What's Inside a Box-spring? Project

Since we moved to our house two summers ago, we've had a queen-size box-spring (which didn't fit up the stairs to our bedroom) living in the guest room:

(Everyone say hi to Widget!)

Aside from the fact that this thing didn't really add to the decor, the kitties used it as their own personal (auxiliary) scratching post:

So, a few weeks ago it was time for it to go.  It would be a waste to just throw it out (and believe me, we tried giving it away a number of times), so, instead, Aryeh and I decided to dissect it.  And thus,

What's Inside a Box-spring? Project:

First we laid the subject upside down and peeled off the soft underbelly.

 This exposed the cool underlying structure:

As you can see, there's a wooden framework of ribs which the springs are attached to, as well as a metal backbone for support.

We then skinned the beast:

As you can see, there are two layers of skin.  A tough external skin layer with a soft mushy tissue layer underneath.  This lower layer of tissue is actually pretty cool.  It's made of a network of fibers:

After skinning, and short rest

we broke off the metal backbone and side ribs.  This left a strong, and flexible (in one direction only) contraption:

We then studied the springs.  Here's a close-up of one of 'em:

We then broke one spring off (saved for posterity, of course), and decided it would be too much work to break them all off, so we brought the remains of the box-spring out to the street for garbage collection:

Oh, and this was there the whole time, watching...

So you know what that means... Time Lapse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KKuoflLVd0