Blanket jackets, I just don't get it?

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
The air smells like f-f-f-f-f-f-freezer this morning. I believe it is snowing up top, behind the clouds.
I took out my good old Carhartt coat: no mud, blood, grease or poop on it. One hole to patch, one zipper to fix.
I am quite presentable. I'm north of 70. I'm done caring how I look.
 

Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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Carhartt still make stuff the 'oldfashioned' way. They last and last and last......
I wonder if they can be bought in UK?

They remind me of Fjallraven of old.

The air smells like f-f-f-f-f-f-freezer this morning. I believe it is snowing up top, behind the clouds.
I took out my good old Carhartt coat: no mud, blood, grease or poop on it. One hole to patch, one zipper to fix.
I am quite presentable. I'm north of 70. I'm done caring how I look.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
9,959
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McBride, BC
The old coat is 20+ yrs old. Sand color. It's still stiff enough to stand up in a pile on the floor.
The typical tight-woven very heavy canvas.
Nearest new would be the Carhartt "Canyon" coat but lots more insulation.
I want the Canyon design and 2XL. Good in the 0C - 15C range in the wind.

I was gifted a new Carhartt coat last winter. Can't remember the design style. Wonderful at -10C and colder.
HUGE pockets and no zippers on them, what a relief. Knitted cuffs are nice.

Carhart does make some models that are "water-repellant," whatever that means.
If I found Carhartt in the UK, I would not buy the plain canvas duck fabric, it does get wetted pretty quickly.
 

Janne

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Never seen them for sale in UK. Uk is more Waxed fabric country, think Barbour.
Barbour goes well with a nice Beretta o/u, moleskin trousers and Tretorn rubber boots.

Of course even better with a H&H or a Purdey, but wife would never let me remortgage.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
9,959
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McBride, BC
I'd like to have a blanket coat for the crisp autumn days of blue skies, yellow leaves and grouse popping up everywhere.
The greens and browns and grays of old wool.
Should ask around the village for a seamstress ( the guys stick to leather, tack & saddles).
The HBC 6 point blanket will set me back $450.00 then the coat work. Just a bit rich.
The major downside is that the English loomed HBC blankets are white. Dirty will look bad.

Purdey is true shotgun snobbery. They do go 'bang' like the others. I wish.

Pendleton Woolen Mills in Pendleton, Oregon, USA, got the nod to make up a lot of the HBC garments.
Online, they still make all kinds of HBC clothing, _except_ the Men's coat seems to be extinct.
 

Janne

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I did look on the HBC website, but I find the colours a bit garish. Colours that bright and permanent were only invented around 120 + years ago.

They look too much "fashion' to me. The canoes are really, really nice. Pricey but I guess you have to pay for Canadian artisanry!

I prefer the look of the old Army blankets.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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HBC says those colors (as wool dyes) were selected for their permanence.
So those had to be aniline, coal tar dyes available before 1780.
Garish is right. Maybe nobody else wanted them?
But here in North America, Canada in particular, there is no more distinctive color logo than HBC.
From British looms, no better mark of quality, either.

Hematoxylin/Eosin it ain't. Remember your histology lessons?

Years ago, I had a trunk full of old woolen blankets, even some carefully mended.
No more. Between me and Carhartt, I'll live through another mountain winter in comfort.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
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S. Lanarkshire
I think you are mistaken; they didn't need to be coaltar dyes.

Madder red is pretty fast when it's converted to Turkey Red…it was fast enough to stay RED under tropical suns for redcoat uniforms. Madder on it's own softens out to a peachy pink colour, why hunting jackets are still called pinks.
Blue is from Indigo, and that stays blue.
Yellow is from Weld, and again, it stays yellow.
Green is a mix of weld and indigo, and especially with a copper mordant, it's fast.
Usually alum and tin was used to brighten those colours for long term use though, nowadays we know that the tin is toxic and is avoided by careful natural dyers.

Mind too that our modern sensibilities and customs on colours are not those of the people of the past. Bright was good then, it indicated some wealth. Good crisp, clear colours, even toned and deep, are very good. Muted, dreary colours were easy, but bright colours need careful preparation.

M
 

Janne

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If coaltar colours are synthetic then the duscovery was in mid 1800', British.
Before the superior German chemists took the lead.

I do recall but have totally forgotten. Do not even remember how many hours I spent learning to make a usable slide preparation.

Bright crisp colours are not a given. The Eastern Block chemical industry was unable to produce them. Not color fast enough. Also the washing powders were crude, and damaged the colours.
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
HBC explains that the colors they chose were done with light fast dyes which were effective with protein (wool.)
They never say what the chemistry is/was. Yet, it was a prize that they exploited.

I made some histological slide preparations. Probably no more than 2,500.
 

Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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HBC explains that the colors they chose were done with light fast dyes which were effective with protein (wool.)
They never say what the chemistry is/was. Yet, it was a prize that they exploited.

I made some histological slide preparations. Probably no more than 2,500.

I think I did maximum 100 or so, of different irgans.

Still remember the Final in Histopatology. 250 slides. 3 hours.
33 or 34 years ago.
In the next life I will become a car mechanic.


But why did they choose to use colour stripes in the first place? The Injuns and Froggie trapoers did not care?

They had a virtual monopoly, so it was not from a marketing point ?
 
