I Found A Knife In My Cache

[Pylon]

Well i never thought i would ever see it, but i did. Checked on my cache this afternoon and notice someone left a knife in there

It was one of those plastic knives made to be able to go through metal detectors. I didn't see a log on the paper or online. Weird. Perhaps a muggle just decided to leave a knife in a mysterious box?

[+nfa]

A muggle fisherman found a cache of mine this spring and left me a nice note in the paper log along with a beer, some pretzels and a cigar...well-meaning, but I CITOed them out.

 

nfa-jamie

[+Roland_oso]

I found 2 knives near one of my caches!

 

Two Knives

[+Geo Froggy]

I found a bullet in my Wallmart parking lot cache last week. I wasn't happy, but wouldn't have minded if a multi-tool had been in it.

 

2Tango

[+CYBret]

I was cleaning up my office last night and while digging through one desk drawer I was amazed at the number of knives I had. Most of them were collected from caches I had visited. I also found 3 packs of firecrackers that had been left in one of my own caches.

 

This is getting to be a nice collection.

 

Bret

[BeenThereDunnThat]

I'm building my next cache to hide and included in the first load of goodies is a swiss army knife. Is there a problem putting this item in there? I've never heard this topic come up before (still relatively new to this sport).

 

Should I nix it?

[+CYBret]

I'm building my next cache to hide and included in the first load of goodies is a swiss army knife. Is there a problem putting this item in there? I've never heard this topic come up before (still relatively new to this sport).

 

Should I nix it?

Be sure to check out the guidelines for placing a cache when you do (you'll be asked to check a box that says you read it.)

 

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

Bret

[+Renegade Knight]

I'm building my next cache to hide and included in the first load of goodies is a swiss army knife. Is there a problem putting this item in there? I've never heard this topic come up before (still relatively new to this sport).

 

Should I nix it?

Heck no. The problem isn't the knife so much as land manager (read parks with kids) angst over them. The solution is a gift certificate that they can swap you for the knife. That keeps geocaching in good with the land managers and lets you still give out what was a very popular trade item before the angst brought about the guideline.

[+treasure_hunter]

I'm building my next cache to hide and included in the first load of goodies is a swiss army knife. Is there a problem putting this item in there? I've never heard this topic come up before (still relatively new to this sport).

 

Should I nix it?

Read some of the posts in these topics that I found when I searched the word "knives". This should give you the answer, and let you know if you want to edit your post or not. j/k

[+briansnat]

I'm building my next cache to hide and included in the first load of goodies is a swiss army knife.  Is there a problem putting this item in there?  I've never heard this topic come up before (still relatively new to this sport).

 

Should I nix it?

Read some of the posts in these topics that I found when I searched the word "knives". This should give you the answer, and let you know if you want to edit your post or not. j/k

Read the guidelines and there is your answer. You should read them before you place your cache anyway.

Edited September 8, 2005 by briansnat

[+ATMA]

We have seen lots of knives in caches and dont see a thing wrong with them either being dropped or collected there.

Caution will need to be taken as much with a knife as with some small McDonalds type toys and their coming apart and becoming caught up in a child's throat.

Not near the school thing is a good idea. I would think that as with anything, you just need to use your head.

[Pylon]

Swiss Army Knife? It seems to me this would be against the rules. Ok actually it probably is. But at the same time, i'm inclined to say leave that in there because those are actually really useful tools and not so politically incorrect.

 

The knife that was left in my cache was a straight up go through metal detector dagger made of plastic, ingeniusly named "letter opener" on the handle.

 

I think there is a difference between leaving useful multitools and the knives of the sort i just mentioned.

[+Criminal]

That's it, my next sig item will be a KNIFE, and I'll leave them in all my finds.

[+JanniCash]

Next thing you know is that the Jeep TB's must be banned, because cars are so dangerous and we don't want to advertise the evil tools of death in caches.

 

Jan

[+pdxmarathonman]

I once found a hand grenade in a cache (my wife can't stand seeing it every time she walks past the computer desk). I think it was traded for a box-cutter, some matches and a pair of scissors that I had stocked the cache with.

 

 

Oh yeah - this cache wasn't listed on gc.com

 

ANARCHY!!!

Edited September 8, 2005 by pdxmarathonman

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

That's it, my next sig item will be a KNIFE, and I'll leave them in all my finds.

You might want to start amassing some finds then, eh?

