Unboxing: RedRam Merino Base Layer

The lovely people* at Red Ram have sent me a Merino Base Layer for testing, but frankly the weather is still a warm to be able to tell you anything about it's thermal efficacy. Red Ram is a fair bit cheaper than my current favourite brand, which is no bad thing. The saving seems to come from not having the spiral seams of 'technical' underwear, after one days wear I'm yet to detect a difference. I wore the top last weekend on a  Pheasant shoot where I was over dressed for the weather and under dressed for the thorns and brambles I fought my way through, I was boiling the whole time. As soon as I get round to slinging on a wool wash on I'll let you know how well it survived the rigours of the washing machine, but a true test of the longjohns will have to wait until the mercury falls.

For those of you not afflicted by 'kit-tart-ness' sorry if that's the way the blog seems to be going at the moment - normal service with it's tales of feral failure will resume shortly with a cold weather adventure, a look at the english class system afield, some book reviews, and I may even get the time to finish some craft projects that aren't based in other people houses.

Keep well, your pal

SBW

*Lovely People status is available to pretty much anyone who wants to send me useable stuff

Merino Buff and The Antarctica Shirt Review

Det finns inget sådant som dåligt väder bara olämpligt kläder

As they say in Sweden or

"There's no such thing as bad weather - only inappropriate clothing"

To cut a short story long: Any amount of cold is tolerable (in the right gear) but even the smallest draft down my neck seems to suck the warmth from my soul. About 20 years ago when i first met MCP we worked a cycle messengers and would have to stand around in the cold wearing lycra waiting for the next job. Fortunately I know BoB (Brother of Bushwacker) a man whose had more mountain time in one winter than all the armchair warriors on the bushcraft forums have had in their lives, and at the time went by the nickname 'inspector gadget'. Some people thought he was called that because he had a lot of kit, true but not the reason, it was because he has the experience and insight to truly inspect gadgets, when he says 'Quite good, I'd have one' you know it'll out perform any claims made on the box and last three to four lifetimes of hard use, in foul weather. I have had tools that have literally collapsed under the weight of one of his sighs.

He sent me to a shop called Survival Aids in London's Euston station, where you could buy silk underwear and 'snoods'. Don't get exited ladies. These were sets of long johns and tops that seriously kept you warm while weighing nothing. The optional extra was what we now know as a Buff, but then called a snood, in navy blue silk. Boy do they work! Really NOTHING KEEPS YOU WARMER. I've had loads of different ones over the years and wouldn't think of going anywhere cold and windy without one. So after last swagmas's great gift of a Merino wool icebreaker turned out to be such a boon in the frozen north, when I saw Buffs were bringing out a Merino Buff I knew I'd have to get one - they seem a hell of a price at £21 - but i consoled myself that the Survival Aids ones were about £12 twenty years ago and took the plunge.

Basically you get a tube of fine woven Merino wool, if 'Betty Swollox' have knackered a pair of merino long johns you could just cut off a section of leg and save yourself the £21. But sitting the freezing cold wearing old underwear round your neck might not be your thing, in fact when i put it like that it's not my thing either.

One nice surprise is that they're about 1.5 X the length of a regular Buff so you and have it as hood and neck warmer simultaneously. Very good - even at over a score I'm still giving them a thumbs up - top piece of kit. If I do feel the company has a failing its that every time they send anything out to you (last bits were free so i shouldn't complain) they send you a new set of Buffs stickers -I don't need any Buff stickers - anyone can tell I'm Buff ;-) and an 'instructional DVD' which is frankly just more landfill.

They do eight different colours and I hope it's only a matter of time before they take up my suggestion and bring one out in Blaze Orange, as it would add 'arm band' and 'hat band' to the list of uses a Buff has, and as we know would be an important safety aid (and legal requirement) for hunters.

Recently I've been following a blog called Bashing Bambi - basically the adventures of an english chap who has a bit of woodland to raise pheasants on, does a fair bit of stalking, (english for deer hunting), likes military history, bad jokes and spends his weekends selling dog accessories and chronicling the sartorial crimes of the english upper classes AKA 'the Ruperts''.

At the bottom of his blog there are a couple of links to merchants he reckons have good stuff, and that's how I found Stalkersuk.com a small site where a keen stalker is selling some things he's found useful himself. At very reasonable prices.

I ordered the Antarctica Shirt in a Nomex/Merino (30%/70%) wool mix for £44 inc postage, and very good it is too. They are available in any colour you like as long as it's green and as soon as I'd unpicked the horrible logo it's a very nice lightweight outdoorsy top; long back, holes to put your thumbs through so your wrists stay warm and a stovepipe collar. The sizes come up quite large, I might even buy another in a size down. Thumbs up again.

Your Pal
The Bushwacker

BUFFS - The Review

Having run into Henry from Buffs at the start of the Mongol Rally '09, who very generously gave me and the kids some Buffs I've had the opportunity to test them afield and learn a little bit more about them.
What's a BUFF bushwacker?

A Buff is a seamless tube of very stretchy material that I would wear around my neck or stretched over my head, [yes THAT stretchy!] If you're young and hot [or in middle youth and still hot] you could also wear it as a dress or boob tube type top. Or If you're folliclly challenged [ in the common parlance - a slap-head] you could wear one as a Do-Rag.

You wouldn't be telling us about it if it didn't do something more than that, surely bushwacker?

Glad you asked, you know me so well, here's the clever bit.

Because of the way the material is knitted Buffs offer a very high grade of protection against UV light, in fact 95% which is better than many sunglasses. So when spending the day fishing, near snow covered slopes, or on the water they offer the kind of UV protection that we'd usually have to resort to environmentally questionable and expensive sun creams to obtain. They also do a range of Angler Buffs in all kinds of fish skin prints which are pretty cool.

OK so that's fishing, snow and water sports covered, anything else?

Yes, for lots of hunting applications, Rabbits, and Turkeys for instance, face camo can be a real help. Henry didn't have a any of the types of 'Camu Buffs' to hand when we met but there's a match for pretty much any pattern you might choose. Obviously my first question was 'do the dies contain optical brighteners?' i.e the chemicals in washing powders and cloth dyes that make clothes look bright, clean and vibrant to the human eye, but which literally make us GLOW to the eyes of a deer. Henry didn't know but was good enough to pass my question on to Sarah at Buffs HQ who passed word back telling me she thinks not.

Cool, so great for Summer, late Spring and early Autumn [Fall] then?

The Buff folks are keen outdoors people too and they've long stocked a Polar Buff which is basically a regular buff stitched to a fleece tube. Not bad, I wore a fleece tube while commuting by scooter all winter and it was a godsend, but the latest development is what's got me exited - the new 100% Merino Buff.

The color I want wasn't in stock yet but as soon as it arrives I'll be doing an 'unboxing' review. I'm expecting great things, as regular readers will know, after receiving that Merino Icebreaker top for swagmas last year I'm a total convert to Merino wool. Its almost water and windproof, it combines the super insulative qualities (wet or dry) of wool, with the stretchy comfort of a cotton lycra mix. It's now my default choice for all but outer wear.

Warning to potential buff owners - The Littlest Bushwacker has already had her Buff misappropriated by EX Mrs SBW who is now wearing it as an Alice band, and she would have taken Bushwacker Jnr's too if he hadn't caught her in the act. Keep 'em close or lose 'em.

More soon

Your Pal

SBW