak. Rangers would have had longer cloaks to allow them to cover their whole bodies to blend in to the surrounding areas/terrain well. Also a longer cloak would provide u a sort of blanket kind of deal to wrap ur self up in when sitting doing nothing in the cold. As for the gloves, full gloves should be fine. Obviously not cotton ones, but more likely leather ones maybe with some sort of padding inside them (so not full plain leather only). If u get worried about using gloves for archery for any sort of reason, a book I have been reading has a Ranger talking about how he uses gloves with reinforced fingertips (more so for archery then the cold, but still) - pretty much, the way his gloves r made r to act in place of finger guards. I don’t know what they’re reinforced with though, sorry about that part.
Judging from the moisture in the snow I'm thinking it's warmer than -10C I'd be interested in what the temp was. I do not believe the outfit would be enough in a Canadian January.
It was probably just around thirty. I was NOT dressed properly for anything colder. I've upgraded elements since then, I needed better materials and more layers
I decided that my next Larp Character is going to be a Ranger. That has the added benefit, that the new gear I'm going to make, will also work for most generic NPCs. The biggest challenge will be to get in ranger shape, though. Do you have a pattern for that wool tunic? It looks well made, and I like especially how the sleeves are fastened. If you still got trouble with soaking wet boots, I would recommend applying wax with the help of a hair-dryer. Applying Ballistol ( WD40 etc) several times supposedly also helps.
I don't know if I have a pattern for this tunic, I will look and see what I can do. I'll definitely use wax on future shoes, these ones are not long for this world
Not at all period but wearing plastic bags on your feet under your boots or an outer layer of socks will keep your feet dry. And speaking of layer, layers of clothing are your friends. 3 pairs of socks, extra pants, shirts, mittens over gloves etc helps trap body heat. You need a hat and scarf as well.
I feel like ur boots are more light weather boots. Pretty sure Rangers would have had different boots for winter but not sure, I know if I was a ranger I would want boots made for winter Btw you need a full Winter Cloak that would help with the Wind chill
Yes, I have stopped putting Amazon links on my channel, due to how the Rings of Power marketing has been attacking and subverting fans of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.
With your feet wet in just a few hours you would have major hypothermia and risk death you would be better stripping off the boots and if nesessarry put your wool gloves on your feet and put your hands in armpits or crotch to keep them warm and either build fire or shelter at least a wind break or like you said bring your skinny freezing body back to home or the closest heat source because without a doubt you will die out there..fun fact in 40 degree weather if your feet are wet or body damp from sweat you can get hypothermia in 20 minutes..i understand trying out your gear but from then on make sure you have like a rescue pack with like a road flare because getting fire with hands numb and shaking freezing body twitching that flare will get just about anything burning if nothing it itself can get you some warmth enough to function.a thermas with a hot soup or hot chocolate to wam your core and your body will want the sugar....wow sorry so long i didnt realize.but i lived in north dakota for years and its extreme cold out there
Awesome video! You said your tunic is custom made, was that someone you bought it from so you can point us to this persons website? Or was it made by a friend? Just wondering because I would love to have one myself haha
While you do need to toughen up your body's tolerance to cold/wet (well duh) your gear must work adequately whether at a renfair or for LARP you are going to be out of doors and should dress accordingly. If you do not, you will suffer injuries. I know people who have had cold/hot weather injuries that effect them decades later. Dress for the weather then add costume on top.
For one thing, "hiking" was really quite uncommon throughout history. There's no toughing it out - it's simple thermodynamics, if your core drops 2ºC then you become hypothermic and your body and brain ceases functioning properly, no amount of acclimation can get around that - the only differences are that people had more resourceful, resilient mindsets and possibly better metabolisms and mental tolerance depending on age and background. People regularly died of exposure, and frostbite must have been very common. Contrary to a very common myth, wool is not actually warm when wet, only when damp - once the air gaps in the weave fill with water, it is as conductive as any wet clothing, and though evaporative chill is slowed as the fabric dries slower than modern fleece, it will sap heat for hours if not days as it stays wet, unlike fleece which can be wrung out and is inherently hydrophobic. Don't believe me? Soak your wool and step outside on a chill day. People made sure that they had spare clothing to use while their wet set dried. For historic people, hiking often meant travelling between inns (rough sleeping was practically against the law in parts of medieval England, for instance) where they would have a chance to eat warm food and dry out by a fire. Prehistoric peoples are well known for their migratory shelters like yurts and tipis and obsession with caves for shelter and warmth, and would prize any animal fur with oils that gave it water resistance like beaver, seal etc because being wet is basically a death sentence in prolonged exposure to cold temps and winds. On days with terrible wet weather, people would simply find shelter and wait it out unless forced to be exposed, in which case they would do anything they could to keep their valuable insulation dry and preserve warmth, from making fires underneath their cloaks, to huddling together under rocks and trees. You can be clever about staying dry in a ranger way though - oilskin coats, stormproof hood designs, a tightly woven windproof layer, cloaks, rain skirts / chaps, waterproofed canvas socks and oiled boots, plenty of spare socks, fast drying linen or thin wool baselayer, an oilskin bag to preserve your precious nighttime insulation and spare camp clothes (essential to change into in cold weather to prevent flash cooling and conduction/convection cooling), quick ways to make fire for tea/meals and lots of fat in your diet for nighttime warmth. There's no getting around it, winter and shoulder season camping requires far more gear than fair-weather Dunedain would have carried and it's very cool to see you testing it out.