[+Snoogans]

ROFLMAO!

 

Found a knife in your cache. Ummm, get over it.

 

Finding that someone had left dozens of knives in your cache..... That might be interesting. OOOO. OOOO. Or one covered in blood and human hair.

 

A friend of mine hid a terracache and stocked it with just about every banned item you could think of that wasn't illegal. Quite a few folks got the joke.

 

The first item I ever left in a cache was a tiny Swiss Army knife. Ummmm, not sorry.

[+Team Noltex]

My 12 yr old son's all time favorite item from a cache was a swiss army knife. He found it about a year and a half ago and STILL talks about it. It happened to have been placed there by the cache owner and was a logo item from his business.

 

It really wasn't so long ago that a knife much like this one could be found in the pocket of most men and boys in America. We all carried a small folding "pocket knife", which is where the name came from, for the infinite number of day to day needs that a pocket knife can be used for. My grandfather gave me a small Buck pocket knife when I was about 10 or 11 and I cherished it - at least until I lost it. But it was soon replaced with something similar and I always had one growing up. My friend had a knife collection of over thirty knives, Barlow, Buck, Gerber, Case and many more, that I used to look at with envy.

 

Then a few years back, weapons in schools became a pressing issue and they were strictly banned, including the heretofore innocuous pocket knife. Suddenly, no longer did boys routinely carry pocket knives with them, lest they be summarily expelled for taking a WEAPON to school.

 

With the new security measures brought about by 9/11, men could no longer carry their pocket knives on planes because they were no longer just useful everyday tools, they were WEAPONS, whose primary use was for violence. They were now bad.

 

Which brings us to geocaching.

 

The geocaching guidelines were written at about the same time as 9/11, and picked up on the current day view of knives as being weapons, not tools. The guidelines say to use common sense and lumps knives in with explosives, drugs and alcohol as harmful items not to be placed. I abhor the term "common sense" because it isn't nearly as common as we'd like to think. If it was, we wouldn't NEED warnings not to place explosives, alcohol and drugs in a cache (OK, maybe alcohol, but that's a whole other topic ). However, a small folding pocket knife is a much different matter than placing a large hunting knife or switchblade dagger in a cache. Is it a tool or weapon? I would place a tool in a cache, I wouldn't place a weapon. It's a matter of degree.

 

Pocket knives are a gentlman's tool, used for cutting string, opening packages or prying off a lid. The guidelines go on to say that geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages. I don't happen to like to trade for McToys, but should someone happen to have left something in the cache for the adults, like a pocket knife, I'll definitely find something to trade for it, and so will my boys. Every time.

[+Team Noltex]

Found a knife in your cache. Ummm, get over it.

OK, that's a lot more concise than what I said, but the message is the same.

[ZoopD|ngle]

I found a package of flares in a cache once. The expiry date was 1995. Usually, I just sign the logbook and skedaddle but I made an exception that day.(Ok, so I don't usually flee in a state of panic, I just like the word.)

[+AtoZ]

LOL

 

cheers

[+DocDiTTo]

The knife that was left in my cache was a straight up go through metal detector dagger made of plastic, ingeniusly named "letter opener" on the handle.

 

I think there is a difference between leaving useful multitools and the knives of the sort i just mentioned.

IF it was made of plastic, and had "letter opener" stamped on the side, then why would you conclude it's a knife? It sounds like it's a PLASTIC LETTER OPENER! I happen to have one of those, and they're no more dangerous than a tent stake.

 

I swear, political correectness drives me nuts! Next we'll be trashing out all the sharp sticks in the woods...

[Todd&Sarah]

A knife in a cache... well lets see this is a outdoor sport that may require you to some times go "bushwacking", I have been on more than one hiking trip when a knife was needed to cut some mundane item, Ie. a string for trail marking, and one day the laces of a boot stuck in some rocks that slid ... freeing the foot of the trapped lady, I guess with out a knife we could have left her there to chew her own leg off to escape.

 

A knife is a tool that SHOULD be included in everyones outdoor equipment.

 

Todd & Sarah

[+Thrak]

My 12 yr old son's all time favorite item from a cache was a swiss army knife. He found it about a year and a half ago and STILL talks about it. It happened to have been placed there by the cache owner and was a logo item from his business.

