Clothes and fire

[Viking]

Here are some small films on how clothes burn, pretty interesting to see.

Cotton
Fleece
Syntetich fibres
Wool

[Gary]

Good old wool - now you know why Swanndri dont make tinder! lol!

Good films mate, predictable but good!

[HuBBa]

yepp. another good reason to wear wool =)

[Viking]

Good old wool - now you know why Swanndri dont make tinder! lol!

Good films mate, predictable but good!

Bu it´s a bit scary when you see how the fleece just melts, not fun to get melting fleece on your body. I wonder how the swedish army shirt would work, they are made of cotton/polyester and a material called polychlal that are supposed to make them burn proof (like all the clothing in the army).

[Stew]

That is pretty scary stuff.

You do hear of how materials burn but seeing it really helps put it into perspective.

[OhCanada]

I'm a fleece guy myself for all the good reasons fleece is known for, however, if I had a homestead I would certainly stock it with my military wool (and civy jumpers) for everyday work clothes.

I still use wool socks so I can fire walk in safety with the natives

[OldJimbo]

For years I've worn polyester/cotton work wear. It's cheap, wears like iron,dries quickly and is very spark resistant. The beauty of it being cheap is that over here I need different sizes because in winter my wool underwear is the type that looks like a thick sweater. I wear fleece, but under a wool jacket, because I have open fires almost every time out.

[Ronin]

That explains why you never see sheep on fire....clever buggers!

[arctic hobo]

I think that the cotton would have been an even bigger fire if it had hung open like the others - having seen on a first aid course what people wearing cotton on fire look like and their burns, it's horrific stuff. After all, fluffed up cotton socks are one of the best tinders I know!

[Gary]

I'm a fleece guy myself for all the good reasons fleece is known for, however, if I had a homestead I would certainly stock it with my military wool (and civy jumpers) for everyday work clothes.

I still use wool socks so I can fire walk in safety with the natives

Trick is to wear a natural material outer over the fleece Jimbo, that said I did burn a big hole int he hood of a favourite ventile smock some time around - but better a smouldering smock than a melting one!

Johan have you ever tried making char from polycotton? I have the polyester turns to little balls and as such I'd say your polycotton would scorch and smoulder too - so its pretty safe.

Fire safe is one thing, current clothing for task and enviroment is another but neither replace common sense and a little respect for the power of ol' mother nature and Brother Fire!

[OldJimbo]

Yep, Gary, I'm pretty careful to wear one of my old wool jackets over top. Well I am now after finding holes melted in the fleece!

I had trouble watching the videos properly since I use Linux and mplayer plugin had some trouble. Luckily avifile-player plays them fine. Now that I've seen the videos clearly, one observation is that they use a butane torch just like one I have. It burns pretty hot! I guess though that practical experience and appearing holes show how fleece and synthetics are a bit of a hazard.

The major learning experience fo rme is that in this wet place I use a synthetic fill sleeping bag. I'm sure going to be more careful! Before I was just concerned about getting holes in it...