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zekerToday at work (the military surplus store) there was a big push to sell some wool blankets. We have over a thousand of them. The designer wanted a little more juice because these blankets were getting shoved into the second position on a sales email, and that juice was to take the form of a good wool blanket story.
Unfortunately, these blankets were resisting the typical myth-making process.
They were 100% wool. That's great. They were also manufactured decades ago, then pulled out of storage recently and put up for sale by a enterprising vendor.
Customers who had already bought these blankets gave them great reviews. 5 stars for these wool blankets! Mostly because they were warm. But, many customers also noted the blankets had a strong smell of gasoline. Really warm blankets, smelled like gas.
Not as strange of a situation as you might think.
Here's my educated guess. Gasoline is a long-chain hydrocarbon. But there's something else they make out of long-chain hydrocarbons...insecticide!
!00% wool. 100% warm. 0% moths.
Then I had to go figure out how much of a thing the whole moths vs. wool dichotomy really was. First blog post I found was this harrowing tale of moth larvae infestation, which seems to indicate it really was a problem.
But then after some more searching, it turns out the smell probably isn't insecticide. Old wool, wool in long-term storage, or just slightly dirty wool, all seem to get a gasoline smell after a while. Perhaps because of the lanolin breaking down.
But regardless of the moth situation, it's been established these are fantastic, 5 star blankets. And wool is a fantastic insulator. It's nature's best insulator. Except for maybe down. I'm not going to get into a wool vs. down battle. Similar to down, wool works great in a variety of environments, and keeps its insulating power even when damp.
And the gasoline smell goes away too, as long as you give it time to air out.
Additional reading:
Apparently American wool got a bad rap during the Korean War, and most uniforms and other gear pivoted to synthetics.
Unfortunately, these blankets were resisting the typical myth-making process.
They were 100% wool. That's great. They were also manufactured decades ago, then pulled out of storage recently and put up for sale by a enterprising vendor.
Customers who had already bought these blankets gave them great reviews. 5 stars for these wool blankets! Mostly because they were warm. But, many customers also noted the blankets had a strong smell of gasoline. Really warm blankets, smelled like gas.
Not as strange of a situation as you might think.
Here's my educated guess. Gasoline is a long-chain hydrocarbon. But there's something else they make out of long-chain hydrocarbons...insecticide!
!00% wool. 100% warm. 0% moths.
Then I had to go figure out how much of a thing the whole moths vs. wool dichotomy really was. First blog post I found was this harrowing tale of moth larvae infestation, which seems to indicate it really was a problem.
But then after some more searching, it turns out the smell probably isn't insecticide. Old wool, wool in long-term storage, or just slightly dirty wool, all seem to get a gasoline smell after a while. Perhaps because of the lanolin breaking down.
But regardless of the moth situation, it's been established these are fantastic, 5 star blankets. And wool is a fantastic insulator. It's nature's best insulator. Except for maybe down. I'm not going to get into a wool vs. down battle. Similar to down, wool works great in a variety of environments, and keeps its insulating power even when damp.
And the gasoline smell goes away too, as long as you give it time to air out.
Additional reading:
Apparently American wool got a bad rap during the Korean War, and most uniforms and other gear pivoted to synthetics.