 

It really wasn't so long ago that a knife much like this one could be found in the pocket of most men and boys in America. We all carried a small folding "pocket knife", which is where the name came from, for the infinite number of day to day needs that a pocket knife can be used for. My grandfather gave me a small Buck pocket knife when I was about 10 or 11 and I cherished it - at least until I lost it. But it was soon replaced with something similar and I always had one growing up. My friend had a knife collection of over thirty knives, Barlow, Buck, Gerber, Case and many more, that I used to look at with envy.

 

Then a few years back, weapons in schools became a pressing issue and they were strictly banned, including the heretofore innocuous pocket knife. Suddenly, no longer did boys routinely carry pocket knives with them, lest they be summarily expelled for taking a WEAPON to school.

 

With the new security measures brought about by 9/11, men could no longer carry their pocket knives on planes because they were no longer just useful everyday tools, they were WEAPONS, whose primary use was for violence. They were now bad.

 

Which brings us to geocaching.

 

The geocaching guidelines were written at about the same time as 9/11, and picked up on the current day view of knives as being weapons, not tools. The guidelines say to use common sense and lumps knives in with explosives, drugs and alcohol as harmful items not to be placed. I abhor the term "common sense" because it isn't nearly as common as we'd like to think. If it was, we wouldn't NEED warnings not to place explosives, alcohol and drugs in a cache (OK, maybe alcohol, but that's a whole other topic  ). However, a small folding pocket knife is a much different matter than placing a large hunting knife or switchblade dagger in a cache. Is it a tool or weapon? I would place a tool in a cache, I wouldn't place a weapon. It's a matter of degree.

 

Pocket knives are a gentlman's tool, used for cutting string, opening packages or prying off a lid. The guidelines go on to say that geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages. I don't happen to like to trade for McToys, but should someone happen to have left something in the cache for the adults, like a pocket knife, I'll definitely find something to trade for it, and so will my boys. Every time.

Not much else to say here. I agree. I ALWAYS had a knife growing up - and I still have one in my pocket. It's useful. Jerk people use knives as weapons. Most use them as tools. Jerk people will always find something to use as a weapon. I can't understand why my tiny swiss army knife is a dangerous weapon that can't go on a plane but I can carry a pocket full of credit cards. You can easily sharpen the edge of a credit card to make a very dangerous weapon but nobody checks those. It's a bunch of bs.

[+Bill & Tammy]

Recovered this from a cache recently, seems like it has made the rounds without incident for quite a while:

 

 

Also found this slingshot at a cache as well:

 

[+briansnat]

The geocaching guidelines were written at about the same time as 9/11, and picked up on the current day view of knives as being weapons, not tools. The guidelines say to use common sense and lumps knives in with explosives, drugs and alcohol as harmful items not to be placed.

 

Actually knives were added to the guidelines well after 9/11. In fact they were added the very week I had ordered a bunch of nice Victorianox Swiss army knives to place in caches.

 

A knife in a cache... well lets see this is a outdoor sport that may require you to some times go "bushwacking"....A knife is a tool that SHOULD be included in everyones outdoor equipment.

 

We have seen lots of knives in caches and dont see a thing wrong with them either being dropped or collected there.

 

Anybody with half a brain knows that a pocket knife is a tool, not a weapon. They aren't even legally considered to be weapons in most states.When I started this sport I thought they were great trade items and often stocked my caches with them. Who wouldn't want to find a Swiss army knife or a Leatherman tool?

 

Unfortunatley many land managers don't think like us. Geocaching was banned in one park system because a park offical noticed an old cache log that mentioned a pen knife. There wasn't even a knife in the cache when it was examined, but the mere mention that there was knife in the cache at one time resulted in a park system wide geocaching ban. I think knives were added to the list of no-nos in response to this incident.

 

If we want geocaching to be welcomed into our parks, we're going to have to play by their rules, no matter how idiotic they are. If they say no knives, then its no knives.

[+joefrog]

Gasp!

 

Was it sharp? Was it open?? Did it leap out of the cache and try to peel your eyeballs?

 

Sorry, I'm kidding. I'm a farm kid and just can't get upset about it... if it were rusty and open, ready to cut some unsuspecting fingers, then I may get upset.

[rynd]

I have never found a knife in a cache, but one time near a cache I found this strange looking sword stuck in a rock. I tried to pull it out but I couldn't budge it so I just left it there.

[+sbell111]

Brian summed it up nicely.