Also, looking at your video I'd a very simple way to instantly get more warmth out of the same outfit: try a kidney wrap, which is a simple garment - just cloth or wool wrapped around your stomach, slightly overlapping your butt, like a cummerbund. Your cloak covers your upper body but you radiate a huge amount of heat from your core section which looks relatively unprotected. This also looks fucking cool if I do say so and can replace a belt for hanging pouches. Also, your neck is far too exposed in lots of the shots. Wrap the cloak a little higher and tighter and as soon as you start to experience cooling, flip up the hood to counter the "chimney effect" and trap all that rising hot air from your insulation - hooded garments and blankets worn as hoods are very very common throughout history for this same reason. We radiate a huge amount of heat from our necks, ankles and forearms as they aren't protected with fat and contain a lot of blood vessels over large surface area. Conversely, expose these or dampen the cloth around them in hot weather to instantly cool in heat.
And the last thing is that wool, while pretty warm and durable, is only going to be as warm as it is thick, and normal sheeps wool is not an incredible insulator - easily beaten by the hollow fibres of camel, alpaca and possum etc which trap a lot more dead air owing to being hollow. Thickness dictates warmth - your tunic may be tough and dense, but might not actually be that thick, especially compared to the thickness of a padded jacket, the defacto modern insulative clothing. The looser the weave of the wool tunic, the larger the air gaps and the more insulative dead air can be trapped in the gaps, which is the whole function of warm clothes - but it becomes more fragile and wind will more easily move that hot air away, so it needs an overcoat or jerkin to act as a windbreaker (and also provide a little warmth owing to the thickness of something like suede or canvas, which again stops the body cooling by trapping dead air). Woodstrekker's blog has an excellent series of articles on wool blankets and historic trekking, and some tests debunking common myths about wool as an insulator. I'd recommend getting a padded gambeson or making a tunic out of padded quilted fabric, the thicker the padding the warmer it will be. For lightweight and reliable clothing, you can use down for natural padding material, or compromise and use a synthetic which will handle moisture - it's replacing the historic cotton, kapok or wool fibres used as the fluffy filling inside a gambeson, which all have their drawbacks (loose wool easily felts aka permanently stitches together and compresses quickly when warm and damp, cotton/kapok will not dry in cold weather and can mould, and they are both very very heavy compared to down). This will be an anachronism that you will be really grateful for in bad weather and still looks completely historic if you use natural outer fabrics (make sure its a down proof weave if you use goose down). If you want to learn some more cool stuff about cold weather clothing, look up the "dew point" too - where your body's moisture stops travelling as vapour (like a gas) and condenses into water. This can happen within the clothing if its cold enough out, leading to a reduction in its warmth - which you likely won't notice as wool can absorb a lot of water without *feeling* wet (it's still getting wet and therefore conducting precious heat). Most important thing is to insulate your core, keep your clothing as dry as possible and change out of damp clothing when you're standing around static as your body is no longer generating the same heat as when it was moving and your muscles were firing, so you need maximum insulation to trap in your resting body heat.
I’m no re-enactor but I’ve slept a number of nights with a wool blanket under a tarp, a proper fire like a Siberian log fire or similar is critical imo. I wouldn’t want a fully waterproofed cloak but I wear a wool blanket as a match coat sometimes. Having a layer of untreated canvas, even over just your shoulders allows the canvas to remain waterproof by not touching your skin and breaking the surface tension.
@@charliemcdowell5231 Sounds fun, what kind of temperatures did that take you to? That's really interesting about the match coat. Doesn't the wool get soaked by capillary action of the water wicking from the canvas? Does moving around break the surface tension?
@@Finn-pe7uj well, I fully expected to get soaked. what I did was I tested this a few winters ago, St Louis MO. It was 34 degrees F, barely above freezing. For 1 hour I walked the neighborhood in driving rain that caused strong rivers in the road which pushed through the e-vent membrane of my waterproof boots even. Wore a thin shirt beneath so that i'd be able to feel wetness easier. Canvas was totally soaked and wet to the touch, but upon returning home and making sure my hands were dry, the wool felt dry to the touch. The canvas was a polish shelter half. My guess is that while the wool was touching wet canvas, the canvas barely accepted "fresh" water as the fabric swells and locks up as it saturates. Wool is somewhat hydrophobic (the outside fiber anyway, the inside of the fiber is hydrophilic). This means that with the pressure of driving rain taken away by the canvas and not much fresh water coming in it didn't want to go into the wool. I don't know just how long it would hold out. I had to go inside cuz I was starting to sweat under the blanket which would skew my test.
one thing you can do as i learned living on the street for a time , although this is cheating , if you want to wear you adventure foot wear, before putting them on use the small plastic bags they use at food marts and put them on over your socks before you put your boots on these will keep your feet dry and warm guaranteed. as for the rest or your gear if you look at my other comment when you went camping it still holds true
as for your top gear a heavy canvas top used as a wind break is needed over your other garb. something like those western trail coats. you can cut the canvas to fit your preferred look. oh and if you wear animal skin be sure to wear the fur side on the inside. and wear your hood with a hat underneath.
Wool socks are a manly man's best friend. Also... th-cam.com/video/lhSU0EbSiRg/w-d-xo.html If you wanna get particularly creative, boil some water to fill you water skin and keep it close to the body.
