Working with down...

[tlbj6142]

I just tried to stuff the first baffle on my down quilt. It took most of an hour and it still doesn't look like it is filled. What do you do to stuff down into the baffles of a quilt?

Here is what I tried tonight...

Pre weigh an empty box that is approximately 800ci (812ci by my math).
I hang my quilt by a clothes line about waist high to hold open the baffles. The bottom 6"-8" of the longest baffle lay on the ground.
cut open a bag of down supplied by www.thru-hiker.com (http://www.thru-hiker.com/)
Grab a handful and place it in the box.
Once the box was half full I weigh it. Net gain of more than 45g! Yikes! 1oz == 28.3495g. So, I had more than 1.5oz of down in less than 400ci of space!
So, I remove handfuls until I have 30g of down (what I need for the first baffle of 50.5"x6.5"x2.5" rounded up to the nearest gram (the resolution on my scale)).
Now I have a half filled 800ci box filled with 1oz of down. I assume the down must still be compressed a bit so I don't get too worried about the fact that the box isn't full as it should be.
I try using an empty paper towel tube with one end covered with no-see-um netting and a vacuum to suck up the down. As described on www.imrisk.com (http://www.imrisk.com/).
Once I have a "full" tube I blow it into the baffle.
This process is very, very, very, very slow as I seem to only get a small amount of down per tube.
I switch to a larger gift wrapping tube. Same results.
I pour all of the down out of the box into a grocery bag.
I then, squeeze the bag into the baffle. A worthless exercise. I end up pouring the down back into the box.
I cut another opening on the side of the gift wrapping tube and cover it with no-see-um. This allows me to draw down in from the end and from the side. Still painfully slow.
After ~45 minutes I have the first baffle "full", though it appears to be half-full while hanging on the line. Down compression??
Any ideas? I need to finish this tomorrow night.

[Smee]

Get a box of zip lock plastic bags.

Weigh a bag.

Transfer down in the correct amounts to the baggies by hand.

After you have all the baggies loaded, manually transfer the down from the baggies to the quilt one handfull at a time. Place it down the baffle as far as you can reach. You will lose some to the floor as you perform the transfer. After emptying each baggie, collect as much as you can off the floor and place it in the quilt.

Continue until you've completed the quilt.

We can do about three an hour this way.

[tlbj6142]

I tired to stuff a baffle by hand lastnight. Seems like I had more down stuck to my hands and forearm than what actually ended up in the baffle. Maybe I need to transfer smaller handfuls rather than a big chuck at a time.

[manzana]

Isn't down bird feathers? Where in the world do you get them? That would be mighty cozy.

APPLE in AUSTIN

[tlbj6142]

www.thru-hiker.com (http://www.thru-hiker.com). I have also heard that feathered friends sells down a la carte.

[Smee]

Have you justified the cost of our quilts yet? ;)

[tlbj6142]

It does take a long time. But since I don't need to sell the item, my time is "free". Which means my quilt will end up costing me 60% less than what I'd pay for it new. I think my cost from www.thru-hiker.com (http://www.thru-hiker.com/) were ~$140. Whereas an Arc-Alpinist (http://www.nunatakusa.com/Sleeping_Bag_Arc_Alpinist_Sleeping_Bag.htm) would cost me $362!!!.

I have 3 children. So, making another quilt is a strong possiblity. I'm sure I can build and stuff one in less than 5 hours from the lessons I learned on this one. This one has taken at least 10 hours, if not 15 hours. But I only work on in the evening for a hour or so. And, at times, I'm not concentrating on it all that much (Olympics, etc.).

The biggest time sinks have been the footbox (****ty online docs) and the stuffing (ditto). Now that I know how to do both, I don't have as much to worry about.

[Smee]

Keep after it! You'll find that having done it once, after awhile you'll think, "That wasn't so bad." Then you'll decide you can make a better one. Each time it gets easier and you learn new techniques. Pretty soon your hooked.

But the pleasure and satisfaction from a quality homemade piece of gear is unbeatable.

[TedB]

I don't know anything about down, but if you are getting frustrated with a project, it might help to stop for a moment and be thankful (http://www.peace4turtleisland.org/pages/Thanks.htm). Your mental state definitely affects the quality of gear you make.

[tlbj6142]

I just finished 543g (19.15oz) total weight.

I finished stuffing using the method ACYE described on his boards today. Basically put down package on a scale, pull out down and stuff it into bag. When the scale shows you've put enought into the baffle, pin it and go on.

At first it seems a bit messy, but after 4-5 trip to/from the down packaging, its rather simple. It was tough, however, to stuff the smaller baffles at the end of the footbox.