Bill Skinner
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I have fired mine. This will be an all day job. I use local clay that I dig, it has a lot of sand in it but it make a pretty good projectile. You will have to make sure they are totally dry, I put mine in the oven overnight just under boiling temp to make sure. If you use a fire, prewarm them by stacking them around the fire, on something that won't let them wick moisture from the ground, like a rock or a brick. Heat them up, keep turning them so they heat evenly. Start about a meter out and move them closer as they heat up. When the fire burns down to coals, rake the coals out in a circle and put your clay glandes in the middle, still on your bricks. Build the fire up slowly and evenly. When the clay starts to change color, carefully stack more wood on until it is covered and you have a roaring bonfire. You have to heat the clay to red hot. And the hotter, the tougher.
Let the fire burn down and collect them the next day.
A few tips.
Collect your wood before you start. You will need about a good pickup load, dead branches are fine as long as they aren't much larger than your wrist. Try not to get wet or damp wood. You can use green wood to dry the ground.
Your pre warming fire is also drying out the ground, if the ground is damp, the clay will wick moisture and explode. So make sure the ground is dry from the fire, that normally takes about 2-3 hours.
If you are using natural clay, it will have organics, when you put it in the center of the ring of coals, it will start to turn dark brown to black as the organics cook out, when it starts getting lighter is when you start adding lots more wood.
I usually start the fire after breakfast, let it burn until after lunch while prewarming the clay. Rake it out into a circle, then tend it until it is time to start building it up. Once I build it up to bonfire stage, let it burn down but don't try to remove the glandes, they will hold a lot of heat for a long time. Wait until the next morning and be careful then, they can still be pretty hot.
The will bounce off a wooden target two to four times before breaking. If you have thin wood, they can go through. And they can bounce straight back, so be careful.
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