I do not think you were dressed correctly for that type of weather, example must be taken from the natives of Eurasia who are still wearing what their ancestors used to wear for cold weather.
I was not at all. Had to test some things out, I've been learning more and making changes and upgrades since then and part of the channel is taking people on my own journey as well :)
60 seconds in ...black wich the average medevile person count afford. And black then was still not black ..an obvious modern military blanket and metal eyelets. That didn't exsit till the late 1800s ...that's 1800s not the 800s. Lmao, if ur in DnD that's fine I guess .but I've done ( historical) reenactment for over 35 year and strive to b as historical accurate as possible... ..soooo Deadpool in fairy wings. My b ok for a renfare ...not at a living history event..
I realize that this was a few years ago. BUT. A lot of medieval cloaks were lined with linen, and doubtless waxed during winter, making them wind proof. Mittens, wool inner mitten, waxed linen outer mitten. Boots, leather boots, waxed linen over boots in winter.
In real winter, wet is dead. They knew that for sure. And yes, these are real solutions, historically accurate. I grew up before gortex, waxed canvas was our winter friend. Central Alberta.
It's also worth mentioning that there is a very good reason why people in the far north avoid travelling in the wet, and will do most of their travelling when it is so cold that nothing is melting. The out-of-print book, "The Winter Wilderness Companion" covers the topic of far north travel using traditional methods very well. Liquid water is the worst. Once it gets so cold that all precipitation comes down as snow, you are good to good.
Great point, I'd much rather walk through powdered snow than cold water, and I imagine it would be less damaging for equipment as well.
Mittens, dude. Take some advice from the Northern Germanic folk. We have ample evidence, from primary sources, sagas, and archaeological finds (though those are rarer) that the Norse and Anglo Saxons both wore mittens pretty regularly in cold weather, and for pure warmth they're superior to gloves because the individual fingers are now sharing heat.
The only thing you really need your fingers for is fine motor activities, like lacing, fine cutting, etc. Much of that will be done inside, and if you have to do it outside, you can just take your mittens off.
Otherwise, you can split wood, carry wood, haul water, carry a feed bucket, and do *most* other outdoor chores in mittens with just a little practice. Aside from a bow or late-medieval weaponry (such as swords with more advanced grips/guards), it isn't hard to swing a one-handed sword, maneuver a shield, or strike/parry with an axe or spear while wearing mittens.
Came to the comments to find or make the mittens suggestion. Found it. :D
I suppose, if you don't mind a bit of cultural mixing, you could try using an Eastern style thumb-draw if you really needed to do archery while wearing mittens. Not sure how well it would work, but it might be worth testing.
There's also such thing as 3 finger mittens I mean people weren't idiots back then they could probably make mittens or gloves 🧤
I just wanted to say that, having lived through Northern New England winters with temps down to -25F, wool can do the job, but it cannot do the job alone. You need to have an outer layer over the wool that traps air, whether it is finely-woven cotton or leather, or something else. Obviously, cotton and leather are really only suitable when it is so cold that rain is not a probability, but I have been perfectly comfortable doing outdoor tasks even as low as -10 to -15F with a couple of thick layers of wool and a suede jacket over that. In wetter conditions, you will want waxed cotton/oilcloth or the like as your outermost layer.
For handwear, I like wool gloves with waterproofed leather "chopper" mittens over them.
Another great video.
I too was wondering why you didn’t have your hood up. Saw your reply in a comment. Sometimes, fashion over function is the way to go. ;)
Cody Lundin, a wilderness survival expert and teacher, famously does not wear shoes. Ever. During his winter episode of Duel Survival, he only wore thick wool socks. Three pair. He kept a fourth pair dry for the campsite, in case he needed them while the others dried by the fire. He didn’t. The socks had superior gripping power and insulation to his partners modern cold weather boots.
I gave up on water proof/resistant shoes years ago. I now go with fast drying, well ventilated shoes. As far as socks go, I only wear wool these days. Light socks in the warmer months and heavy socks in the colder months. (All the light ones are identical. All the heavy ones are identical.) The shoes I wear daily are a modern mess style that dry quickly and do not hold water in them. The wool holds water, but wicks moisture to the outside over time and keep my feet from getting that bathtub wrinkle. The initial shock as the water or snow/slush soaks through to my feet goes away quickly as the wool socks go to work keeping my feet warm. I always keep an extra dry pair in the car or close to hand. I have been using this style of footwear for over 6 years through every kind of weather from 100+F to near -20F in the ozark mountains without issue.
In my opinion, wool socks are a huge player in keeping your feet warm and reducing or eliminating the chance of trench foot.
In the middle ages and Renaissance, wooden clips were not exclusive to the Netherlands. They were common throughout much of western Europe. Certainly, the peasants wore them, however I am certain that freeman and adventures also took advantage of their dryness.
You would do well to get a pair of thin, dress socks and a pair of thick 100% wool socks. Firstly; wearing multiple socks avoids blisters and hot spots on your feet when walking. Secondly, traditional wool retains 80% of its' thermal value when wet and also swells to become fairly water proof (Especially if it still has lanolin, hence traditional). The doubled socks will make walking more comfortable and keep your feet fairly dry despite wet boots.
Another tip is to change your socks often; whenever you find dry land you should stop to dry off your feet, change your socks, and wrap your wet socks in a dry cloth (layer the socks and wrap it up so its' spiraled with the dry cloth). that'll keep your feet dry long enough to get the feeling back in them, as well as begin to dry off your socks incase you HAVE to wear them again.
