Swiss Military Blanket, Wool Reproduction by Swiss Link, Classic Swiss Army Blanket for Bushcrafting

Well, I finally did it..... I picked up a Swiss Military Wool Blanket!

Actually, I have to be honest with you, it's not an original,, but you wouldn't guess it at first glance.

I have had my eye out for one of the original blankets from the Swiss Army, but these days they are very tough to find, and when you do find them, the prices are crazy high.  So, the next best thing is a quality reproduction.

The stars must have aligned perfectly for this deal.  About a month ago I received an email, promotional offer from a surplus company that I haven't purchased anything from for several years.  It was a coupon code for $10 off my next order, no strings attached.  I never ended up using it because their shipping was too high for my liking, so I just let that coupon sit and languish (glad I didn't delete it!).
Then, as we were heading into our Memorial Day, holiday weekend, I started receiving all kinds of great discount offers from various surplus and gear companies.  The same company that sent me the $10 off code, then posted that they were offering free shipping for the entire weekend.  Now that's a deal that I can't pass up (especially with a free $10 burning a hole in my pocket!).  I headed over to their web site to shop around.

One of the first things I spotted was the the Swiss Military Blanket reproductions.  They had put the blankets on sale for $14.95 !  With the coupon code and free shipping, my final cost was $5 out the door.  What a deal! I ordered it right up, and it arrived yesterday.

Here's the interesting thing about these "reproduction" blankets, many of them are low quality and have been treated with questionable (and very smelly!) "moth repellent" chemicals.  All of them seem to be made in India.  Of all the reproduction blankets, the very best, and highest quality, are produced through Swiss Link surplus down in California.  I had always said that if I ended up with a reproduction, it would have to be Swiss Link.  This purchase was a gamble...........

The description on the site, did not give any information on the manufacturer, other than the blanket was imported from India.  The blanket weight, and size, however, matched Swiss Link's blankets perfectly.  I had a hunch that they were selling the Swiss Link reproductions.  It turns out I was right!

When the package arrived, I opened it, and was thrilled to see the Swiss Link packing label and blanket label, inside the plastic wrapper!   In a round about, and gambling sort of way, I finally had a Swiss Link blanket!

First off, I have to say that Swiss Link is one of my all time favorite surplus companies!  I have purchased from them both through their website, and directly from their old warehouse in person.  These folks are the real deal, real people, family owned, and not a "corporate mail order" company.  You can actually just call them up and talk to someone who is right there at the store.  They usually have a number of hard to find  items that you can only find from them, and always at a great price.  If you have never shopped Swiss Link, give them a try!

https://swisslink.com/

Swiss Link was a victim of the Camp Fire down in Paradise, California in November of 2018.  The entire business, the warehouse, and ALL the surplus was incinerated to ash.  It's now been six months down the road, and Swiss Link is putting it all back together, and they are back in business.  Their website is filling up with great new surplus deals and they have their classic line of new gear back on the shelves, in a new warehouse. (Can you tell I love this company?)

Now back to our blanket............

This blanket is tightly woven and no funky pesticide smell!  I would expect nothing less from Swiss Link!  It weighs just a bit under 4 pounds.  It measures 60 inches by 80 inches. It is made from 70% wool, and 30% "natural fiber" according to the label.  I'm not sure what the "natural fiber" is, but at least it's natural!  I'm OK with that.

The blanket has a very nice bevo weave, Swiss Link label sewn on one corner.

The "Made In India" label is loosely sewn into the end binding stitching, and is very easily removable.

The red stripes on each end are woven in and not painted on (like some cheaper models).

The white Swiss crosses are stitch-embroidered, one on each end.

This blanket is just about perfect in every way, and looks great strapped to the bottom of my Frost River pack!
For those of you who may be interested, here's a link to my blog post on my pack:

https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2015/06/frost-river-ilse-royal-jr-bushcraft.html

I haven't taken this blanket out any further than the front yard, but I am certain it'll be a great addition to my bushcraft gear!  Let's end this with a closer look at this wonderful blanket.  Enjoy!