reclaiming down

[Iaspanky]

I got my hands on a large down filled army sleeping bag, and want to save the down. What is the best way of doing this with minimal loss and mess?

[Otter1]

Be prepared - most army bags have very little down, lots of feathers.

[Rain Man]

I cannibalized an old down sleeping bag and was surprised at how little down floated away. It mostly clumped together. Still, I did it in my walk-in attic to keep it out of the house. I tried using a vacuum, but found it was just as good to do by hand.

Later, when putting it into a DIY quilt, I soaked the down in water with some down wash "soap" (otherwise it wouldn't really wet thoroughly). Then I simply washed and dried the finished quilt.

Rain Man

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[Osulagh]

I do mine in a bathtub. Clean the bathtub really well and make sure it's bone dry. Then start cutting and dumping the down into it. Keep the AC off, doors closed, movements to a minimum or very slow and smooth. Then I just pack the down into sandwich baggies until they reach the weight I need.

And, I also question the amount of down to feathers there is. Have you read the ratio that might be on the tag?

[boulderv7]

Ditto on the bathtub, or you can use a tent. The key is to minimize the airflow. Like others have said make sure its worth it as far as the ratio of feathers to down.

[Iaspanky]

i hane not read the label yet I will do that before I go much farther, thanks everyone.

[doogie]

The other method that I used was to set up a free standing down containment room in my basement. Hey what else am I going to do with this tent? Anyway it worked well to keep the breezes to a minimum and I could pick it up and shake all of the down to one corner and collect the fly-away down. At first I went inside completely, but by the end I just sat outside and worked inside.