Always settle for camp before all your clothes are wet - you want to have dry clothing while setting camp or else you're label to shiver while making fire. Lastly, and this is the biggest; remember CBAN: Cold, Burning, Aching, Numbness. If you let yourself get numb, you're potentially going to lose a digit - don't let it happen, period. Let people know where you are, have a cellphone, have flares, have quick-burning product like oilcloth and a windproof lighter. Those last few hours before you die, you're not thinking about how badass Aragorn is - the woods don't give a shit about your fantasy, you can fuck around - but you cant fuck up.
Some tips about modern wool. Most "army"/governmentally issued wool items have 3 drawbacks for people who are looking for the performance of traditional wool.
First, they are almost entirely devoid of lanolin. That is the natural oils that add the water resistant property to the wool. Lanolin also helps with heat retention.
Second, the material is often "recycled" wool. That means it is actual wool but is has been re-manufactured from broken, shorter fibers than "proper" wool. This also adds to the scratchiness, loss of water resistance & some heat retention.
3rd and final, is the combo fiber make up. Adding poly to wool makes it cheaper and easier to work with but it changes the "weave" of the material creating more gaps that loose heat and it also makes it prone to deforming during exposure to direct/campfire heat.
There are products and methods to reintroduce lanolin back into wool but be careful using them because you can end up smelling like the sheep the oil came from, which may not be bad depending on you uses but it has also been anecdotally proven to attract more biting insects as sheep & goats are the target of many of the nastiest of these. I.e. Deer flies, Black flies, mosquitos, gnats, midges, no seeums but especially ticks!!
Neat channel and I'm glad I stumbled on it.
YES! Lanolin is the biggest key to making proper water resistant and WARM wool. It makes such a difference when the wool stays dry. If your running into issues with biting insects you can spray some essential oils of a few different types and it repels them powerfully. Lavender and peppermint in particular are very effective though DO NOT USE LAVENDER if you have pets... the Oil is toxic to our furry family members.
Interesting comments, I didn't know those details about lanolin.
Once it is cold enough to have "dry" snow, the problem of winter footwear is somewhat simplified. But, you are in the "barely frozen" winter slush range...and that is hard to manage.
You may need to have winter boots made in a size or two larger. Have a second bit of sole leather added to the bottom. Look at "canoe" moccasins for an idea of how to attach this second sole layer -- in particular, offset the seams to help limit water ingress. If practical, add a 1/4" (6mm) thick layer of cork between the two sole layers. This helps provide immediate insulation from the ground. Inside the boot, add felted wool liner to the base of the boot -- 1/4"-1/2" thick (6-12mm). Overall, this should give you a net-net insole to ground thickness of 3/4" to 1". These boots will be stiffer and heavier than your 3 season boots -- but the additional protection from cold may be worth while.
Wear a second pair of wool socks. It is important to have LOOSE socks when layering. You do not want to have the socks squeeze all the blood flow out of your lower legs and feet. Be sure the boot is large enough to contain your foot and all that sock material without overly compressing the insulation. There are modern waterproof socks that may help, if you are willing to consider such things.
Outside the boot, use a "water proofing" wax to help seal the boot against moisture. SnoSeal is one modern option. Heat the boot up with a hair dryer or a heat gun on LOW. Apply a thin & even layer of the wax. Heat the leather again until the wax absorbs into the leather. Pay special attention to the welt seam where the sole attaches to the upper. Reapply a leather conditioner and additional wax as needed.
This is a fantastic comment, thank you!
DUUUDE the flaps thar hide the lacing for the removable sleeves is AWESOME!!
At one of my first major SCA events i picked up a mundane 'modern' tri-fold chair. It was a small chair that i could open and sit upon when i needed. Awkward to carry though.
So i found a leatherworker willing to spend most of the event making me 20 sheathes for the case of 'M1 bayonettes' throwing knives i had purchased.
He also made me what looks like an arrow quiver that holds the tri-fold chair. I can carry that, it looks period, and i can sit anywhere without getting wet or dirty.
More importantly as i've gotten older (52), my knees cause me serious pain getting up and down from the ground, this chair fixes that.
BTW, you can get rolls of sticky paper intended to line cabinet shelving at the Dollar Store that has a wood grain...wrap that around aluminum poles and other modern things to disguise them.
Great tip! Also those bayonette throwing knives sound awesome.
I think for myself, when it comes to my feet I want to make absolutely sure they stay dry. I'll most likely be getting a pair of modern, simplistic work boots that are already weather proof and wear gaiters/greaves over them so that way they don't stick out like a sore thumb.
Great video, Kramer! I really enjoy these old videos of yours.
Awesome to see people watching them! Nothing makes me appreciate modern convenience as much as wearing ununsulated, non-waterproof shoes in the winter.
Modern jackets aren't long enough, and I won't deny it any longer!
As someone who regularly goes to places like Goodwill, I highly recommend trench coats that are a size too big, for having my denim jacket under the trench, making an excellent raincoat and great insulation. With those big pockets my scarf, light gloves, heavy gloves, thermal hat, glass cases, extra bandana, and chapstick all fit, so that is all I need for a winter day is my jacket and my coat for a below 0° (f) walk, that is comfortable.
