Norgie - when to wear and when not to wear

[Dreadhead]

I have a norgie top and am unsure how it is supposed to be used. as i understand it you wear it in cold and dry conditions when stationary so it wicks moisture from you. as its cotton if it soaks up too much moisture and gets wet your dead. if it rains, your dead. or am i missing something? do you wear it as a midlayer instead?

im asking because im trying to decide which clothing to leave behind for when i go travelling in norway. i abhor synthetic materials as i usually end up feeling like im wearing a crisp packet which melts as soon as i sit near a fire so pretty much everything i wear is wool. and i am reluctant to ever wear cotton as its useless when wet.

so far i have a merino wool vest for a base layer. then a pendleton wool shirt. then a mohair type wool jumper. then my bison bushcraft shirt. and then eventually will get a swedish snow smock. so i am wondering should i wear my norgie under the wool vest as a baselayer to wick moisture? or wear it over the wool vest instead of the pendleton shirt for warmth? or ditch it altogether?

iv never gone wrong with wool. cotton just confuses me. as for anything labelled 'high tech' or 'tactical'....well that just sends me into a woolly rage

any advice would be appreciated

Hamish

 

[Teepee]

I had to google Norgie to find out what it is. Turns out I've been using one for a few years

I use it for fishing and for when I'm messing about in the woods, I wouldn't take it travelling because it takes a while to dry out and is very heavy. Its stays warm when damp though and doesn't feel cold like a cotton t-shirt does; I'd just assumed it was a cotton mix up until now (the label is mising on mine)

Like you Hamish, I'd love to know where the wisdom comes for the forces choosing cotton for an extreme cold base layer.

 

[Imagedude]

I wear mine under my leathers when welding.

 

[Dreadhead]

yeah dont get me wrong i love mine tis braw, but just weighing it up against a wool shirt and which is more versatile. tis a tricky one indeed

 

[Dreadhead]

I wear mine under my leathers when welding.

sorry i read that as dancing instead of welding

 

[Imagedude]

sorry i read that as dancing instead of welding

That too....

 

[Limaed]

Daft as it sounds it's a lot of it is to do with fashion. Back in the day the only people who could get 'Norgies' were the Marines and SF lads. Naturally your average Joe in the forces wants to look a bit 'Ally' and manages to get himself one so he can impress his mates. Next thing the MOD thinks that's what the boys want so now there on issue. Whether they are ideal for the environment and task is rarely considered. It's exactly the same with the windproof / SAS smock, general issue kit never had hoods in the past now the standard issue smock has one too. Does it ever get used?

I think I would stick with wool Hamish.

 

[Dreadhead]

well if it can wick that much!

 

[Dreadhead]

Daft as it sounds a lot of it is to do with fashion. Back in the day the only people who could get 'Norgies' were the Marines and SF lads. Naturally your average Joe in the forces wants to look a bit 'Ally' and manages to get himself one so he can impress his mates. Next thing the MOD thinks that's what the boys want so now there on issue. Whether they are ideal for the environment and task is rarely considered. It's exactly the same with the windproof / SAS smock, general issue kit never had hoods in the past now the standard issue smock has one too. Does it ever get used?

I think I would stick with wool Hamish.

great advice there cheers

 

[tedw]

The army Norgie is mostly a fleecy cotton and fine when cold, dry and stationary -they don't wick but soak up moisture and hold it. I wear mine as a warm camp shirt only. Sounds like you've got plenty of other layers so leave it at home!

 

[Chiseller]

Your not supposed to let it become wet, and you'd have to be hard grafting , very hard grafting to get it soaked sweat wet. I've worn them for years on building sites, and when lamping. Next to skin. Long zip and wide arm cut for venting when getting warm, long neck ,tail and thumb cuffs for keeping warm when cold. Take it off, turn it inside out and any heavy sweat shakes off due to the wicking loop design.

Bit like most clothing debates. Love em or loathe em.

My two bob.