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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Ask HBC or find some historical account. I don't know.
Humans have been trying to mimic the colors of nature from time immemorial.
Take a look at how eastern Canada colors up with the maples in autumn.

I do believe that color is really important in the psychological dreariness of cold, snow and very short days in the Canadian winter.
Either that or too many Canucks go out in the winter with their heads uncovered.

Can be over done. Where I lived as a kid, starting at the street corner, that house was deep purple.
The next one was chartreuse green. Then ours which was deep pink.
Then a white one, then a blue one. Worse than Easter Egg colors. See what I mean?
Here, the corner house is a deep forest green. My place is yellow ochre with white trim, next door is a blue-gray color.

Earth-tone wool blankets would have been nice fabric for outdoor clothing.
Maybe the HBC colors were their mark of quality?
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
There's a massive difference between substantive dyes and those that require mordanting.

The thing is though that even substantive dyes do a lot better when applied to protein fibres, and much better again when those are also mordanted.

This has been known since antiquity, even if the chemistry was not understood, per se.

The beautiful woven tapestries of Europe were made using only three colours. Red, yellow and blue (they did add silver and gold threads though).
Those three primary colours are all from dyes which are strong enough, and light fast enough, to over and under dye each other.
Madder, weld and indigo (whether from woad or indigo itself, it's immaterial, it's the same dye) give the red, yellow and blue, and from those the whole range of colours is available, if the dyers are good.
Medieval tapestries are still richly coloured today :)
There's another thing about those old wool and silk tapestries too, the weavers do not thread through the loose ends and cut them off; the ends of the weft threads are left to hang down the back of the tapestry, and since the backs were covered with linen, those wefts have been protected from damage (and light) for hundreds of years.
Restoration means restoration of the back of the tapestry too, and when the linen is removed the original colours of the threads are revealed.
The colours are bright, crisp, deep and clear :D

The stains used in microscopy are varied depending on the 'trade' :)
Iodine is used for starches, malachite green for spores, and osmium tetroxide for lipids (the fat from milk/cheese sometimes found on wood and ceramics in archaeology) while flurorescent microscopy uses rhodamine.

M
 

vestlenning

Settler
Feb 12, 2015
717
76
Western Norway
Can anyone explain what the idea of making a coat from an old blanket is all about. There is so much decent waterproof warm clothing about, modern gear fits well, doesn't weigh a ton when wet, looks stylish, and doesn't cost a fortune. I just don't understand the trend?

In Norway clothes from wool has a long tradition and the wool sweater is part of every Norwegians wardrobe. Wool is a great material: Not waterproof, but not cold when wet. Not windproof, but great insulation underneath something that is. And it doesn't burn well.

A coat from an old blanket? Seems like a great idea to me!

Is it all about just making something from waste?

Maybe you're on the wrong forum?
 
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didicoy

Full Member
Mar 7, 2013
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12
fens
I'm not quite sure if richardhb finds the concept of recycling materials to make these items the problem or if it is just the use of quality used wool blanket.

Recycling is a huge part of manufacturing these days. Gold/metal items may have had many previous lives.
Maybe it's the thought of crooked smelly feet in the bedding and the fact we end up snuggling up in the newly made garments, that he is not seeing the bigger picture.

If it's the use of natural materials that he finds 'outdated' try to remember many modern extreme weather garments use down fill and some of these when wet are not as effective as modern hollow fibre filling, but thermally can outshine some modern materials thermally.
We tend to design a way around any shortfalls the materials we are using have. Ash for hundreds of years has been widely used for structural components in vehicles, trains, cars, boats, carts. Yet today we can press steel and fit flexi joints to regain that flexibility found in natural wood like Ash. If car manufacturers were to reintroduce ash frames in vehicles, people would think of it as weak and potentially prone to rotting. but dare I say, often outliving the steel motor vehicles are made of.
In a way the manufacturing industry are leading you to buy products 'they' can afford to make to sell you, with an eye on their maximum profit. And not of the aesthetics of the creations being made. It really is a case of each to their own.

I often wonder how early mountaineers managed in such harsh environments with what they had. Back then it was probably considered the best there is too or good enough!
 
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Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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You are so right, didicoy!

Another aspect is repairebility. Many modern materials are difficult to repair, specialy shoes and clothes. To replaced a worn out sole today is not only expensive but virtually impossible, as many are glued and vulcanized in place, not sewn and nailed.
Clothes are difficult to repair because they are assembled in a weird way, so to be able to access you need to take it to pieces.

The only item I have always bought new are shoes and boots. Not because of the sweaty and smelly feet of the previous owner, but because I want to 'break them in' to my foot.

I think the original poster also thought of the sometimes strange look of the garments. Hobo look? Clochard style?
 

Janne

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Goods made under Socialism/Communism were and are of a much, much lower quality.
If you are old enough you might remember the imports from the Eastern Bloc?
Tools, cars, kitchen implements. Pure crap. The only decent products were guns. Shotguns, rifles, pistols. Plus the AK's of various models.

Do not forget China is still ruled by them, as is Vietnam. I am yet to see a product made there which is of a high standard.

Some companies still make top notch products. Miele. German and Swedish cutlery and bladed tools just to mention some.

It is you as a consumer that needs to demand and buy quality products.
 

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