Speaking as someone who has lived in a cold climate, you definitely need a hood or a hat (or both-layer the hood over the hat). If you only have a hood, wrapping a scarf around it to keep it in place and protect the face is a good idea (and easy to remove if you get too warm). For feet and hands, definitely get wool socks (layered even) and mittens (unless you absolutely need the manual dexterity of gloves, mittens will keep the fingers warmer).
He is wearing a hood. The red you see under his tunic is his medieval hood. He’s just didn’t put it up.
I would think some types of irish knitted wool sweaters and caps would with the theme as well. I can wear my sweater with a military fatigue shirt or dress shirt and it replaces a jacket to the point I have let others less prepared use my jacket.
wool felt is a God send. works great when its raining and snowing
Also, when people knew they were going to have to walk in wet places, some people wore wooden sabots on over their shoes or boots to at least have a chance of staying up a couple inches higher and maybe out of the water.
I just had a Capote made from a wool blanket in the design of the fur trapping era, it may be too "modern" for a ranger type garb but it definitely suits the idea of a heavy wool overcoat for when the winter wind is trying to flay you
Don't get trenchfoot! Haha. Good video! Cool kit!
*high fives* Huzzah for functional winter garb!
My current winter cloak is faux serpa suede, not wool, but it's thick and has wide overlapping panels at the front that get belted down. I also added some loop/hook securements to the side slits to keep the back from flapping around uselessly in strong winds. That addition alone makes it more complicated than a historically accurate cloak, but when I'm going for warmth, it still keeps the aesthetic well enough that I'm not worried about it. I plan on making a thin but properly wool cloak next, using a much simpler pattern, and layering that under the thick one as needed. Boots come after that, then from there I'll start working on non-costume-y tunics. Fabric is expensive though, and my sewing machine keeps breaking, so that'll be rather far off in the future.
Keep making awesome videos! It's great to see other people being as fashionably weird as me, and even more so! Very inspiring! :D
Or if you are our camp/adventuring/traveling and staying out of doors that illustrates how nice a spare pair of socks would be while drying the day's socks and boots by the fire.
Even though you might not start out with waterproof items, like boots, there are relatively easy (and period-appropriate) DIY methods of waterproofing. I would suggest considering researching that.
Good assessment of understanding the difference between the medieval and modern mindset.
I would imagine with the wax they had for candles that a lot of their kit was highly water proof and not just water resistant and many had fur lined everything if they lived in climes that required more insulation...Mind Set of One Who Has lived and Seen the Truly Tested Kits and Gear
I would love a video on detachable sleeves like that
Cold showers are a good way of training your body to endure extremes in temperature.
I think Dunedain Rangers has talked about cold endurance; another good channel for that is ReWildUniversity. And then of course there's Wim Hof . . .
You have some awesome video's :) I hope you won't get mad if I comment on to many of you're video's, and if you do, just don't bother replying ;)
"How do I you stay warm on the trail?" this year I've been wearing fantasy/historic garb almost all winter (hardly using modern clothes at all - I think I've gone a bit mad because of lock-down) but I find that two, and in extremes three layers of wool, and a cloak are needed. But usually only 1 layer of wool on you're arms (you don't loose much heat and more than one layer can get in the way of movement). Some simple additions to you're kit that would help you would be mittens to cover you're fingers and a wool surcoat to give you two layers of wool over your torso to keep core heat in, also hoods are good to keep rain/snow off but I find they don't do a lot to keep you're head warm, if you get a thin wool hat to wear under your hood it will make the world of difference
Thank you! Please comment away! I could talk about this stuff all day, always happy to make a friend. Good advice with the surcoat and hat! I actually have a solution for my second layer problem, but that will be a video someday down the road ;)
@@LivingAnachronism I'm glad you don't mind, and I'll look forward to more of you're video's
also, I think you have the cloak idea totally right. I find cloaks don't keep me all that warm because of all the air space underneath them, yes you can make them thicker and front fastening but then they just get in the way more. In my mind a cloak is a shell layer (like the thin waterproof hiking coats you have now) not to keep heat in but to prevent you're warm under layers from getting wet, the most optimum cloak fabric is thin-ish dense boiled wool that sheds water/snow well, but since all it needs to do is keep weather off you're shoulders and back (and bags, bed-roll, quiver, sword etc... if you have them) it fastening down the front isn't totally necessary
I wear a fur hat that has those flaps that cover my ears...world of difference keeping me warm in the winter. My intention is to make a floppy wide-brimmed hat that will velcro over my fur hat to also keep the rain off my glasses. I am blind as a bat...nearsighted, my focus is 5 inches in front of my nose, so they are not optional.
I could shoot arrows just fine without them, but i wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a shabby human or a well-dressed orc.
far as the boots.. pack several extra pairs of dry socks for extended adventures. change into dry socks once or twice a day. between the scouts growing up and the Army plus 45 years of hunting in the woods in the wet an snow or northeast ohio it's like you said... "the mindset" .. it's just mind over matter... because if you don't mind... it doesn't matter.
"If you don't mind, it doesn't matter" that is a GREAT way to put it, thank you!
