Bucket of sand

A bucket of sand can be obtained by using an empty bucket with a sand pit or sand pile. They may also be obtained from Drew by mining sandstone and depositing it in the grinder next to him. They are a key component in creating molten glass, which is often used in Crafting and Construction, either via a furnace along with soda ash or by casting Superglass Make along with soda ash, seaweed or giant seaweed.

Due to their importance in training Crafting especially on Ironman accounts of any stage, a variety of methods are often used.

Buying from Trader Stan's Trading Post at Port Khazard for the nearby bank chest has no requirements, other than a small amount of coins. However, as the stock is shared between players, it can be inconsistent. Port Phasmatys is less competitive, but it requires Ghosts Ahoy and the bank is further away.

Filling at sand pits is easy and does not require world hopping or competing with other players, although there are higher requirements for quick banking. Notably, Zanaris has the one closest to a bank (with the exception of Prifddinas, at which point mining sandstone surpasses it) but it is still some distance away. Yanille has a sand pit very close to the player-owned house portal that can be teleported to with 50 Construction, and banking can be quick with a ring of dueling. With 45 Sailing and partial completion of Troubled Tortugans, The Great Conch island has a sand pit very close to a bank, with easy access from the fairy ring teleport.

By far the fastest method to obtain buckets of sand in bulk is to create them via the Sandstorm grinder west of the quarry. Players can deposit their sandstone into the grinder; the amount of sand provided by Sandstorm is dependent on the weight of the sandstone deposited, and can only be deposited unnoted. Once deposited, players can claim buckets of sand from Drew for 50 coins each, along with a bucket. He can store up to 25,000 buckets (banknotes accepted) for the player. Alongside the sand, this method provides competitive Mining experience which increases its efficiency, and it can be further improved with tick manipulation.

After completing The Hand in the Sand, players may speak to Bert once per day and he will deliver 84 buckets of sand to the player's bank. Bert will automatically do this every day if the player has completed the elite Ardougne Diary. He will continue to do this even when a player's membership has run out, even though it is a members-only item. Although relatively slow in real time, this bonus can be considered a passive source long-term.

When using soda ash and buckets of sand in a furnace, the molten glass yield is 1.0 molten glass per soda ash and bucket of sand.

When using Superglass Make with soda ash and buckets of sand, the molten glass yield is 1.3 molten glass per soda ash and bucket of sand.

When used on a fire, giant seaweed turns into six soda ash upon successfully cooking, rather than just one given by normal seaweed. You can however fail, resulting in only one soda ash. Note that cooking gauntlets do not decrease the cooking fail chance, however the Hosidius Kitchen cooking range effect still applies.

When used in conjunction with the Superglass Make spell, giant seaweed similarly acts as six regular seaweed and gives 60 Crafting experience per seaweed when cast. The combination of two giant seaweed and 12 buckets of sand yields on average 1.45 molten glass per bucket of sand, while the combination of three giant seaweed and 18 buckets of sand yields an average of 1.6 glass per sand, although with the latter some of the glass will fall on the floor as it overflows from the inventory. If it is not picked up, it results in an average of 1.488 glass per sand. If players obtain the sand via mining sandstone, it is slightly more efficient to not pick up the excess despite the lower return due to how quickly the materials can be obtained.

The average Crafting experience per giant seaweed varies:

• For an average of 1.45 glass per sand (two giant seaweed and 12 buckets of sand), each giant seaweed equals 538.5 experience when making lantern lenses or 669 experience when making empty light orbs;
• For an average of 1.45 glass per sand (three giant seaweed and 18 buckets of sand without picking up the excess), each giant seaweed equals 551 experience when making lantern lenses or 685 experience when making empty light orbs;
• For an average of 1.6 glass per sand (three giant seaweed and 18 buckets of sand and picking up the excess), each giant seaweed equals 588 experience when making lantern lenses or 732 experience when making empty light orbs.

These numbers include the experience from casting Superglass Make.