Poor Excuse for a Rubber Band Gun

Is that a rubber band gun, or a pen?  I guess it depends on who you are trying to convince this product is a good idea.  If you are a kid trying to impress your friends, it is totally a gun used to shoot bands of colored rubber in the direction of other kids.  If you are a kit trying to convince your parents and/or teachers that you are to grown up for shenanigans, then it is a pen.  If you are not a kid, then this product is a cheap conglomeration of two otherwise useful products.

 

Rubber Band Shooter Blaster Supreme

The Rubber Band Shooter Blaster Supreme (what a name) is the follow up to the Rubber Band Shooter.  You can waste a few minutes of your day and compare the two, but basically the Blaster Supreme version of the product will shoot a rubber band more often and not get stuck when compared to the previous version.  I see no advantage to using this gun over the standard wrap the rubber band around your hand maneuver.  The marketing geniuses at Hogwild toys will even sell you rubber bands that are specifically sold to work with your Rubber Band Shooter (also notice they never call it a "gun").

But you know what?  I'm in a generous mood today.  So here's some free advice.  Don't waste your time or money on this rubber band shooter/pen contraption.  Just go out and purchase some real pens and use those to write.  You can't go wrong with a Zebra Sarasa, so just add them to your online shopping cart.  I just gave you permission.

Blue Zebra Sarasa Pen

Really?  Just a pen isn't enough for you, you still want to shoot rubber bands at your friends and family?  Well go ahead and pick up a bag of assorted rubber bands.  You'll have a pound of various and oddly shaped rubber bands so you can shoot the smaller ones at Little Suzie, and bigger ones at Lumberjack John.

Grab Bag of Rubber Bands

There, now don't you feel smart for not getting pulled into the lure of yet another rubber band gun?  You are not only incredibly smart, but incredibly good looking as well.  Congratulations.

Rubber Band Usage Part 3 (Finale)

Did you think we were done talking about Rubber Bands?  Well we aren't, there are lots more topics to cover, but this is the post about rubber bands for a while.  If rubber band based projectiles and rubber band balls aren't edgy enough for you there are of course some more odd uses for them.  As always, a simple mass produced product drives people to create works of art and rubber bands are perfect as they are available cheaply and in an array of colors.

The artist/designer William Hodges came up with an interesting set of pieces made for some large walls at a Martini Bar in Denver.  The Corner Office tries to go for a kind of after hours office theme (as near as I can tell) so the rubber band pieces fit the theme.  Since I was only in Denver once in the 90's I don't know what kind of place The Corner Office really is, but their website makes them look legit enough.   William's own page on the pieces doesn't attempt to read a lot of pretentious deep meaning into these pieces, so they should probably be appreciated as objects with a unique look and feel rather than be critiqued for their composition. He states that 40,000 rubber bands were used and I would assume that half of them were the white rubber bands and the other half were the multi-colored variety.

 Rubber Band Art Suspect

I can only begin to guess as what rubber bands he used here, but by looking at the photos the rubber bands don't appear to be particularly shiny.  That shine is an easy way to identify the PlastiBands that are sold at Arts and Crafts Stores since their unique composition lends them to different uses.  I'm going to assume that they are rubber bands made from actual rubber and judging by the size and color the closest I can come up with is the Swingline SWI71750 Rubber Bands.  These come in multiple colors, appear to be an appropriate size and are made from rubber so they won't be shiny.

Pallet Bands Instead of Expensive Resistance Bands

In a drastic shift from the art world, it has come to my attention that many people do use the previously mentioned pallet bands as an economical substitute for the pricey resistance bands.  While you can use them in the specific manner above, there isn't any reason you can't find other methods to work out using a pallet band.  Just throw "Resistance Band" into your favorite search engine and you'll find scads of videos and articles describing exercises that can easily be duplicated with the Pallet Band of your choice.  Unfortunately, you'll have to do your own measuring to find out what size you'll need.

Rubber Band Usage Part 2 (The Sequel)

If you aren't the kind of person who would shoot a rubber band at another person or use rubber bands to power a Lego Arsenal (since you are a loving and caring individual) there are still lots of other wonderful non-traditional uses for rubber bands.  The first thing that should spring to mind is creating a Rubber Band Ball.  While people can get into the Guinness World Records for things like large balls of twine or barbed wire that isn't anything you'd want to keep around the office.  Pee-wee Herman was well known for large ball of aluminum foil, but it got to big to keep in his Playhouse.  A Rubber Band Ball is a perfect option for those people who like to have a spherical object made from smaller things that is appropriate to keep in the office.

A Perfect Rubber Band Ball

Thanks to the magic of modern technology you can even purchase a Rubber Band Ball already constructed.  Made from approximately 275 rubber bands, it is advertised as fun way to relieve stress by squeezing or bouncing it, but we'll let your imagination decide what you want to do with it.  If nothing else it will add a little splash of color to your desk, or the contents of your drawer of pens.

If you are shooting for the stars you'll have your work cut out for you as the current World's Largest Rubber Band Ball is a thing to behold.  Something like 700,000 rubber bands were used to create that giant ball of rubber bands so you have a ways to go, and unfortunately you'll notice that most of the rubber bands you'll find around the office won't be able to stretch to a 25 foot circumference.  But don't worry, just because we mainly talk Office Supplies doesn't mean we don't can't help you find giant rubber bands.

Rubber Pallet Bands

These giant rubber bands are called "Pallet Bands" as they are commonly used to secure large groups of boxes as they are loaded on pallets and moved around warehouses and onto trucks and such.  They are available from with a varying circumference so you can get yourself anywhere from a  72" Rubber Band or a 112" Rubber Band and several sizes in between.  Now those are the measurements of the bands before they are stretched, so you'll have some room to grow.  Now if you are the kind of person who likes to shoot Rubber Bands I would advise you to not use one of the extra large pallet bands as ammunition.  Nothing good would come from it.

What Do We Use Rubber Bands For?

I checked my office for rubber bands and couldn't find any.  I soon realized that my usually slim supply of rubber bands had disappeared.  I can only assume that this was directly due to the fact that every time I have an extra rubber band I end up shooting it at one of my co-workers.  Luckily for us, those rubber bands do tend to get caught behind desks and filing cabinets so our ammo is depleted before hostilities could escalate.

Nobody has taken the time or effort to construct or build a Rubber Band Gun, but they are quite common.  It is all probably for the better because the low prices on rubber bands mean that available ammunition is nearly infinite.  As always I do recommend purchasing your products in bulk when you have the opportunity.  Maybe you don't need 200 bags of rubber bands, but they are cheap to begin with and only get cheaper when you buy them in large quantities.

Some Nice Heavy Duty Industrial Rubber Bands

Rubber bands in general come in a natural rubber or latex-free variety.  If you have an allergic reaction to the latex rubber bands you need to get the latex-free version.  The rest of us have a different dilemma.  The all natural rubber bands are made from rubber that comes from the Para rubber tree and are biodegradable so after many many years they may start to fall apart or stick to the things they are holding together.  On the other hand, the latex-free rubber bands come from 70% recycled polyurethane but aren't biodegradable so they'll be in your office or landfill for longer than you'll want to think about.  So do the research and ultimately buy whatever you like.

Maybe you don't care if your rubber bands are actually made of rubber because you just want to use them to shoot pieces of small red plastic at your friends and family, and I can respect that.  Just remember that if you build your own rubber band powered arsenal to bring to your office I won't be held responsible for the cold war that will inevitably occur.