Search Results For "shifman"

Hey Budgy, thanks much for your input on this. I was just thinking, "Hmmm, I'm going to ask Budgy about this", and then there you were in the next response!

Now that you've gotten yourself into this:

I really have been wanting to try a layer of cotton and/or wool and I think I have the patience to make it work. But I have no idea of what it is I need to do!

Can you explain to me what you mean when you say that you have to "tuft the fillings into place"? I wonder if there's any explanation of this process to be found on the net or anywhere? Or if it is something that only an "old time" mattress maker would know how to do? And surely anyone working for a mattress co. isn't going to...

Are you positive that Shifman uses cotton felt? 

All of the cotton felt layers I have seen in a mattress basically look like this:

 

The stuff is just recycled junk cotton materials....it does NOT hold its shape very well at all. It is suitable to use one or two layers of this directly over the springs to prevent coils from damaging other upholstery materials (coconut coir is better for this job), however I would not use any more than this.  Cotton batting can also be purchased in rolls:

This is also usually made of new non-recycled materials.  It will be more comfortable than cotton felt, it will still ultimately compress which is why if you are going to make a...

sm5, try Shifman. They make pretty high quality mattresses, exactly what you're looking for (firm or minimal padding, double-sided, durable/damask type ticking). You can find them at Bloomingdales, but make sure you get them for no more than 60% of retail price as they are not meant to be sold at retail and are 'on sale' all the time. You can also find them at Valley Furniture Shop in NJ and a store I'm forgetting in NYC (Chelsea area). 

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12 3/4 gauge steel in the coils. determined this by lying on a lot of beds. LOL. the shifmans are all of that gauge. a few mattresses have them. king koil has a line called extended life made for heavy people. the top of the line stearns and foster , which are only made in king and queen sizes, also has that gauge. the holland maid coil from hickory springs can be ordered in that gauge. cost is 90 dollars for a full plus 200 to ship it with the side rails in. can be shipped very cheaply just rolled up without the side rails, but I have no idea how to construct that , so that is not an option for me. 

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I know what you mean. I can sleep through the night on a lot of cushy toppers but wake up with new back pains. I can get rid of the back pain on a firmer surface but wake up every 2 hours because of hip pain. the real solution is expensive. a superior coil system  with high quality latex or wool as a comfort layer or a latex bed you custom make with sleepez or one of the other latex dealers. finding a decent strong gauge coil system without paying a fortune is really hard. the best out there is the holland maid - the one used by beckley and shifman. of course the super deluxe brands - relyon, hypnos, hastens, as well as the prior two are all terrific, but are very expensive beds. the only commercial bed I know of that has a 12 3/4 gauge coil is...

If you want an innerspring or an innerspring with latex layers, best support is a 12 1/2 or 12 3/4 gauge coil - holland maid is 12 3/4 and that is used in shifmans and beckleys. king koil makes a mattress designed for more weight. it is called extended life. they charge a lot for it but it does have a 12 3/4 gauge coil and they use a lot of them. the bed discounters carry them if you want to try it out. 

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budgy, many thanks for your assistance on this. the cotton batting in the shifman was layered with each layer about one half inch. It looks like your second photo, of cotton batting. so that is what they are using. I have read online reviews from people who have had their shifmans and hastens compress pretty badly. and those are cotton and wool. so I see what you mean about this being a tricky venture. their "remedy" is to put the mattress on the floor and stomp on it, and they say that puts the cotton and wool back into balance. sounds like the same maintenance as a feather bed, which was also used as a mattress in the past.   hope I don't botch this, so I am very grateful for your advice. 

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you may want fluffy on top, but this is not topper material, it is the muscle of the mattress. there are wool toppers that will give you that . just discovered holland maid offset coils - gold bond uses them in some models. and aireloom and shifman. so now I understand why those beds felt so great to me. it was that coil system. that is what I will be looking for. 

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Cotton felt and cotton batting are not the same thing. cotton felt is used in upholstery. looks to be about 1/2 inch thick. In the cutaway I saw for the Shifmans, they used 8 to ten inches thick of cotton felt. a whole lot. the comfort layer - dacron, wool, latex combination - was on top of that. Cotton felt is sold in rolls. I saw it on ebay but you could buy it from anyplace that sells upholstery materials or from a shop that does it. as for the coils, you remember correctly. I read the same threads. I just looked at a 5 year old simmons. coils were worthless.had been "firm" but felt like mush. I also looked at a 10 year old handmade  shifman. coils in both the mattress and box were shot. had originally been an extra firm and now bounced like a trampoline. coils in...

agree with everything you just said. problem is finding great springs. I started a thread asking if there was a way to buy springs only in a box and budgy said not likely. to get a strong coil spring outfit means buying a very expensive mattress you don't want - or just going for a handmade shifman, beckley or hastens. I am going to contact Legget and Platt and see if they will sell me coils in  a box. I had hoped to just pick one up at a garage sale or something, but very very few people even know what coil system is in their mattress, and as we all know, the makers do not really want us to know. 

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