Waxed canvas or leather outer layer and boots. If you use leather treat it with mink oil or some other waterproofing treatment.
so, i'm kind of late but, in medieval times here in spain (and in many other parts of europe if not most of europe), common folk would have used wood clogs? i think it's the name in english? (zuecos in spanish or madreñas in asturias (we have many names for them and are still used today)), because the north of spain gets really snowy in the winter and basically wet the whole year so you don't want to walk around with all that mud, so basically they are made out of a sigle piece of green wood (typically alder, beech or walnut) they are used with the shoes on and they keep the warmth and keep the water out basically, so nope people didn't like having their feet wet either, love your channel
P.D: i get that clogs are not as asthetically pleasing as other type of shoes but i think it's an idea you can work around if you want like, make a base of wood that elevates your boots over the mud, medieval ones for example were more like a wood plank with a platform and then had a leather strip to make kind of a sandal for the shoe idk just giving ideas
Just something I would do if I were making winter boots. Add wooden soles, or better yet, make clog tie-ons to add to the bottom of shoes.
On the wet feet and soaked boots thing.
Two issues to consider,
Trench foot is a thing! And as someone who has suffered from it, it is NOT pleasant and once you get it its very easy to getvit again.
Two if its both cold and wet depending on the actual temperature frostbite is also a possibility!
Proper wool socks would be a necessity during winter months.
Go with mitten ends for the gloves, that’s much warmer than glove fingers.
Great looking kit!
I think there are methods and products that you can use to treat the boots to make them more waterproof. I think for the cloak or usually with cotton fabric you can treat it with a type of wax that makes it waterproof. But if u wash it especially with warmer water it can dissolve the wax proofing.
Great videos by the way! The one about the cloaks is very cool! Im all about that classic thief / elf ranger cloak tho haha
4:00 Maybe flip top mittens could help?
Looking forward to how you improve your gear.
One big thing that will help is keep your head covered. That's what ye olde fur-lined hoods were for. You have almost no insulating fat and muscle layer under your scalp and lots of blood vessels out there being heat-exchangers in the winter temps. And like somebody else said, you need 100% virgin wool, not a synthetic blend of re-used "shoddy" stuff. That's "shoddy" in the technical original meaning.
Your idea of "winter garb" would be minimal clothing for late autumn or early spring where I live.
Yes indeed, major upgrades are and were necessary at the time
This is a great video. Do you have a group of friends that do the same experiments? If so, I hope you share your experiences and thoughts with each other. It will help simulate what medieval communities did to develop how to better survive and thrive in different environments.
My kit is far more developed than my mates, but I'd love to start doing a couple of videos with more medieval lads and lasses
Neat demonstration! Are you wearing another layer underneath your wool tunic?
Besides the hood or some other head covering, I noticed that you were wearing jeans which are near useless as winter wear. The core body extends from head to lower thigh so wool pants would have helped considerably. In this video, wind chill was your big enemy, not so much the specific temperature. Without the wind you would have likely been quite comfortable.
Last suggestion, your camera girl should have been under your cloak, snuggled up to you. ;)
She was between takes ;). I didn't realize those pants look so much like jeans on camera. They are Grey cotton joggers, arguable even less warm than jeans! I've upgraded slightly since. Wind chill is the enemy haha! Thanks for you advice, Cheers, mate!
wooden clogs for winter. or fur moccasins with the fur facing outward
I love the multilayered wool! But the metal eyelets ruins the immersion.
Dude, that so cool, who is your tailor? Who did that cool tunic?
I wonder what kind of kit you would throw together for places where it gets as hot as 110 degrees. We really struggle to garb up in Arizona summer.
U need a longer cloak. Rangers would have had longer cloaks to allow them to cover their whole bodies to blend in to the surrounding areas/terrain well. Also a longer cloak would provide u a sort of blanket kind of deal to wrap ur self up in when sitting doing nothing in the cold.
As for the gloves, full gloves should be fine. Obviously not cotton ones, but more likely leather ones maybe with some sort of padding inside them (so not full plain leather only). If u get worried about using gloves for archery for any sort of reason, a book I have been reading has a Ranger talking about how he uses gloves with reinforced fingertips (more so for archery then the cold, but still) - pretty much, the way his gloves r made r to act in place of finger guards. I don’t know what they’re reinforced with though, sorry about that part.
Do you have a link to the wool tunic or the wool blanket that it was made out of? I can't find it in the description. Thanks!
Judging from the moisture in the snow I'm thinking it's warmer than -10C I'd be interested in what the temp was.
I do not believe the outfit would be enough in a Canadian January.
It was probably just around thirty. I was NOT dressed properly for anything colder. I've upgraded elements since then, I needed better materials and more layers
I decided that my next Larp Character is going to be a Ranger. That has the added benefit, that the new gear I'm going to make, will also work for most generic NPCs. The biggest challenge will be to get in ranger shape, though.
Do you have a pattern for that wool tunic? It looks well made, and I like especially how the sleeves are fastened.
If you still got trouble with soaking wet boots, I would recommend applying wax with the help of a hair-dryer. Applying Ballistol ( WD40 etc) several times supposedly also helps.
I don't know if I have a pattern for this tunic, I will look and see what I can do. I'll definitely use wax on future shoes, these ones are not long for this world
Who is doing the camera work when you are walking outside. They are following you in the snow. Are they also doing the Winter Ranger garb thing?
That's my girlfriend, she helps occasionally when she is able. She was not in garb at this time.
Not at all period but wearing plastic bags on your feet under your boots or an outer layer of socks will keep your feet dry.
And speaking of layer, layers of clothing are your friends. 3 pairs of socks, extra pants, shirts, mittens over gloves etc helps trap body heat. You need a hat and scarf as well.
I feel like ur boots are more light weather boots. Pretty sure Rangers would have had different boots for winter but not sure, I know if I was a ranger I would want boots made for winter
Btw you need a full Winter Cloak that would help with the Wind chill
Where did you get the handmade tunic?
