Merino or lambs wool Quandery

[baggins]

Hi Guys,
now the cooler weather is starting to approach (i hope), its time for me to get a new sweater. I've narrowed it down to 2, one is merino the other Lambs wool.
I have plenty of merino thermals and the new buy is replacing a lambs wool.
How does Merino compare with lambs wool on thicker jumpers. I know it is generally softer but is it as hard wearing and warm?
Any comments would be much appreciated.


Cheers
Baggins

 

[Martti]

How does Merino compare with lambs wool on thicker jumpers. I know it is generally softer but is it as hard wearing and warm?

If the two sweaters have the same thickness or loft, they also have the same insulation value. However, merino wool is less durable than courser wools due to a number of reasons. It is probably more important to compare how the different sweaters are knit as some knits give more thickness per unit of weight than some other type of knits.

 

[MikeLA]

During the 80's I often wore lambs wool m & s sweaters in the field and they worked well. Compare don't know but can't see much difference

 

[baggins]

Cheeers guys,
so, as a rough guide, weight for weight, lambs wool would be warmer and more hard wearing then.
Thanks.

 

[Martti]

so, as a rough guide, weight for weight, lambs wool would be warmer and more hard wearing then.

Wool from any sheep has the same fibre density, 1.32 g/cm3. On the other hand, angora wool fibre is approximately 10 % less dense and thus lighter than identical sweater made out of sheep wool. However, angora wool has even less tensile strength than merino fibres.