The “50 Second Bullets” method is great
for being able to have accidents happen, like the ammo
slipping out of the pouch during a throw plus the fact
that it is also retrievable. But for the poor souls
trapped in a jungle of concrete and steel, isolated
from the open fields, in a place with a high risk of
damaging property, there is an answer. Sand-Glands are
simply made from fine grains of sand that are moistened,
molded and baked together. On impact they break and
turn into dust preventing too much damage to cars, windows
and people. Now, you can break a window with enough
strength, but hopefully the impact won’t be too
strong and the breakage of the gland will be enough
of a preventative measure.
And
now that the intro is done with let’s get on with
the actual production.
Okay,
there are a couple things you’re going to need:
-
Wire Screen
-
Wok or basin
-
Water
-
Sun
-
Sand
-
A trowel
Optional:
-
Toaster Oven
-
Mortar & Pestle
To get the sand take a little walk until you see a spot
with dry dirt like this one:
In
my case, since I live in the desert, the whole city
is like this.
Well,
anyway take a couple scoops and put it on the screen
then hold the screen above the basin and gently shake
it side to side filter out the rocks, sort of like sifting
for artifacts on an archeological dig. Keep doing this
until the basin is full of nice soft sand or until as
much as you need.
After that, head back home and use the spray bottle
to mix the sand with water until you get it moist enough
that it can be molded, but not so moist that it flows
between your fingers. It should be a lot like bread
dough and should be able to hold together if you lightly
toss it up and down. Optional: Grind the sand into a
powder with mortar & pestle to make a smoother gland
surface.
Here
is picture of a “bar” of mud broken in half:
Now for the fun part. Mix it all up
so that the water is evenly distributed then use your
mold to shape it or if you don’t have a mold (like
me) you can just shape it with your hands.
After
molding
your sand glands are ready to bake. Personally I prefer
using the toaster oven because it’s a lot faster
(fifteen minutes), rather than baking in the sun (around
3 hours). Once they’re dried out (and no longer
hot) you can start firing away
(I apologize for the low quality of the pictures, the
$20 camera I used was all I could afford.)
-
Sean Andrew Vicentina Badidles (Tumakas)
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