Fast and easy way to break in bags

[Cod]

Hello Modified.

For Christmas I want to give you a really fast and easy method of breaking in bags. It's only a few steps:

1. Remove all the filler from your new bag or if you are just stitching it don't fill it in with your standard filler.
2. Fill in the bag with plastic pellets.
3. Start breaking in the bag with a normal "finger" method.
4. When the bag grows up, add another part of poly pellets.
5. "Finger" the bag again.
6. Repeat 4. and 5. untill you feel the bag isn't growing.
7. Remove all plastic pellets.
8. Fill in the bag with your standard filler.

Poly pellets are extremaly cool for breaking in bags and they don't do bad things to fabric. With some training you can have a playable, break in bag in an hour or two after stitching it.

Merry Christmas!


Edit: Here are some photos of bags broken in with this technique.

#1 Before


#1 After


#2 Before


#2 After


#3 Before


#3 After


#4 Before


#4 After

[Wasabi]

Nice break-in technique, Cod. Great way in stretching the facile safely without too much abuse to the bag. The only risks I see is how rigorous you would finger roll the bag, which can pill the outer surface if you're not careful.

[Pyroman924]

Wonderful technique! Only problem for me is a little piece of me dies each time I open one of my footbags.
Probably make sure you trim your fingernails down before doing this as well.

[PegLegHolly]

"Finger" the bag

nutsack


but on a serious note, i think this method sounds cool. i dont really have a problem with my bags being soft from the beginning so i wouldnt use this method for some bags ive made...
...but there are a few bags i have from some stitchers that seem like theyd be impossible to break in so i might use this method on my abshire mini or something.


...im really glad to see your method doesnt involve oils or heat. when i hear people saying that they use oils it makes me cry a little inside.

[Cod]

Alan, you don't have (and even should not) open the bag to change the filler! Almost every 32-panel bag has bleedholes and you can add or remove some filler by a tube.

[HG]

Thanks for this Cod, although you explained it to me earlier. Im going to try it.



1 thing about your tutorial, Switch the words "Before" and "After" because before means... the first picture. And after means that it happened later. So your captions are switched

[quadgun]

...but there are a few bags i have from some stitchers that seem like theyd be impossible to break in so i might use this method on my abshire mini or something.

From my experience, I wouldn't rush the break in of a bag too much.
How long have you had the abshire? I remember mine not being ideal until around 7 months after i got it.

I don't think Cod meant this to be the only way to break in your bag, it's just something that will speed up the break in of a brand new bag.

Don't expect your new bag to be shredable right after you do this.

[Cod]

Don't expect your new bag to be shredable right after you do this.

All bags I broke in with this method was absolutely shredable right after I did this. And they were even better than all my bags before. Ever!

[King Monkey]

lol @ 7 months break-in

[PegLegHolly]

From my experience, I wouldn't rush the break in of a bag too much.
How long have you had the abshire? I remember mine not being ideal until around 7 months after i got it.

I don't think Cod meant this to be the only way to break in your bag, it's just something that will speed up the break in of a brand new bag.

Don't expect your new bag to be shredable right after you do this.

dude. im not stupid.

[Pyroman924]

Alan, you don't have (and even should not) open the bag to change the filler! Almost every 32-panel bag has bleedholes and you can add or remove some filler by a tube.

Are you referin to in between the stitchings? I've looked through my Abshire before and found nothing of the sort. Also, usually the required space for a tube is too much. I'll go back over it though and see what I can find.

[Wumbo]

cod, do you mean to fill the bag full with poly pellets so there doesnt go any more in? or let a little freeroom.. oh and what kind of tube are you using, it takes me forever to empty and fill a bag by tube method.

[Zac Miley]

It shouldn't take too long, just get your normal straw and cut a diagonal into the end so it's like a point, and put it in the bleed hole. Scoop up the filler inside of it and turn the back upside down. Repeat as necessary.

That's all I do, and I've done it quite a few times.

[johnl583]

Alan, you don't have (and even should not) open the bag to change the filler! Almost every 32-panel bag has bleedholes and you can add or remove some filler by a tube.

Are you referin to in between the stitchings? I've looked through my Abshire before and found nothing of the sort. Also, usually the required space for a tube is too much. I'll go back over it though and see what I can find.

The bleedholes are where the hexes meet. It shouldn't be hard to stick a straw through it.

[Cod]

cod, do you mean to fill the bag full with poly pellets so there doesnt go any more in?

I mean exactly what you said.

oh and what kind of tube are you using, it takes me forever to empty and fill a bag by tube method.

I'm using some random tube from a juice in small box. I cut it diagonal like Isilwar said and it's not so bad. It took a lot of time to do all that refilling shit but it's still a lot better and faster way to break in your bag than just fingering a bag filled with lead/steel/rocks/poly.

[quadgun]

Are you referin to in between the stitchings? I've looked through my Abshire before and found nothing of the sort. Also, usually the required space for a tube is too much. I'll go back over it though and see what I can find.

Zeke's Refilling Tutorial

@PegLegHolly: I didn't mean to make it sound like I thought you were stupid ... I guess I just wrote my thoughts down the wrong way. Didn't mean to offend you.

@King Monkey: Yes 7 months ... before it was perfectly broken in. It doesn't mean that the bag wasn't good before, it just means that I think it was perfectly broken in around that time.

[johnl583]

I just broke in one of my bags i just made using this technique, and it works well. The only thing i like about it is taking out the filler and putting in the filler. It's a pain in the ass.

[Oroza]

I think Cods idea is that enough filler allows the force exerted from the outside to push the filler outwards to stretch the bag, not the same with a floppy bag. regardless of type of filler.

[Wasabi]

I've tried this break-in technique before, and it's not anything special. It's pretty much common sense if you ask me, no offense. However, the discussion is whether this break-in technique is ideal or not, and I think it's a good possibility for those who don't want to spend too much time breaking in a bag. I've had my fair share of bags that took me awhile to break-in, bags stitched by me included, and it's no wonder that there are a variety of methods in breaking in a bag.

Baby oil, olive oil, shampoo, freezing them, etc. You name it, it's been done. Some tried and true, some warranted for furthe experimentation, and some that isn't really fathomable. (Microwave?)

Granted, I have crafted some ways to break-in bags, but I believe the best way to break them in is by finger rolling them as Mosher and Mirken noted on past videos, and kicking the shit out of them to make them choice. Bags will expand in time, it's just that the rate in which the colors and the stitchwork that supplement the bag don't fit into what we see as ideal. Like it was said before, Cod is only expanding on a way to breaking bags in further, so that's about it.

But yeah, I think when a bag is totally 'choice' is when it's nearly falling apart (fabric wearing thin, expanded, stitches loosening up, etc.).

[Oroza]

It took a lot of time to do all that refilling shit

I like how you know how to use the word "shit" well