I wear wool pant,shirt and have a coat I like of wool. Wool is great for staying dry in deep snow while hand felling trees and other old style logging. Works great in no wind, forest situations. Wind could rob you of heat on the prairie with out some thing thin over it. I don't move too fast while wearing wool as I don't care to break a sweat. I like the Stanfield's white wool union suit as it doesn't itch and is machine washable and hang dry.

I used to be a wool guy. But have drifted to the synthetics and light weight gear. Down side for me is they do not hold up as well. OH but I love the light weight feel they give. I do need to learn about keeping my distance from the wood stove. ;0(

So what do you guys think the weight difference is between wool and synthetics on average? Is fur heavier than wool or lighter?

There was a Yukon Quest musher that wore wool pants and ended up freezing something and his voice rose a couple octaves.

I rocked the surplus wool pants and Grundens skins for some time when I couldn't afford anything else. Worked fine as in I never froze anything that caused permanent damage... I guess I always figured that if I wanted to be comfortable and warm and dryish and such I should have moved to Hawaii.

Might depend on the species of fur but in general I think my fur garments are lighter than a comparable wool garment.

Years ago I made the stupid mistake of wearing a good quality silk base layer and then wearing a cotton undershirt on top of that, then my wool. Some where I'd read that it was a good idea to have that layer of cotton sandwiched to 'absorb' the moisture that the silk wicks away from your body. (It sounded like it made sense at the time...)

Boy was that was bad advice! I sweat like a pig when I'm active and couldn't ever figure out why I was still cold despite wearing wool! Finally I wised up and removed that layer of cotton between my wool and silk base layer. I stayed much warmer after that.

Thus the saying "cotton kills"

Living in Pa we do not get the cold for any length of time. However rain,sleet and snow comes at the same time so to speak. I spend alot of time out of doors working and just enjoying it. I like wool. Wool socks are a must in my waders for cold weather. I can wear them more then one day between washes. Also a wool shirt from pendleton or woolrich is what I usually wear when spending time outside in cold temps. It can be 40 deg and raining then turn windy below zero before I get home. Either a rain coat or a canvas windbreaker is my top layer depending on what the weatherman says. It can be a guessing game and getting it wrong can make for a long day. We only had one snow last year but it was over 30 inches.

I am also of no wool school. I have an itchy reaction to nearly anything wool, however, if I use liners, I can wear Merino wool socks.

Wool is great in the right circumstances but there comes a temperature when it just isn't as effective as fur or synthetics. The quality of the wool seems to make a great difference too. You get what you pay for when buying wool. I recall reading some stories of Arctic expeditions back in the early 1900's where the parties that wore wool suffered greatly, loosing many men. The expeditions that chose fur garments, more closely resembling the native clothing of the area, fared much better.
Biggest drawback to synthetic fibers in my opinion is they melt. If you like to spend anytime around a fire you really gotta watch out for embers landing on you and burning holes.

I didn't realize so many fancy boys with sensitive skin came to this forum!

I like wool but I can see how someone who tends to run hot or sweat easily would go a different route.

I made the decision several years ago to invest in high-quality wool and it is one of the better choices I've made. I took a gamble last winter and bought one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Merino-wool-...9XkBzNofCvFLJ7A

It's super light-weight but very warm. If you're unsure of a wool baselayer I'd suggest these. Cheaper than most quality synthetics or wool but my experience so far has been very good.

Clark

I will take quality poly pro underwear, and fleece outer-wear all day. Warm, dries fast and easy, warm, even when wet, far lighter than wool, no itch, etc.
Takes up little room when packing. Only draw back I know is it's non-friendly to flame. Of course, not much clothing is.

I think most people overdress for the cold,then they are so restricted that they get cold.Even on the coldest days I wear one pair thin socks,but a good boot with dry liners and a change of liners so I always have dry liner each day,and oversize boot that does not crowd my foot.You don't want your feet to sweat,thats why guys get cold feet.Long johns,pants,ski pants.T shirt,sweater,hooded jacket,parka.Fur hat for travelling on good trail,and a face mask,and a full face helmet for brushy trails,and a toque for working in.beaver mitts with moosehide palms,preferably smoke tanned,with heavy Hudson bay blanket duffle for a liner.Leather gloves for handling bait.

Wool everything...layers of SmartWool longjohns, wool socks, wool shirt, wool vest, wool coat, wool pants, synthetic scarf, glove liners with synthetic mitts. Filson for most of it, a few LL Bean, Pendleton, old Woolrich shirts and shirt jacs. Great for layering, and for hunkering down. Wool is heavy, and can become stiff like armor when it gets snowy. But it is always warm, and will not turn a person into a human torch if you get too close to a fire.

Wool longjohns,wool socks,wool under jacket, fur hat, nylon/poly ski pants and parky to shed snow.

One other wool quality: it's silent. No "ziiiiippp" as you still hunt through the woods.

The main advantage of wool is it keeps you warm when wet, right? Wouldn't a cotton lining defeat the purpose?

Commando under heavy rag wool undies is the ONLY way to go!

He is in North Carolina. It doesn't get cold there. Not really.