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Source of down?


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  • #1232337
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    What are some favorite companies to purchase down? I got a great deal on a Kelty Lightyear 25 that a dog had torn (about 15", across 3 baffles). Not a lot of down was lost, but I thought I would try to replace it before I patch it. Or I may just harvest all the down out of it. Or sell it. Thanks for the help.

    #1461550
    Ryan P. Murphy
    BPL Member

    @rmurphy

    Locale: Virginia

    thru-hiker.com is the only place I've ever purchased down from. As anyone who has dealt with them can vouch for the customer service is great. The down is also high quality. $26 for a 3 ounce supply of 800+ fill power (I think I remember reading somewhere on here way back that the usual fill power is about 830 and sometimes as high as 860? Either way it's good stuff). Cheers.

    #1461579
    Art Sandt
    Member

    @artsandt

    Another source for down is Speer Hammocks. Their price is a bit higher, but if Thru-hiker ever runs out or changes their price, it'd be good to know a second source.

    #1461584
    Tony Fleming
    BPL Member

    @tonyfleming

    Locale: Midwest

    I have bought down from both of these sources, and prefer the quality of Thru hiker's down.

    Tony

    #1461588
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    Anyone ever used these guys? http://sevenwondersdown.com/index.html

    I'm about to decide fixing this bag is more than I want to mess with.

    #1461595
    te – wa
    BPL Member

    @mikeinfhaz

    Locale: Phoenix

    Joe – I have not used Seven Wonders for my source of down. But I think I will, given that it appears to be free shipping. You have the option to buy one ounce at a cost of $8 w/ free ship.
    Purchasing a pound? still free shipping. That will save you 12-14 bucks over the other guys.
    you dont know how many times i have wanted to buy just one ounce.. thanks for the heads up. dunno how i missed this before…
    am i missing anything? hidden charges?

    #1461614
    peter kvamme
    Member

    @karacolor

    Locale: midwest

    Michael,
    I looked at the Seven Wonders website, and it looks like they do charge shipping; $0.75 USD for each ounce or $12.00 USD per pound. That is still pretty cheap when just buying one ounce though!

    http://sevenwondersdown.com/Shipping.html

    #1461616
    te – wa
    BPL Member

    @mikeinfhaz

    Locale: Phoenix

    thanks, Peter. I used a PayPal payment and it came up for one ounce @ $8
    I took the payment all the way thru the process until the "pay now" button. It seems that there is no shipping charge when the PalPal link is used. ??
    even w/ shipping fee, its a good price. thanks

    #1461620
    Nicholas Miller
    BPL Member

    @nmiller08

    Locale: Montana

    I just ordered an ounce from seven wonders, and it does charge .75 in the end for shipping (through Paypal link). Even so, that's only 26.25 for three ounces, a $.30 increase over thru-hiker but with the ability to buy an ounce at a time. perfect for small projects. I'll post here when it arrives to give an idea of shipping time.

    P.S. forgot to factor in shipping at thru-hiker ($7.50 for 3 ounces) making this an even better deal, assuming high quality down. Of course, if ordering other things from thru-hiker shipping costs get spread out over the whole purchase.

    P.P.S. down was shipped on 12/5 (email notification)

    #1461863
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    I felt guilty after posting that link and other people buying, so I bought 3 oz myself. Guess if it's a rip-off, we'll all go down (get it?) together.

    #1462935
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    Anyone get their down yet? I got mine. Don't really know what I'm looking at though.

    #1463330
    Nicholas Miller
    BPL Member

    @nmiller08

    Locale: Montana

    I got my down today as well. It seems to be high quality just from a "feel" test. The only down I've used before has been purchased from Speer Hammocks, so I don't have a lot of reference. Not able to test the loft myself, and no certification paperwork included, so I have no science to contribute. Ok, not zero science, if you can call using a scale science: I bought an ounce and received nearly 1.4! I just finished making a footbox for a quilt and the only complaint is that the Seven Wonders down seemed a lot harder to work with, more prone to floating away, sticking to everything, etc.

    #1463332
    Nicholas Miller
    BPL Member

    @nmiller08

    Locale: Montana

    Also, I'm feeling a little guilty, partly because I made an $8.75 purchase and Seven Wonders shipped it with Priority Mail, undoubtedly costing more than $.75 and partly because of the packaging, shipping and other costs entailed in shipping one measly ounce of down. I think I'll make up for it by ordering a bunch more.

    #1463338
    Michael Davis
    Member

    @mad777

    Locale: South Florida

    Nicholas,

    "… more prone to floating away."

    That's probably a good thing! I would think the higher the fill power, the less dense and therefore more "floaty" the down would be.

    #1463347
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    I was hoping mine would come in 1 oz bags, but it's a big 3 oz bag. Guess I need to find a source that tells me how to get a little at a time out. That would be kind of funny to open a bag of that down up in someones car though.

    #1463353
    Tom Caldwell
    BPL Member

    @coldspring

    Locale: Ozarks

    If I can't sell my Jacks R Better quilt, I'll cut it open and sell the down to you folks.

    #1463370
    Jeremy Greene
    Spectator

    @tippymcstagger

    Locale: North Texas

    source. stated fill. price of 3oz. shipping to TX included

    Thru-Hiker. 800+. $33.40
    7Wonders. 800+. $26.25
    Speer. 900. $38.50

    All info is from websites and shopping carts. Speer specifically states they include an extra 0.1oz/3oz. I do not know if other companies include this.

