What's in your cache-making equipment?

[+Oxford Stone]

There have been a few threads about what people carry when they go caching - but I'm sure I'm not the only CO with a drawer of bits and pieces that might just make part of a cache, one day.

 

Currently old bootlaces (good way to attach caches to trees), black tape, magnets, a zinc plate with some numbers on, an inertia-reel "yoyo" thing off a broken office security fob, ziploc bags.

 

Always on the lookout for bits of bark / hollow branches - these make really simple and rewarding camo; fishing line to thread bison tubes inside the aforementioned; I have on my radar an antique shop with ammo boxes on sale, and a film developer with film pots going free. Plus of course purveyors of waterproof plastic containers and bison tubes.

 

A favourite I picked up and used was a bird ring with a whole series of numbers and letters on, that I put onto a split ring and then onto a fence as part of a multi.

 

So what's in your garage / kitchen drawer? What's the best bit of random kit you've made into part of a cache?

[+BCandMsKitty]

Anything and everything that will at least hold a bison tube!

One that's gotten some favorite points is an old outdoor faucet. Take the guts out and keep the tap spline, along an old well casing in a conservation area that still has the outlet pipe and you've got a good hard cache.

An old style copper toilet flapper that comes apart at the seam looks like the old Starship Enterprise when hanging in a cedar tree.

 

Old rusty fence wire makes great hanger hooks that blend in nicely in the wild.

[+L0ne.R]

I've got a couple of storage bins full of authentic (StarFit) Lock & Locks that I stock up on when they're on sale. And an ammo can in reserve. A basket full of duct tape - mostly Duck camo and some black gorilla duct tape. Several types of glues. About 10 cans or camo-coloured spray paint for plastic. Supplies for making logbooks.

Edited October 28, 2014 by L0ne.R

[+Pork King]

I keep a few magnetic key holders, those orange matchsafes, and a couple of smallish locknlocks and a couple of ammo cans. I also keep a stock of ultra flat paint in black, tan, od, and brown for those custom camo paint jobs

[+terrkan78]

Etch-a-sketch (And, dang, are those things hard to cut open!)

 

Lots of ultra-flat paint in assorted colors.

 

Fiberglass kit that so far has remained in the "am I really sure I want to tackle this" pile.

 

Liquid nails. Someone on here said that it was a good adhesive. And it is...but it's bright orange. Surely it must come in other colors.

[+Isonzo Karst]

1. mild ammonia cleaner

Clan Riffster once posted that Lock n Locks should be washed with any mild ammonia cleaner before painting (Windex or home grown equivalent). Removes the silicon release film used to get 'em out of the injection mold. Likely true of any plastic container.

He spoke with a Kryon rep after having some issues.

 

I mostly just hit the lids with duct tape, but i wash 'em first.

 

2. Lacquer thinner - will take the yellow military markings off ammo cans, once they're flat OD green, I generally do some loose flat black spray stripes.

 

3. Wire ties for creating hanging points for matchsafes and preforms.

[+noncentric]

Etch-a-sketch (And, dang, are those things hard to cut open!)

 

Do you use the aluminum powder as part of a cache, or use the toy as part of a cache container? Just curious, as I've never heard of etch-a-sketch being used in creating a cache. Sounds interesting.

[+WarNinjas]

but I'm sure I'm not the only CO with a drawer of bits and pieces that might just make part of a cache, one day.

I remember the day when I only had a drawer full of stuff. It is much much more now.

[+terrkan78]

Etch-a-sketch (And, dang, are those things hard to cut open!)

 

Do you use the aluminum powder as part of a cache, or use the toy as part of a cache container? Just curious, as I've never heard of etch-a-sketch being used in creating a cache. Sounds interesting.

I haven't deployed this one yet...it's proving to be a lot of work. The plan is to "etch" (using paint on the back side of the glass and a sharp tool) partial coords to the next phase, as though someone's shaken the etch-a-sketch just enough to obliterate the rest of the coords and then write on the red frame outside, "Oh no, you didn't shake it, did you??" A little screwdriver's velcro-ed on and if they use it to open up the etch-a-sketch, the full coords are inside. Just one phase of a silly, kid-friendly multi. It'll unquestionably be a maintenance nightmare when I finally get it up and running.

 

I like to make duplicates of everything so I have a back-up ready. I got two etch-a-sketches and I work on them every now and then. It's going to be a while. HEH

[+Ambrosia]

1. mild ammonia cleaner

Clan Riffster once posted that Lock n Locks should be washed with any mild ammonia cleaner before painting (Windex or home grown equivalent). Removes the silicon release film used to get 'em out of the injection mold. Likely true of any plastic container.

He spoke with a Kryon rep after having some issues.

 

I mostly just hit the lids with duct tape, but i wash 'em first.

 

<snip>

 

That's really interesting. I didn't know that, but it makes total sense. I always wash new items that are going to be used for food for just that reason, but I never thought about it while putting camo on a cache.

[+T.D.M.22]

I'll bite. I use Krylon camo paint. It's all ultra flat. Olive drab, black, and a couple shades of brown(one is almost tan) strangely enough it seems to work great on real LnLs but not so much on some other stuff. And I get the same results sanding as I do not sanding the surface. I've got ammo cans, but just use them as prizes now. A few plastic ammo cans, and I think I still have 2 boxes of LnL's. I had a gift card to a place I'd never shop, and they had boxes of LnL's on sale, so I bought $50 worth. I've got 20 pill containers, and various other sizes of potential caches. I've also got various stencils for camo, a can of textured paint, wire, fishing line, camo gorilla tape(real tree type) camo duck tape (digi camo) and some other kind as well.

 

TL;DR I have enough stuff to have 50 caches ready to go in a day.

[+Uncle Alaska]

Multiple rolls of duct tape (several different colors), roll of wire (I use rebar tie wire), various glues/adhesives, bondo (to make fake rocks with compartments from a mold), several different cans of flat paint, toothpicks, heat gun and shrink tube, electric etcher, stencils, magnets, spare lock chain (the type used for attaching TB to objects), various split rings and carabiners, spare o-rings, lots of different sizes of log sheets, several real rocks (to make sand molds), uv paint and ink pens, x-acto knife (use this a lot, very handy), rubber bands, various sizes/lengths of velcro, plastic ziplock bags (many different sizes from 1"x 1" all the way up to one Gallon), box of pencils (shorties all sharpened, type used at golf courses),...and all the various tools one might have in their garage (pliers, wire cutters, drill motor, etc.) Probably some more things I am missing

[DannyCaffeine]

Only the best most water proof materials. Sticks and bubblegum