View Full Version : RE: Signature items



firefighterjake
04-05-2010, 02:48 PM
Brdad said something the other day about how this hobby is always changing and it made me realize something . . . when I first started folks were right into signature items (along with geocoins and TBs). It seemed as though everyone was making or putting signature items in caches . . .

But recently I can't say as though I've seen a whole lot of folks making or placing signature items. Anyone out there still doing them?

Hikenfish
04-05-2010, 02:50 PM
I put a signature compass in any cache that I take anything from.

kayaking loon
04-05-2010, 04:11 PM
I have signature items, and also like to find and collect other peoples. There are still some out there. But the "new" signature item is a pathtag. You design it, or get help from a designer (we have a very talented one right here in Maine), decide what colors you want, what finish, put your name on it and you're good to go. They even fit in micros which would take care of the "I don't even take swag with me anymore, it won't fit in micros" gripe. They are easy to carry, beautiful to display and cost about the same as a decent piece of swag. Think about it....:)

WhereRWe?
04-05-2010, 04:17 PM
But recently I can't say as though I've seen a whole lot of folks making or placing signature items. Anyone out there still doing them?

I always have a supply of our "Maine Geocacher Permit" in my pocket. We usually put one in every cache we log that has enough space.

Interestingly enough, at the event we attended in St John, NB a couple of weeks ago, someone noticed our GeocachingMaine shirts (with our names on them). He came up to us and said "I've seen those names before", pulled out his wallet, and took out on of our Maine Geocacher Permits. He said that he'd taken it from a cache in New Brunswick somewhere, and had been carrying it for 2 years! LOL!

I also think many people are placing pathtags in caches in lieu of signature items.

brdad
04-05-2010, 04:18 PM
I was thinking about this very subject too! Along with shorter logs, logs which speak more for the weather/company/number found in the day than is mentioned about eh actual cache and cache location itself, less consideration for trading up and not mentioning what was traded, there is less and less care about signature items as well!

And I know it's statements like this one coming that make people label me as a micro hating %$^&*(, but here it goes. I am currently convinced these changes can be, for some part, attributed to the influx of micros - for a couple reasons.

1. Before there were many micros, people took time to actually write decent logs in the cache log itself. I'm thinking finding all these micros where usually there is room for no more than your name, sometimes barely room for initials, have trained us to believe the cache log is only there to prove you were there and any other information is waste. I am guilty of this myself - I am not good at handwriting so I can't say as I ever wrote a real long log in cache, but I always wrote a lot more than I do now. I often read some or all of the logs left by others in the cache, they were often a fun read. I bet many newer cachers have never seen a logbook where another cacher has written one or two pages of their adventure. There used to be a lot more than you can find now.

2. Before micros, there was usually room in a cache for trade items, and if you were not trading you could always place your signature item. As with the logs, the more people have done micros with no room for trade items, they feel no need to bother at larger caches.

3. While the numbers have grown for all cache sizes, the numbers for micros have grown many many times the rate of other caches. This promotes finding many caches, which is fine - But if you have 2 hours to log your daily caches and have found 10 caches, that allots you 12 minutes to log each cache. If you have found 100 caches, that allots you 1.2 minutes per cache. Unless we free up 18 extra hours to log our caches, we simply are not taking the time we used to to log our caches.

I could ramble on for hours, but something has surely changed how the majority of us cache. Some of it really is not worse or better for the sport, it is just a change of course. Other aspects of it are IMO making the sport less of a personalized activity. It's kind of like the difference of going to the Mom and Pop store where you might talk to the owner about his family and maybe even hold the ladder while he changes a light bulb as opposed to going to some chain store where the kid at the register asks how you are only because he is required by his boss to do so.

brdad
04-05-2010, 04:20 PM
Regarding if I still place them or not - yes I do on occasion. But because I am finding so many more than when I started, not every cache gets one. :cool:

WhereRWe?
04-05-2010, 04:35 PM
I could ramble on for hours, but something has surely changed how the majority of us cache. Some of it really is not worse or better for the sport, it is just a change of course. Other aspects of it are IMO making the sport less of a personalized activity. It's kind of like the difference of going to the Mom and Pop store where you might talk to the owner about his family and maybe even hold the ladder while he changes a light bulb as opposed to going to some chain store where the kid at the register asks how you are only because he is required by his boss to do so.

Sheesh! I surely agree with this - and think it's a reflection on society itself, not just on the evolution of geocaching. I'm happy to say that the local "Solon Corner Market" is a hub of the community, and the owner is there most of the time to greet you by name. (And most of the "cachiers" do, too). :D:D

hollora
04-05-2010, 08:35 PM
Interesting discussion here. One of the "sale points" to getting kids involved in geocaching is to teach them journeling. Journeling requires the thoughtful recollection of events and the description of your discovery. Journeling helps to teach language, thought development and keyboarding.

I hope we never loose touch with the need for proper journeling/logging in our sport. As folks age - perhaps we get brief and sloppy but the cache owner can always ask us for more.

Please aspire folks for good logs - they are teaching the generations which will follow us. JMHO

ampmdp
04-05-2010, 10:49 PM
You can always find a Laughing Terry signature item around!

Ekidokai
04-06-2010, 01:32 AM
I really like finding a signature item. Some of you guys are way crafty. The last couple of days I have been on a 2001 hunt. I have seen some very interesting logs and signature items.

Ekidokai has made and placed a couple different signature items. Just not as crafty as most.

LaughingTerry
04-06-2010, 06:47 AM
I still leave my signature rubber chickens, occasionally you will find one with my pathtag attached, and my "Geocacher at Work This is not an abandoned car" cards. I am not finding very many signature items anymore though. I used to come home with 3 or 5 every time I went caching. My favorite of all time is the Blueyez & Bugsy carabiner/multitool and I still use the Hermit Crabs pen that opens at the top and is a light so I can sign logs at night without holding the flashlight in my teeth.

firefighterjake
04-06-2010, 07:43 AM
Interesting discussion here. One of the "sale points" to getting kids involved in geocaching is to teach them journeling. Journeling requires the thoughtful recollection of events and the description of your discovery. Journeling helps to teach language, thought development and keyboarding.

I hope we never loose touch with the need for proper journeling/logging in our sport. As folks age - perhaps we get brief and sloppy but the cache owner can always ask us for more.

Please aspire folks for good logs - they are teaching the generations which will follow us. JMHO

Journeling . . . Journaling? I've always wrote out journaling, but then again I went to school to become a journalist . . . and worked for a time at The Republican Journal in Belfast as a stringer.

Then again . . . maybe I'm wrong . . . maybe journeling is the correct spelling . . . it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

firefighterjake
04-06-2010, 07:45 AM
Hmmm . . . OK, you guys have inspired me . . . seems like there are some folks out there who still like to collect signature items. I haven't put out any of my multi-colored ladders out there for some time . . . guess I'll have to blow the sawdust off the chopsaw and tablesaw, dig out the Elmer's glue and start sanding my wood.


-----

On another note . . . and to digress . . . I must admit I am guilty these days of simply entering the date and name in the logs . . . however I must admit I don't mind folks doing this . . . I rarely, if ever read the physical logs . . . preferring instead to read logs on-line if I do so . . . and as a cache hider I like the idea of folks saving space so I don't have to replace the logs as often.

brdad
04-06-2010, 08:02 AM
I used to be quite the proponent of sig items - you can probably search and find several posts by me here pushing for people to make and place them. The home made ones are the best and they should always be labeled - A zip lock of marbles in a cache is only a zip lock bag of marbles unless there is a card or other marking explaining to the finder what it is and who it's from.

I've slowed down over the past few years. I guess when the dead horse rots away and the maggots have moved on to better territory, beating on the skeleton just isn't as fun. :D:D:D

kayaking loon
04-06-2010, 08:16 AM
A name and date in a log book is enough. What I want is a thoughtful online log, fun to read at the time and fun to go back to. Take a notebook with you, jot down a few things about the experience, write it up when you get home where it's dry and warm and there are no bugs.

pm28570
04-06-2010, 08:18 AM
Interesting discussion here. One of the "sale points" to getting kids involved in geocaching is to teach them journeling. Journeling requires the thoughtful recollection of events and the description of your discovery. Journeling helps to teach language, thought development and keyboarding.

I hope we never loose touch with the need for proper journeling/logging in our sport. As folks age - perhaps we get brief and sloppy but the cache owner can always ask us for more.

Please aspire folks for good logs - they are teaching the generations which will follow us. JMHO

Apologies for putting you on the spot FFJ, here's an example of what I like about caching. It's a simple park and grab, however go thru the description and then read his log.

Like Mainiac1957, I really enjoy history....especially local history, so it gets incorporated into my placements.

At the end of the day, to each his own, cache as you will and enjoy!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=4279eef5-e78c-43d2-bd3a-6f67f7bcc360

Hikenfish
04-06-2010, 09:17 AM
Also note what the PM28570 Did. They put very informative historical information in the cache description. This makes a run of the mill park and grab into a memorable cache. Now I can guarantee you that when people drive by this spot with family, they will say "Did you know that right here in the summer of 1814..."

When I go to a cache with little preparation or thought put into the placement, I will give very little thought into the log, unless something unusual happens.

JustPJ66
04-06-2010, 01:04 PM
as a fairly new cacher I enjoy getting some of the signature items. I have a tiny collection already. I find it great fun to meet someone who i have only known by an item i picked up from a box in the woods. hehe

I have several of peoples on here but I admit not nearly as many as I would like. I would like to see a resergence of those for my own selfish reasons. I would like to find something that JustKev and I could use as a signature item but as yet no great inspiration has come to me. I have seen some commercially made ones but I imagine those could get pricey and would perfer to find something we could make rather cheaply here at home or ...well you get the idea LOL

Thanks to those who have done it and those who will continue to do it in the future. There are people like me that find it one of the nicer aspects of the game/sport.

:)

pjpreb
04-06-2010, 01:13 PM
We still make and place our signature snowflake in some caches. We placed about 100 of them in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Canyonlands/Rocky Mountain/Arches National parks trip. We enjoy collecting them. My biggest sig item regret is that early on, before we were sig item savvy, we traded a metal cut-out "Haffy" sig item. :(

Haffy
04-06-2010, 02:02 PM
We still make and place our signature snowflake in some caches. We placed about 100 of them in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Canyonlands/Rocky Mountain/Arches National parks trip. We enjoy collecting them. My biggest sig item regret is that early on, before we were sig item savvy, we traded a metal cut-out "Haffy" sig item. :(

Yeah those were really special weren't they?:D

firefighterjake
04-06-2010, 03:21 PM
Apologies for putting you on the spot FFJ, here's an example of what I like about caching. It's a simple park and grab, however go thru the description and then read his log.

Like Mainiac1957, I really enjoy history....especially local history, so it gets incorporated into my placements.

At the end of the day, to each his own, cache as you will and enjoy!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=4279eef5-e78c-43d2-bd3a-6f67f7bcc360

No apologies necessary . . . just did that cache today . . . and as you can see from my log I liked it . . . a GRC sure . . . but it had the twin bonus of being in a pretty spot and it had a historical significance. A top notch cache in my opinion . . . even if was "just" a GRC. ;) :)

firefighterjake
04-06-2010, 03:24 PM
I think Becket is one of the few cachers who actually managed to find every one of my colored ladders -- natural wood, white, silver, black and Hiram Safety Orange. A benefit with those signature items is if you get tired of them you can chuck them in your woodstove and stay warm for about 4 minutes. ;) :)

Mainiac1957
04-06-2010, 03:27 PM
I haven't made any mainiac magnets for awhile, but I am planning to. I also have an order of pathtags on the way.

I have sitting here at least 6 large ziplock bags of sig items. Some of them go back quite a few years, I know a few of them are only one of a handfull ever made, (Right Haffy). I also have almost 40 pathtags. As well as a binder with business cards, wooden nickels, and a few other odd things. If anyone would like to see some of this stuff feel free to ask. Oh yeah, and I have many colors of the famous FFJake ladders including the scarce Hiram safety orange model.

Mainiac1957
04-06-2010, 03:34 PM
I think Becket is one of the few cachers who actually managed to find every one of my colored ladders -- natural wood, white, silver, black and Hiram Safety Orange. A benefit with those signature items is if you get tired of them you can chuck them in your woodstove and stay warm for about 4 minutes. ;) :)

The uber-rare Roof Ladder. Which I do have also, making my total 6 different ones. I have natural #2, silver #42, black #57 (a personal favorite), white #110, orange #127, and roof #164.

The ultimate FFJ collection!:D

hollora
04-06-2010, 09:22 PM
The uber-rare Roof Ladder. Which I do have also, making my total 6 different ones. I have natural #2, silver #42, black #57 (a personal favorite), white #110, orange #127, and roof #164.

The ultimate FFJ collection!:D

Oh - I don't think I ever got a roof ladder. Are they out of production FFJake?

Ekidokai
04-06-2010, 10:51 PM
They might be on backorder.

4ccnhikers
04-07-2010, 01:03 AM
When we first started caching, we didn't realize that signature items were something to collect, and passed up a few that, in hindsight, would have been nice to have:(. But we did eventually trade for a few - mostly magnets. I don't recall ever seeing a ladder:cool:. I have plans to make signature items of our own, but have not yet taken the time to make them. They will be made something like most of our travel bugs, which some of you have seen, but as D(my husband) reminded me just this morning, I tend to think a lot faster than I do. I can't decide if that's a compliment or not:confused:! Hopefully I'll get something made someday, it looks really good in my imagination! :D

firefighterjake
04-07-2010, 08:16 AM
The uber-rare Roof Ladder. Which I do have also, making my total 6 different ones. I have natural #2, silver #42, black #57 (a personal favorite), white #110, orange #127, and roof #164.

The ultimate FFJ collection!:D

Ah yes . . . I even forgot about the very rare roof ladder. I think you and Becket may have the complete collection Brad.

And yeah . . . Hollora . . . I haven't built any roof ladders or any other ladders for some time . . . but I guess I should get cranking . . . if I go out with my caching buddies this Sunday I'll bring along a few.

pjpreb
04-07-2010, 09:12 PM
Yeah those were really special weren't they?:D

Rare too. I can't believe we traded the one we found :(

Mapachi
04-07-2010, 09:33 PM
I still put "Pigs" in caches.
I think I was a pig in a prior like. Shotgun says I am in this life!

Opalsns
04-09-2010, 06:03 PM
Ah yes . . . I even forgot about the very rare roof ladder. I think you and Becket may have the complete collection Brad.

And yeah . . . Hollora . . . I haven't built any roof ladders or any other ladders for some time . . . but I guess I should get cranking . . . if I go out with my caching buddies this Sunday I'll bring along a few.

Yeah Jake,
Remember the ladder you "forgot " to leave for me?????????

firefighterjake
04-12-2010, 12:17 PM
Yeah Jake,
Remember the ladder you "forgot " to leave for me?????????

I can barely remember what I ate for dinner the other night . . . much less remember where to place ladders and which caches to put them in.

I do have to crank out a few more though . . .

hollora
04-12-2010, 07:07 PM
Ah Jake - didn't you leave one somewhere yesterday?

cachecrashers4
04-12-2010, 08:37 PM
I picked up one of Jake's ladders yesterday. It was nice to see some sig items in some of the caches on this series.

firefighterjake
04-13-2010, 08:09 AM
Ah Jake - didn't you leave one somewhere yesterday?

Yup, I think I had two or three ladders left . . . dropped two of them . . . and as mentioned CC picked one of them up on the same day.

And those pigs we kept seeing Lois . . . finally figured out yesterday that they were Mapachi's signature items . . . never knew that!

hollora
04-13-2010, 08:14 PM
I like my teeny, tiny one Jake! Speaking of that - any thoughts to doing a mini ladder? Maybe a mini-roof ladder?

EMSDanel
04-14-2010, 06:21 AM
I vaguely recall finding a cache once under a bridge north of Rt. 9. It was an ammo can and there was a small roof ladder hanging from the top of the cache - the bottom rung of the ladder was snapped in two. Just then a troll with a scowl on his face came limping around the corner.....;)

firefighterjake
04-14-2010, 08:07 AM
I like my teeny, tiny one Jake! Speaking of that - any thoughts to doing a mini ladder? Maybe a mini-roof ladder?

Nah . . . no mini-ladders . . . or purple ladders . . . yeah I know you're out there Becket . . . sorry . . . I just don't see many purple ladders or mini-ladders out there in the real world . . . I see silver-colored aluminum ladders, wooden ladders, black ladders, orange ladders and roof ladders . . . no white ladders admittedly . . . but I did that in response to the White Jeep TB contest that was running at the time.

Waterski
04-14-2010, 07:28 PM
It was a great day when I found my one and only ladder...a silver. Looking forward to seeing another someday. Who was leaving the silver bullets?
Someday there may be some waterskis in the caches. I have Beckets silver heart, and a few other signature items. This reminds me to get busy and get some made....

Ekidokai
04-14-2010, 08:28 PM
I have a silver one.

Anyone have any unlit campfires?

EMSDanel
04-15-2010, 01:42 PM
One cacher who was leaving silver bullets was rpapaman from Calais. And for Mike, I have one of your unlit campfires on my desk at home.

brdad
04-15-2010, 01:45 PM
The only campfire I got from Mike was that burning paper bag he left on my doorstep Halloween. And yes, I knew it was you! :)

LaughingTerry
04-18-2010, 10:57 PM
My favorite sig item. It's from BluEyz and bugsy.http://www.geocachingmaine.org/gallery/data/509/medium/BlueBugCarabiner.jpg

Ekidokai
04-18-2010, 11:10 PM
Oh that is pretty cool.

I don't get the fascination with carabiners,but that is interesting.