    A previous post stated a quality preference for Thru-Hiker over Speer, even though Speer claims 900 while others claim 800+. What should be believed? Is the premium for Speer acceptable?

    The differences in community involvement may outweigh shipping, quality, and price, but I'd like to hear more about these specs.

    I have ignored differences in shipping time, but these may be important to others.

    #1463379
    te – wa
    BPL Member

    @mikeinfhaz

    Locale: Phoenix

    Jeremy, I can tell you from experience that Speer and Thru-hiker do not use the same source for down. Speer comes from gray geese as seen in their down. It has a gray shade to it. Thru Hiker is pure white. Ghostly white.
    Both sources add a bit of down so you are actually getting 1.3 oz.

    I do like the packaging Ed Speer uses over Thru-Hiker.
    Purely asthetical, but if using a transluscent shell (like lt. gray or white) the T.H. down looks good as it is so 'pristinely' white. The speer down looks a little like salt 'n pepper inside.

    Joe, might you post a pic of the bag your down came in?
    also, Joe you can use a shop vac with some noseeum over the hose to suck up several grams of down at a time. Ive used a 3hp vac to suck up almost an ounce at a time. this is great if your quilt chambers are large.

    #1463391
    Nicholas Miller
    BPL Member

    @nmiller08

    Locale: Montana

    Michael, I agree that the difficulty managing the down might be a good indicator of loftiness, but the Speer is definitely just as "airy" without quite so much static, float, and cling. It might be more a factor of packaging, the Speer uses a sort of firmer plastic bag while the seven wonders is more "rubbery" plastic if that makes sense, more like what a white trash bag feels like (but both bags are clear, for what it's worth).

    Jeremy, in addition to Michael's comments about down source, I can only offer that Speer uses a little certification sticker on the bag from an independent loft tester (I had no idea such an industry existed until starting MYOG down projects). The batch that I got my down from had a "measured" fill rating of 927 c.i. with a "5%-10%" error disclaimer. I posted in a different thread wondering if this would actually make the Speer down that I had "835+" since it's minimum fill rating would be 10% less than the measured 927 value. The Seven Wonders down did not include such data although their website claims that they have independent testing of some sort. I have no idea on the thru-hiker down since I haven't used any yet.

    Also, aside from simply Speer's and T-H's community involvement (which probably warrants consideration for most people here) is the fact that you can order other items, fabrics, etc. at the same time.

    Regarding shipped amounts, Speer advertises 3.1 ounces shipped and my order measured out to a little over that. The seven wonders ounce that I ordered, while measuring it out last night and stuffing it, came to almost 40 grams. I have no idea if this ratio would be maintained when ordering 3 ounces or if it is a general error range. i.e., if ordering 3 ounces, it seems unlikely that you'd get 40 grams x 3, resulting in a whole extra ounce. More likely you'd get a similar safety barrier to what I got, 3 ounces + 12 or so grams. Or, it's possible that my bag was a case of careless filling and you're as likely to get less than you order as you are more.

    #1463393
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    Not a very good picture, but here it is –
    Down

    #1463427
    Tony Fleming
    BPL Member

    @tonyfleming

    Locale: Midwest

    Hi Joe,

    I was worried about having down every where when I made our quilts. But it is easier to work with than it sounds. I cut the bag 1/2 way open and placed it upside down in a larger (3-5 gallon) zip lock bag. To pull it out, I reached in to the bottom of the outer ziplock, curled my hand and grabbed a handful of down from inside the Thru-hiker bag, making sure there was nothing loose, and pulled it out. Any down that may wander out of the Thru hiker bag stayed in the other outer plastic ziplock bag. The secret is not to try and pull out more down than you can control in your closed fist. I went through 6 bags of down without losing any, and it did not create a big mess.

    I hope this helps,

    Tony

    #1463811
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    I did notice something about the down I bought, as I was completely screwing up the patch job on my Lightyear. Boy, that nylon repair tape attracts down like a vacuum. And if you get some seam sealer on your fingers, it all goes south. But I digress. I noticed that the down from the Kelty (650) was about half the size of the down from Seven Wonders. The Seven Wonders down was finer too. I should have taken pics.

    #1464673
    Adam Hurst
    Member

    @stormcrowe

    Locale: Midwest

    I suppose I will chime in on this one (my first post here by the way).

    I have 2 lbs of down scheduled for delivery on Wednesday and I am excited about it. I have also never worked with down so I am a little anxious. Anyway, I found the site over at hammockforums.net.

    Price. Well they site advertises $73/lb for 800 fill power white goose down. I suppose that is true if you fall under certain guidelines. Firstly you would have to order 20lbs to get it at that price…LOL. Second you have to live in Canada so you wouldnt have to pay Border fees. Thirdly, their price is in Canadian…not USD. Having said that when my order was complete, the Two (2) pounds came to $195.00 and that included FEDEX shipping. Still much better per ounce than those other ones. The plus size is that I now have 32oz of down to go nuts with!

    The website is http://www.featherind.com/

    I will let you all know how it looks when I get it. Not that i have anything to compare it too…:)

    Adam

    #1464676
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    That is a bunch of down…….I'd say the individual 600 fill down out of my Kelty bag was closer to the size of a dime(or smaller), and the 800 fill I bought was a lot closer to the size of a quarter.

    #1464698
    te – wa
    BPL Member

    @mikeinfhaz

    Locale: Phoenix

    I think Adam is referring to the tutorial i posted at hammock forums and practical backpacking. here is a link to give you some pointers for working with down. you may find it useful, mike.

    http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4362

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