Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Sandbags

I had this pair of blue jeans that I really liked, soft, still had color, comfortable. Then Milady started commenting that the hole in the butt really detracted from the effect, and she wished that I not wear them in public. You guys have each had this conversation at one time or another.

At about the same time, my buddy Junior recommended that I make a couple of sandbags. "Fill 'em with rice." said he. Well, I've been known to listen to Junior's advice, but I really wasn't comfortable with filling the bag with rice. Rice is a food product and my bags are going to live in the garage. I don't want a rat problem, so, I went looking for a suitable alternative.

A couple of weeks ago, another buddy, David, was telling me about the crushed walnut media he uses to polish brass. Rather than buy walnut media for his tumbler, he goes to the pet store and buys lizard litter. When he compared prices online with what he could buy in the stores, they were very similar. The stuff runs a little over a dollar a pound, and with shipping and etc, it's easier to go to the pet store and pick up a 10 lb bag when he needs it.

I figured that ground walnut media would fill a bag just fine. So, I cut the legs off my hole-in-the-butt blue jeans and made some sandbags for shooting.



They're a whole lot lighter than sand and very, very firm. Plus, I can tell Milady that I recycled those jeans. This is a win-win situation.

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

Good idea and cheep works too! :-)

Anonymous said...

I made your chicken/rice oven bake recipe last night for Jane and Trey. Yummy, yummy and so easy. Cant wait to see you!!
Love you,
dianne

Rivrdog said...

I generally make my old pants into gun socks, plus I cut some up for hard-cloth patches to clean bores with.

The pockets of cargo pants make excellent pistol-socks due to their ability to close the flap with a zipper or Velcro.

BTW, this whole problem of ripped jeans is because of the damn fad of pre-washed jeans. They use an acid solution to deliberately soften the cloth, which defeats the whole purpose of denim, which is supposed to be a hard, abrasion resistant cloth.

My Dad never wore jeans, but his pappy was a tailor, so I got an earful about clothing fads while growing up.

BTW2, if you want the very best hunting pants, and cost is not a factor, get Filson "tin pants". They are a hard canvas duck to start with, but are also impregnated with wax on the front of the legs, and you can walk right through brambles without a scratch. They don't sell them in camo, so you will have to paint them in camo colors if you want camo.

Pawpaw said...

Rivrdog - I try not to buy acid washed jeans for precisely that reason. My jeans are softened the old fashioned way. Washing and wear.

If I'm pushing through brambles, I want Carhartt's cotton duck on my legs. They're almost required wear in the hunting camps in this region.

I'll have to look for Filson's.

Rivrdog said...

Filson's:

http://www.filson.com/sm-double-tin-pants--pi-2092283.html