Made by a family member
Comfy channel
Woolsocks keeps warm even though they wet
Didn’t the medieval / renaissance people use oil to waterproof their fabrics ?
There was no Amazon link in the description
Yes, I have stopped putting Amazon links on my channel, due to how the Rings of Power marketing has been attacking and subverting fans of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.
With your feet wet in just a few hours you would have major hypothermia and risk death you would be better stripping off the boots and if nesessarry put your wool gloves on your feet and put your hands in armpits or crotch to keep them warm and either build fire or shelter at least a wind break or like you said bring your skinny freezing body back to home or the closest heat source because without a doubt you will die out there..fun fact in 40 degree weather if your feet are wet or body damp from sweat you can get hypothermia in 20 minutes..i understand trying out your gear but from then on make sure you have like a rescue pack with like a road flare because getting fire with hands numb and shaking freezing body twitching that flare will get just about anything burning if nothing it itself can get you some warmth enough to function.a thermas with a hot soup or hot chocolate to wam your core and your body will want the sugar....wow sorry so long i didnt realize.but i lived in north dakota for years and its extreme cold out there
Awesome video! You said your tunic is custom made, was that someone you bought it from so you can point us to this persons website? Or was it made by a friend? Just wondering because I would love to have one myself haha
It was made by a family member. I designed it based off of some elven and ithilien ranger tunics from the LOTR movies.
wool is an important thing when there's water, cloak or socks or blanket or bedroll.
Put your hood up, dear!
I'd suggest you wax your shoes for waterproofing and make sure you have hobnails for traction.
What do you wear under the tunic?
A linen shirt
What is the neme of track that is in the background at the begining?
Heavy Interlude by Kevin Macleod
@@LivingAnachronism Thank you.
Wool on the inside leather on the outside
While you do need to toughen up your body's tolerance to cold/wet (well duh) your gear must work adequately whether at a renfair or for LARP you are going to be out of doors and should dress accordingly. If you do not, you will suffer injuries. I know people who have had cold/hot weather injuries that effect them decades later. Dress for the weather then add costume on top.
For one thing, "hiking" was really quite uncommon throughout history. There's no toughing it out - it's simple thermodynamics, if your core drops 2ºC then you become hypothermic and your body and brain ceases functioning properly, no amount of acclimation can get around that - the only differences are that people had more resourceful, resilient mindsets and possibly better metabolisms and mental tolerance depending on age and background. People regularly died of exposure, and frostbite must have been very common. Contrary to a very common myth, wool is not actually warm when wet, only when damp - once the air gaps in the weave fill with water, it is as conductive as any wet clothing, and though evaporative chill is slowed as the fabric dries slower than modern fleece, it will sap heat for hours if not days as it stays wet, unlike fleece which can be wrung out and is inherently hydrophobic. Don't believe me? Soak your wool and step outside on a chill day.
People made sure that they had spare clothing to use while their wet set dried. For historic people, hiking often meant travelling between inns (rough sleeping was practically against the law in parts of medieval England, for instance) where they would have a chance to eat warm food and dry out by a fire. Prehistoric peoples are well known for their migratory shelters like yurts and tipis and obsession with caves for shelter and warmth, and would prize any animal fur with oils that gave it water resistance like beaver, seal etc because being wet is basically a death sentence in prolonged exposure to cold temps and winds. On days with terrible wet weather, people would simply find shelter and wait it out unless forced to be exposed, in which case they would do anything they could to keep their valuable insulation dry and preserve warmth, from making fires underneath their cloaks, to huddling together under rocks and trees.
You can be clever about staying dry in a ranger way though - oilskin coats, stormproof hood designs, a tightly woven windproof layer, cloaks, rain skirts / chaps, waterproofed canvas socks and oiled boots, plenty of spare socks, fast drying linen or thin wool baselayer, an oilskin bag to preserve your precious nighttime insulation and spare camp clothes (essential to change into in cold weather to prevent flash cooling and conduction/convection cooling), quick ways to make fire for tea/meals and lots of fat in your diet for nighttime warmth. There's no getting around it, winter and shoulder season camping requires far more gear than fair-weather Dunedain would have carried and it's very cool to see you testing it out.
Also, looking at your video I'd a very simple way to instantly get more warmth out of the same outfit: try a kidney wrap, which is a simple garment - just cloth or wool wrapped around your stomach, slightly overlapping your butt, like a cummerbund. Your cloak covers your upper body but you radiate a huge amount of heat from your core section which looks relatively unprotected. This also looks fucking cool if I do say so and can replace a belt for hanging pouches.
Also, your neck is far too exposed in lots of the shots. Wrap the cloak a little higher and tighter and as soon as you start to experience cooling, flip up the hood to counter the "chimney effect" and trap all that rising hot air from your insulation - hooded garments and blankets worn as hoods are very very common throughout history for this same reason. We radiate a huge amount of heat from our necks, ankles and forearms as they aren't protected with fat and contain a lot of blood vessels over large surface area. Conversely, expose these or dampen the cloth around them in hot weather to instantly cool in heat.
