Moondog55
Bushmaster
Or trousers if you prefer that term.
The most common woolen pants here in Oz are old style army battledress, and when I can find my size I buy them.
But they have a few problems for cold weather wear, as they are not a very heavy weight wool serge. Normally I would get some Nixwax and treat them to be more water resistant[ I find that the Nikwax is better than using lanolin] and the knees wear out fast so I sometimes deconstruct them and add a wear layer.
A while ago I found some cheap merino fabric in a tartan/plaid in a scraps pile very cheap and my beloved sewed me up some LW pull-ons for wearing around the house.
This reminded me that during the Korean war pajama type long johns were issued to Australian troops as well as the woollen knee length winter underwear as an added layer in the frigid conditions. I know that a few American makers still offer woollen trouser liners for really cold conditions.
Perhaps such a system is the best of both worlds, a heavy duty and relatively hard wearing outer pants with a soft and fluffy merino inner liner, paired when necessary with a windproof outer layer and whatever base layer you feel most comfortable in.
Not that I need such a system here in our soggy winters, polar fleece and high-loft synthetics make much more sense here and I usually only wear wool pants when deer hunting and that happens less often these days.
Perhaps tho the polyester M-65 liners and the better solution, it's just that wool inners might also work with the poly to give a three layer insulation providing the outer pants were voluminous enough.
As I said; just some random thoughts as it's too hot [ 42C] outside to go and do anything much
The most common woolen pants here in Oz are old style army battledress, and when I can find my size I buy them.
But they have a few problems for cold weather wear, as they are not a very heavy weight wool serge. Normally I would get some Nixwax and treat them to be more water resistant[ I find that the Nikwax is better than using lanolin] and the knees wear out fast so I sometimes deconstruct them and add a wear layer.
A while ago I found some cheap merino fabric in a tartan/plaid in a scraps pile very cheap and my beloved sewed me up some LW pull-ons for wearing around the house.
This reminded me that during the Korean war pajama type long johns were issued to Australian troops as well as the woollen knee length winter underwear as an added layer in the frigid conditions. I know that a few American makers still offer woollen trouser liners for really cold conditions.
Perhaps such a system is the best of both worlds, a heavy duty and relatively hard wearing outer pants with a soft and fluffy merino inner liner, paired when necessary with a windproof outer layer and whatever base layer you feel most comfortable in.
Not that I need such a system here in our soggy winters, polar fleece and high-loft synthetics make much more sense here and I usually only wear wool pants when deer hunting and that happens less often these days.
Perhaps tho the polyester M-65 liners and the better solution, it's just that wool inners might also work with the poly to give a three layer insulation providing the outer pants were voluminous enough.
As I said; just some random thoughts as it's too hot [ 42C] outside to go and do anything much
