Maybe cheap down source

[pineapplenewton]

Has anyone here thought of buying down products to get down I don't know much about the price of down but if uq are at 200 dollars min and probably a good % of that is price of materials namely down. I just thought I'de get an idea of the price for other down products and wile it might not be the best down I checked overstock (sponsored links on google) and i quite large quilt (for a bed weird a quilt that doesn't hang?) for just $60. how many uq could you make with that? http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden...f43db2ed1360.2

[stormcrow]

It is that price because the down has more feathers in it. That is my guess anyway. The typical DIYer that is looking for light weight materials is looking for the highest loft down and that means the lowest percentage of feathers. Feathers tend to poke through at us and that would just ruin the whole hammocking experience!

[GrizzlyAdams]

Not all down products are the same.

The so-called "fill number" is one guide. I just grabbed this explanation off the internet

Fill is measured in cubic inches per ounce. That means that a bag that weighs the same as this will loft to 34800 cubic inches with 600 fill or 46400 with 800 fill. That extra 12000 cubic inches of loft means that for the same weight, much more air is trapped and the bag is a lot warmer. More warmth for the weight, plus higher fill compresses more, hence the price difference.

The quilts you get from Speer or the Jacks or WBG, that's high end stuff. 800 or 900 cubic inches per ounce. The stuff in the North Face jackets that seem to be the uniform among Dartmouth undergraduates, that's maybe 600 or 650 cubic inches per ounce. What's in the comforters and such you're referring to is lower grade still.

Now whether the reduction in weight for a given amount of insulation is worth it or not is a question left to the consumer. If you made an UQ from 600 fill that was good to 20 degrees, the down portion of that quilt would be 1.5x heavier than the down portion of a quilt made from 900 fill.

I think some folks have done what you suggest. Having made some down quilts, I'd suggest that if you go that route to transfer the down using a vacuum cleaner setup.

Grizz

[pineapplenewton]

I wasn't suggesting that specific one they even had higher quality down on the site. Wile that my not be great down its still better then synthetic right?

[te-wa]

i make down quilts with fill power of at least 800-850. my down is tested by three individual down facilities using at least 2 of the 5 common testing methods.
anyone can claim a bogus fill power, but they are legally obligated to state the down/feather percentage on a fixed tag that will say "5% or 10%" or higher feather content.

my advice? stay away from cheap bedding and purchase high quality down. anything above 750 will do the trick quite nicely. mike

[stormcrow]

I think some folks have done what you suggest. Having made some down quilts, I'd suggest that if you go that route to transfer the down using a vacuum cleaner setup.

Grizz

I have noticed in some members videos that the lower the grade of down the easier it is to transfer it into a quilt. I think it was gunn parker that has a video of him making a down quilt and the down does not appear to be 800+ because he can actually move faster than .1 miles per hour while working with it. When I am working with down I have to move S L O W and put seran wrap on my hairy arms to keep the down from sticking to it...lol. It is quite a sight.

Personally I did not have good results with the vacuum method. Many people DO use that method so it must be good for some. I use a paper towel cardboard tube and just start stuffing down into it until it gets hard enough to stuff in that I think I will not be able to blow it out... I then stick in into the baffle and blow! It shoots right down there. Depending on the quilt it sometimes take two or three "blows" to fill a baffle. Each cardboard tube full is a fraction of an ounce.

Wow, sorry about the tutorial. I kind of got carried away.

Stormcrow

[GrizzlyAdams]

...
Personally I did not have good results with the vacuum method. Many people DO use that method so it must be good for some. I use a paper towel cardboard tube and just start stuffing down into it until it gets hard enough to stuff in that I think I will not be able to blow it out... I then stick in into the baffle and blow! It shoots right down there. Depending on the quilt it sometimes take two or three "blows" to fill a baffle. Each cardboard tube full is a fraction of an ounce.

Wow, sorry about the tutorial. I kind of got carried away.

Stormcrow

I can move maybe 4-5 grams max per load with the vacuum, so it takes quite a few more "blows" for me to fill a baffle. It takes a lot of attention to detail to keep the various places the down might escape sealed up.

patience is the key

Grizz

[te-wa]

i have a big shop vac with wand attachment that will do 1 ounce at a time. I think its 3hp - not looking at it so not sure. whatever method you should choose if you do take on the task, a big shop vac is a nice tool to have.

[stormcrow]

I can move maybe 4-5 grams max per load with the vacuum, so it takes quite a few more "blows" for me to fill a baffle. It takes a lot of attention to detail to keep the various places the down might escape sealed up.

patience is the key

Grizz

yes patience is important. That is so true about sealing up the various places you are putting the down. The first "blow" is not a big deal...it is the second one that will send the stuff flying if you dont have things sealed properly.

i have a big shop vac with wand attachment that will do 1 ounce at a time. I think its 3hp - not looking at it so not sure. whatever method you should choose if you do take on the task, a big shop vac is a nice tool to have.

WOW, one oz at a time is alot. I cant imagine that your quilts even take an ounce per baffle. The vacuum I use is smaller (like a dust buster) that i keep some netting on to catch crazy amounts of flyaways when things get wild. Down night is always fun at the Stormcrow house.

SC

[te-wa]

my quilts have 6 chambers, and 7 oz down. 1oz in both outer chambers, and 1.25oz in the 4 middle ones.
yes, they rock. thanks for asking.