know how to make a pillow?

  • Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.

Brocktor

Banned
Jul 25, 2006
211
0
uk
ive bought some carppy pillows in the last few months they go flat straight away. making one from natural resources ready available could be fun, so anyone have any knowledge on the subject? p.s. id prefer not to buy the materials from a shop (apart from the outer lining) but if nessesary...
 
Aren't canoo- pillows filled with horse hair?

I know a lot of matrasses are (partly) filled with coconut fibres.

There are also pillows filled with cherry pits or small nutshells etc.

I'd love to see pictures of your progress. Hope your effords end in lots of good nights sleep :)

Bob
 
Brocktor said:
ive bought some carppy pillows in the last few months they go flat straight away. making one from natural resources ready available could be fun, so anyone have any knowledge on the subject? p.s. id prefer not to buy the materials from a shop (apart from the outer lining) but if nessesary...

You can get hop flowers from the brew shop and you sometimes see them growing wild. They are soft-(ish) and are supposed to help you sleep.
 
Cattail fluff has a traditional use as clothing, pillow and mattress stuffing. Read that carefully Cattail not your Cat's tail lol :o

Really soft. Just don't store them without a paper bag as if they open and you don't notice you'll have a house full of the stuff.

I'd use a slip or a doubled pillow case to enclose your pillow though, as I find cattail makes me itchy sometimes. One of those pillow protectors would be fine perhaps?
 
I've got a buckwheat (whole grain, not flour) pillow which is quite comfortable (if a little more noisy than a 'normal' pillow!).
 
Whatever happened to the DOWN??

or you could do as I do, and have a cloth bag and use it to store clothes and towels.
 
silent_trapper said:
You take the stuff sack from your sleeping bag and fill it with cloths, then wrap a fleece jacket around it. best pillow ever!

This was my common practise until a few years ago - always with my extra shoes or mocs in the middle of the stuff bag (nice to have warm shoes on cold mornings). Then my wife bought a large (very large) down pillow and demonstrated how small a stuff bag it could fit into. Now, I use the down pillow. Very nice, as I don't sleep out as easily as I used to.
 
I read an article recently regarding the collection of down & eider down from geese who are plucked alive. Just googled and found this;

"While most down and feathers are removed from birds during slaughter, geese from breeding flocks and those raised for meat and foie gras may be live-plucked. In countries where this cruel practice continues, as much as 5 ounces of feathers and down are pulled from each bird every six weeks from the time that they are 10 weeks old until they are up to 4 years old"

Apparently the birds can be plucked alive up to 7 times in their life, then force fed corn and killed for foie gras.

"In foie gras production geese are confined and force fed enormous amounts of a salty corn mash. This is done by forcing open the goose's bill, ramming a long metal pipe down his throat three times a day and using a pump to force the corn mash down."

Makes me sick.

j
 
Yeah - I saw them doing that on Rick Steins French oddysey on the telly the other night. We were disgusted - You would never get away with it in this country.
The poor geese looked utterly miserable cowering in the back of a barn :confused:
Meanwhile back on thread - I too go for the bundle of clothes, preferably with a fleece on the top. Place in the centre of a Shemagh on the diagonal, then fold all 4 corners in like an envelope to create a neat and tidy pillow ;)
Failing that, i have been known to use a plastic "volvic" (as apposed to NATO) waterbottle as a pillow, tuned for comfort by letting more air out by unscrewing the lid. Tis a bit deafening crackling under your ear as you move :cool: , but beats the pain in the neck the next day.

Pierre - might be telling granny how to suck eggs hear ? But have you tried a "Thermorest" type camping matress. They are extremely comfy, lightweight and compact. Several cheaper alternatives are available now along the same lines. They make an enourmous difference if your sleeping on the ground, and a good nights sleep is priceless.
cheers
Rich
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE