scavok

Well hey, if anyone wants to mail me a coin to see/discover then mail back, I would love to take high quality photos in return Accordiongal, the truth is that a macro lens is nothing other than a magnifying glass. I've never tried it but the following should work just as well if you can get the setup correctly That photo is from thehowzone.com's tutorial on macro shooting with point & shoot cameras. It may be of some help (with other options and ideas to pull it off): http://thehowzone.com/how/PS-Macros/ I don't mean to place an ad here, but I have more photos on a current auction of mine if you want to see them: eBay edit: to fix broken links

A decent $15 set of macro filters, $10 tripod and a homemade flash tent is all you need for perfect coin photos if you already have a camera. I use a digital rebel with macro mode at 90mm setting for these photos: Using the same settings with a 4+ macro filter on the lens brings it to the following: My flash tent is a cleaned out 1 gallon milk jug with copy paper as the background. Set it in the sun and the pics are nice and bright with little to no shadows. Hope that sheds some light on it

Awesome, I'm glad to hear some encouragement for it!

A lot of people really liked my handmade coins, while others grumbled about price and the fact they were made of lead. But it got me thinking about using a different metal. My personal favorite finish for coins is copper, so If I made my next series of coins out of pure copper what would you all think? Not a "copper" finish over some cheap metal, but the real stuff. My concern is the price. It would be a heck of an investment since copper isn't exactly cheap, and that would make the coins more expensive in the end, yes even more so than my lead ones were (they went for around $20 on ebay)... So is it worth doing? I'm not asking for reservations or anything, just looking for some 2 cents from you all Here's the lead version. For now you'll have to use your imagination to make it look like copper More pics at scavok.com...

Castle Man's Tranquility geocoins (Copper LE, Two Tone, Silver Light, Silver Dark, Gold Light, Gold Dark) Crake's Navstar Geocoin 2005 Compass Rose geocoin Crake's Astrolab geocoin (Bronze, Silver, Copper) 2005 Colorado geocoin 2006 Colorado geocoin 2007 Colorado geocoin Not Another Micro! Geocoin (Camo LE, Black) I Will happily buy or trade for my coin (still a few left) viewable at http://www.scavok.com/geocoin.php Thanks All! BTW... Sorry for posting again, for some reason this thread won't let me edit my other post to update them...

Finally got my hands on another Tracking Time coin to fill the void created by releasing my other one (which is still accounted for believe it or not!). It arrived today

There's somebody out there that doesn't want your coin?! *gasp* I know, crazy people! I updated the post above and here is my specific wish list now: Crake's 2005 Compass Rose geocoin Crake's Astrolab geocoin (Bronze, Silver, Copper) 2005 Colorado geocoin 2006 Colorado geocoin Castle Man's Tranquility geocoins (again willing to trade many for different finishes Will happily buy or trade for my coin (viewable at www.scavok.com/geocoin.php) Thanks All! edit: update list

I have 10 of my handmade trackable signature coins I am now willing to trade. Check out http://www.scavok.com/geocoin.php for pictures and info on them. I am specifically looking for Crake's 2005 Compass Rose geocoin Crake's Astrolab geocoin Crake's Navstar Geocoin (to replace mine lost in action http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=614622) 2005 Colorado geocoin 2006 Colorado geocoin Also it would be nice to find: Not another Micro! Geocoin (to replace mine lost in actionhttp://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=352156) Or if you don't really want my coin I'm happy to buy them as well. Thanks all! Edit: updating my wishes list

I got the three coin set (including the copper LE) of crake's symbology coins. Awesome looking coins!

I make my own coins. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=169254 The trackable codes need to be purchased from Groundspeak if that is what you are wondering. All TBs should have the TB dog tag attached, but coins can travel on their own.

Travel Bug: Discover Scavok - TB894 It really does travel from cache to cache and has 217,000 miles under its belts, but simply exists to be discovered (:

Came across a cache with 3 Jeep TBs in it, added my own and snapped a pic. Just thought some of you may get a kick out of it as I did

I've noticed on my 60cs that on especially big streets the unit doesn't necessarily know the width of the street. If it is 3 lanes each direction, plus turn lanes and a median, the street is easily over 30 meters wide. Where the GPS draws the line as to where the street actually is may be on the far side of the intersection throwing turns off by what seems to be a significant amount.

I've seen a few posts about bad batteries, generics that don't work because they are just a little off-sized or whatnot. I'm going to mexico this weekend and am curious if anyone has had problems with AA batteries sold there or if I should bring a bunch along with me? Also, if I bring my AA charger, is it safe to use in their outlets? The resort we are staying at said converters weren't necessary but don't know if its different enough (or at all) for a wall charger? Thanks!

I just sent out a handful of my coins and looking at my post office receipt I thought it was pretty neat to also see what goes out of a mailbox. Sent to: Hawaii Canada Germany Germany Czech Rep. Canada Great Britain Ireland Fun stuff

I make my own, they take a lot of work but are worth it in the end. They are trackable and have their own icon (I shelled out a lot from my starving-student income!). But I really enjoy making them and my customers get a real kick out of them and I enjoy the appreciation as well. How I make them: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=169254

Oh man, I've been studying organic chemistry for the past 11 hours. I needed that laugh! (:

I have a trackable sig item I'm quite proud of and put a lot of work into. How I Make It

I make my own geocoin (hacked out the cash for it to be trackable & iconned too) and occasionally leave one or just randomly mail one to a cacher as a gift or to start it somewhere besides my home. I'm one of them starving students too so I occasionally ebay a handful to pay for gas or books and the like, but have given away a lot more than I've sold. I like it that way actually How I Make It Edited because my colleging broke my spelling skillz.

I do not see anything useful in this comment (sic) Hey take a chilly pill I think what he meant was that if the cache is harder to find (takes more time to find) then the "all about the numbers" groups will probably skip it over in favor of cache-n-dashes.

Maybe she should also tell him to have respect for general property of others... If he is old enough to cache on his own then he should be allowed to mail correspond. If he doesn't cache on his own then the adult with him should know better... IMHO (:

I have a red jeep in hand (I've had it for too long) and these dang summer semester finals are keeping me from caching it. But the post office is on the way to school. The first person to message me (NOT POST HERE) with a Hawaii mailing address will get it mailed to them as a gift for them to cache. (the rest of ya don't moan about it, ya hear )

Even if I had said something someone else would have as well (we know the forums!). Jay Mills is right though. If you are going to do this, do it smart. All the equipment I use for these is dedicated to it (including a shop vac with a heavy-metal HEPA air filter for cleanup), none are used on anything else because of the risk of contamination. I use a mask that would look at home on an exterminator and a leather gettup otherwise. Most serious lead poisonings occur with high exposure over a long period of time. Still, it's probably not a good idea to sniff the molten, touch household items with shiny gloves, or chew on the coin . There is a reason I don't sell them unfinished. Always with many coats of clear coat or covered in epoxy. Lead ingot and its alloys come with warnings and cautions specific to the metal and its use. ALWAYS pay attention to them.

I've seen a few threads of people's personal coins/items that are handmade and there are always a half dozen unanswered posts that tag along asking how they did it. I don't know how everyone makes their sig items, but now that I finally got around to taking some decent pics I thought I'd share how I happen to make mine. SEE POSTS 4 & 5 FOR SAFETY CONCERNS --------------- I make mine out of lead, it is cheapest and cleanest to buy it in 1/4lb ingot form. STEP 1 These are melted down in a number of different ways. I use steel ramekens over a camping burner (used only for this purpose, don't eat off of it after you melt lead over it). Pour some of it into a steel toothpick holder (happened to be the perfect size) that is heated as well to prevent solidification on contact. The result is a little lead pancake with good edges. STEP 2 I take this to my vise/anvil and hammer it flat and textured to hide imperfections and give a uniform surface. STEP 3 The hard part is giving the coin its raised edge by pulling as I hammer it round. STEP 4 STEP 5 I then use steel letter stamps on the faces and edge with the personalized phrase for the customer and the tracking code (can't forget that!) STEP 6 STEP 7 I use my rotary tool with a dried sponge attached to brighten it up. The sponge rubs off the oxidized lead and rough edges around the edge and lettering without really gouging it. It really makes the coin shine. The first pic is before the rub down, and the same camera setting for the second shot after it is all shiny. I've used a mask and gloves the whole time but I especially can't touch it now. If I do touch it, after clear coating it something happens chemically and the fingerprint stands out like black on white (I learned that the hard way). STEP 8 STEP 9 I then clear coat it multiple times over a period of a week (for durability and safer handling of the lead). Done 1 Done 2

Does anyone have a good recommendation for road maps of Mexico that I can use in my Garmin 60CS? Specifically the Cancun/Tulum area. And I'm going to push my luck with this, but any with autorouting on them? Anyone out there buy it for a vacation and can/want to sell it to me? Since geocaching has entered my life I seem to have an angst with paper maps! (: Thanks!