Sent from my HTC Explorer using Tapatalk

 

[shaggystu]

i really like the norwegian army shirts, i've been wearing them for years as a midlayer and they work pretty well. i agree with what others have said about them not wicking so much as spongeing (i think i made that one up), but i've never found that to be a problem at all. one thing that you might want to consider is cleaning your clothes (that's not a personal criticism, no matter how much it sounded like one!). what i mean is this; you're planning for quite an extended trip, through a fair variety of weather, covering a fair old distance, and staying in some pretty random locations. i personally would want a few items of clothing that are going to be nice and easy to wash under all of those conditions, and a cotton shirt is a lot easier to wash (and dry), than a woolen one. that said, based on the same logic, i think i'd go with just a normal cotton shirt, something that i could pass off as smart should i get invited to embassy receptions or maybe the prince of norway's wedding reception, that kind of thing (think i may have been reading too much heinrich harrer)

stuart

 

[Dreadhead]

good advice there for both arguments again. we will have wool washing stuff with us and the beauty of wool is it doesnt need washed nearly as often as cotton does. as for smart clothes...if i wear a nice shirt or a suit i look like a tramp thats just won the lottery harharhar my wool shirts are modest enough for me

i think ill still be arguing over the norgie and a wool shirt until i get on the flight...still cant work out which will give me the most heat in the cold and keep me cool in the heat. i may just take both then scrap the first one to annoy me

 

[Jackdaw]

To be honest, I wouldn't really compare the norgie with a wool shirt. I was an Army Commando who was issued these for our service in Norway. There you work on a strict layering system; stripping layers before you got hot enough to get sweaty.

The norgie was always a mid layer item that would be worn over the issued thermals/t-shirt and under the issued jumper. It's nowhere near as warm as a wool shirt which instead would be a better substitute for the issued jumper.

They are alright, but I never really got on with them. Before my wool epiphany I would have worn a t-shirt under my smock for skiiing (unless it was really blowing) with a quick change into a Buffalo shirt to keep you alive once you stopped moving. The Buffalo was my direct exchange for the norgie and the jumper.

A quick pointer that I remember from one of our instructors was that you should not think of the layering system as 'heat management'. Instead you should think of it as a game whereby you are trying your hardest to inflict personal torture by staying cold all day whilst not actually killing yourself. The only time you were truly warm (or the nearest you got to it) was in your slug!

 

[Dreadhead]

cheers thats along the lines im thinking. i agree about the cold game. get too hot in cold conditions and you get all sorts of problems with sweat etc. i have nae doubt ill be chilly over there, but ill be alive!

 

[widu13]

Issued mine in Norway too back in the day. Cotton is not a problem really. It is used as a mid layer and was simply cheaper than wool and easier to look after. Squaddies look after jumpers (okay-ish) but they are an outer mid layer, give them a wool layer closeish to the skin that needs regular washing and they will bugger it and that gets expensive. Cotton will not kill you, the military has used cotton in arctic layers for decades. Being stupid whilst wearing cotton may get you into a pickle however.

 

[bullterrier]

25 years ago - before the army was issued them - norgie shirts were the one piece of non issue kit everyone seemed to have. The alternative was the green cotton GS shirt or a camo jungle one. We seemed to wear them with a polypro/meraklon base layer or a Helly Hansen top (in Blue cos that was all there was). Then maybe the issue woolly pully and or a fleece. I thought this was the height of sophistication at the time. It worked well and I never died or anything.

 

[Tiley]

I tend to wear mine for sleeping as it's just that bit more comfortable that most other layers and gives me the chance to air the stuff I wear during the day.

 

[John Fenna]

Stick with wool mate - I cut up my norgie and made towels out of it - it was all it seemed good for!

 

[Dreadhead]

Stick with wool mate - I cut up my norgie and made towels out of it - it was all it seemed good for!

arfarfarf it does feel like wearing a towel. swerving towards the wool shirt instead now i reckon. just never found anything tae beat wool unless i could make a full set of clothes out o reindeer fur