The Armour Archive

I've almost got my new Windrose hat ready to go but the padding is just shy of legal.

So I'm thinking of making up the difference with a quilted coif using cotton, wool, or bamboo batting.

I know about the properties of the first 2 but nothing of the last.

Has anyone on the archive used 100% bamboo batting for anything? What did you think? How did it do for padding? Anything to be aware of?

Come spring I will be collecting the hair of my mom's horses to make a horse hair helm liner, but that may take a while. So this will be for the interim.

-Ivan

Procrastinator's Of The World Unite!.....Tomorrow!

The bamboo fiber has been chemically modified so it's essentially a form of rayon. I have some thread made of it and it's smooth like silk; not sure how well it might dissipate heat compared to cotton or linen padding.

Putting a hand into some bamboo-needled cotton quilters' batting, I got the impression it would ride cooler than the needled cotton and poly blend batting.

I have been using wool - sheep skin with the fuz on it - for years. I have been very impressed with it's wicking, sweat absobsion, padding factor wet and most importantly it doesn't stink when sweaty. I sweat toxic stuff that corodes stainless and aluminum. I get a couple years out of sheep skin padding with no funk. YMMV but not by much.

A good friend of mine made an arming coat padded with bamboo batting. He swears by it. He testifies he stays exponentially cooler with the bamboo than the cotton batting he used to have.

YMMV. I haven't used it myself - yet! - so I can't testify personally. But he raves about the stuff.

Bob