recovering down from USGI extreme cold weather bag

[gps4]

i have an old USGI extreme cold weather mummy bag that i think is rated to -10. its been used one time in the last 20 years. it weighs about 12-15 lbs and i'm not likely to use it much here in the deep south.

what i'd like to do is take the down out of it and use it to fill a DIY under quilt and perhaps add some to my walmart ozark trail 32 deg coccoon 200.

any tips or tricks to getting the down out without making a huge mess?

thanks in advance.

[Chriss]

Clean wet-vac or small vacuum with hose. Check this out as it may lead you in a direction to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCJp2C4EFjU

[Chriss]

read this one as well. https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ghlight=vacuum Squidbilly has a nice way of doing it.

[Vincethebutcher]

i dont have a shop vac or a clean vacuum. So i went with the cut open with a scissors method. Worked pretty good, i lost some down around my apartment but i live alone so it wasnt a big deal. If you do it this way ive found is just close the window, turn off all fans, and dont breath to hard. If you just move slow you dont make that big of a mess. But you still need to vacuum after wards.

The other process I've seen for stuffing is people getting instead a tent with the end of there vacuum and a bag of down and the object to stuff. Once your done stuffing just turn on the vacuum, and then atleast if you miss any you have it contained in the tent.

[riverjoe]

If its the true ECW it will be a mix of down and synthetic . The synthetic will be on the bottom . Let us know how much down you get please . You can still buy these for 50 bucks . If its the M1949 it will be a mixture of feathers and down . About 60/40 I think .

I recently stuffed an M 1949 with a couple of pounds of feather down mix to lower the temp rating . I made it into a monster under quilt . I just took handfuls and stuffed em in . Messy but totally doable . I don't know how pure down works tho .

[two in a cluster]

Would also like to hear the results and how much down you can harvest from one of these as I am thinking that may be a affordable option for diy