And the last thing is that wool, while pretty warm and durable, is only going to be as warm as it is thick, and normal sheeps wool is not an incredible insulator - easily beaten by the hollow fibres of camel, alpaca and possum etc which trap a lot more dead air owing to being hollow. Thickness dictates warmth - your tunic may be tough and dense, but might not actually be that thick, especially compared to the thickness of a padded jacket, the defacto modern insulative clothing. The looser the weave of the wool tunic, the larger the air gaps and the more insulative dead air can be trapped in the gaps, which is the whole function of warm clothes - but it becomes more fragile and wind will more easily move that hot air away, so it needs an overcoat or jerkin to act as a windbreaker (and also provide a little warmth owing to the thickness of something like suede or canvas, which again stops the body cooling by trapping dead air).
Woodstrekker's blog has an excellent series of articles on wool blankets and historic trekking, and some tests debunking common myths about wool as an insulator.
I'd recommend getting a padded gambeson or making a tunic out of padded quilted fabric, the thicker the padding the warmer it will be. For lightweight and reliable clothing, you can use down for natural padding material, or compromise and use a synthetic which will handle moisture - it's replacing the historic cotton, kapok or wool fibres used as the fluffy filling inside a gambeson, which all have their drawbacks (loose wool easily felts aka permanently stitches together and compresses quickly when warm and damp, cotton/kapok will not dry in cold weather and can mould, and they are both very very heavy compared to down). This will be an anachronism that you will be really grateful for in bad weather and still looks completely historic if you use natural outer fabrics (make sure its a down proof weave if you use goose down).
If you want to learn some more cool stuff about cold weather clothing, look up the "dew point" too - where your body's moisture stops travelling as vapour (like a gas) and condenses into water. This can happen within the clothing if its cold enough out, leading to a reduction in its warmth - which you likely won't notice as wool can absorb a lot of water without *feeling* wet (it's still getting wet and therefore conducting precious heat).
Most important thing is to insulate your core, keep your clothing as dry as possible and change out of damp clothing when you're standing around static as your body is no longer generating the same heat as when it was moving and your muscles were firing, so you need maximum insulation to trap in your resting body heat.
I’m no re-enactor but I’ve slept a number of nights with a wool blanket under a tarp, a proper fire like a Siberian log fire or similar is critical imo. I wouldn’t want a fully waterproofed cloak but I wear a wool blanket as a match coat sometimes. Having a layer of untreated canvas, even over just your shoulders allows the canvas to remain waterproof by not touching your skin and breaking the surface tension.
@@charliemcdowell5231 Sounds fun, what kind of temperatures did that take you to? That's really interesting about the match coat. Doesn't the wool get soaked by capillary action of the water wicking from the canvas? Does moving around break the surface tension?
@@Finn-pe7uj well, I fully expected to get soaked. what I did was I tested this a few winters ago, St Louis MO. It was 34 degrees F, barely above freezing. For 1 hour I walked the neighborhood in driving rain that caused strong rivers in the road which pushed through the e-vent membrane of my waterproof boots even. Wore a thin shirt beneath so that i'd be able to feel wetness easier. Canvas was totally soaked and wet to the touch, but upon returning home and making sure my hands were dry, the wool felt dry to the touch. The canvas was a polish shelter half. My guess is that while the wool was touching wet canvas, the canvas barely accepted "fresh" water as the fabric swells and locks up as it saturates. Wool is somewhat hydrophobic (the outside fiber anyway, the inside of the fiber is hydrophilic). This means that with the pressure of driving rain taken away by the canvas and not much fresh water coming in it didn't want to go into the wool. I don't know just how long it would hold out. I had to go inside cuz I was starting to sweat under the blanket which would skew my test.
I suggest avoiding the Pass of Caradhras.
Put ghe hood up. You loose alot of your heat out of your head.
one thing you can do as i learned living on the street for a time , although this is cheating , if you want to wear you adventure foot wear, before putting them on use the small plastic bags they use at food marts and put them on over your socks before you put your boots on these will keep your feet dry and warm guaranteed. as for the rest or your gear if you look at my other comment when you went camping it still holds true
I wish I had done that when I went winter camping. My feet were the most cold part of my body, for sure!
as for your top gear a heavy canvas top used as a wind break is needed over your other garb. something like those western trail coats. you can cut the canvas to fit your preferred look. oh and if you wear animal skin be sure to wear the fur side on the inside. and wear your hood with a hat underneath.
You could avoid getting your feet wet by using snowshoes.
just get some wooden clogs...
with wool lining.
Nice! I used to really want a pair of dutch clogs when I was a kid
@@LivingAnachronism they go for about 30 bucks so definitly a good item to have when the fare is set outdoors and the weather isnt too good
Take a shopping bag and put it under your boots
Wool socks are a manly man's best friend. Also...
th-cam.com/video/lhSU0EbSiRg/w-d-xo.html
If you wanna get particularly creative, boil some water to fill you water skin and keep it close to the body.
I do not think you were dressed correctly for that type of weather, example must be taken from the natives of Eurasia who are still wearing what their ancestors used to wear for cold weather.
I was not at all. Had to test some things out, I've been learning more and making changes and upgrades since then and part of the channel is taking people on my own journey as well :)
60 seconds in ...black wich the average medevile person count afford. And black then was still not black ..an obvious modern military blanket and metal eyelets. That didn't exsit till the late 1800s ...that's 1800s not the 800s. Lmao, if ur in DnD that's fine I guess .but I've done ( historical) reenactment for over 35 year and strive to b as historical accurate as possible... ..soooo Deadpool in fairy wings. My b ok for a renfare ...not at a living history event..
Yeah I've improved a lot since this video
is the tunic just one layer thick?