 

Is a knife a good trade item? I don't know and I don't care. Its against the rules, so why bother. There are plenty of other junk that you can trade if you are so inclined.

[+nfa]

it seems like this topic keeps coming up...my impressionis that people fall into a couple of basic categories in this discussion:

• People who have a problem with knives as trade items, and like/follow that guideline
  
• People who don't have a problem with knives, but follow the guideline
  
• People who like knives as trade items, and don't follow the guideline
  

It seems clear that people in these different camps will have trouble seeing eye-to-eye, and eqaully clear that following the guidelines is best for the longevity and acceptance of geocaching.

 

That being said, I'm guilty of breaking the rules, I have a sig-item that I sometimes leave as a trade-item in backwoods locations that consists of a carabiner, a compass, and a tiny swiss-army style multi-tool with "NFA" engraved on it. My rationalisation is that I put it only in caches that will not be reached by youngsters on their own, and in places where people whould have knives/compasses with them...I'm not saying that I'm right, just that that is what I do.

 

I also exceed the speed limit while driving, keep library books late, and occasionally talk on my cell-phone while driving.

 

nfa-jamie

[+crazyone]

I haven't found any knives in any caches but i have an envelope opener in one of mine caches and cant see what the problem is. But with butane lighters,flares and anything with a potentenal explosion should be a no no,

[+humanloofa]

My roomate wants to get rid of a decorative knife. Would the responsible way to do this be post a picture in the cache and if they want it have them come to the door and get it? The cache is next to my house, they would have to be 18 to get it.

[+hikergps]

Someone left a swiss type knife in my cache, we saw it on the log and I had my kid ride out on his bike and get it, told him it was his to keep. The only reason that I did this was to keep some idiot from recommending to a cache reviewer that my cache be banned for "illegal" items. All of my kids, 2 boys 1 girl, got issued swiss army knives and safety lessons at around age 10. My daughter nearly got expelled from school because she had gone to a hs football game with her knife in her pocket and it fell on the ground when she was digging money out of her pocket to buy a hot dog and the panic ensued from there. Unbelievable how things change. I'm not that old and I can remember a whole group of us in grade school that used to carve sticks on the playground at recess. The whole airline ban is crap. Go to ebay, search on swiss army knife, and there are some lots of 100 or more "confiscated" knives up for sale. It is my understanding that once taken away you can't even get it back. Nice that someone else can profit from Joe Citizen when he is given the choice of plane ticket or pocket knife.

 

To get back on track, I choose to follow the rules as posted so some idiot doesn't poke their eye out.

[+ke6n]

Then a few years back, weapons in schools became a pressing issue and they were strictly banned, including the heretofore innocuous pocket knife. Suddenly, no longer did boys routinely carry pocket knives with them, lest they be summarily expelled for taking a WEAPON to school.

Slightly off topic reply from me, but I remember back in junior high and high school almost always wearing my Buck folding hunter on my belt. Nobody ever gave me grief over having it. Ha, times have changed. (This was back in the early to mid '70s.) -Ken

[+BadAndy]

I've traded knive in caches, no biggie. I see the rule as more of a cya thing than anything else.

[+Team Maccabee]

Ok, I can see reasonable arguments for both sides of this "knife as a cache item" debate, at least for a folding, small-bladed knife or multi-tool. But for y'all that think the absolute ban on knives in airplanes and schools is "stupid" or "idiotic", remember a couple of things. First, the 9/11 hijackers were armed not with "weapons" but with box cutters; anything that can be easily used as a weapon SHOULD be banned from flights. Second, there is nothing that a kid will need a pocket knife for at school. Need the screwdriver on your swiss army -- there are screwdrivers around the school. And you don't need the knife for shop class. What do you need a knife for at school or on an airplane. If you need it at your final destination, pack it in checked luggage. You can check knives, guns and other potentially dangerous items.

 

Team Maccabee

Edited September 18, 2005 by Team Maccabee

[+humanloofa]

Knitting needles are allowed on flights, so are pens pencils, shoelaces, and dental floss. All can be seriously lethal items, particulary dental floss.

[+humanloofa]

Sorry got way off topic for a second, so are we to not allow anything that could possibly be used as a weapon in the caches?

[+Googling Hrpty Hrrs]

I believe it would be irresponsible for any adult to bring a kid into the wilderness without fully preparing them properly, including:

* the 1001 critically important uses for a KNIFE and why you shouldn't be in the woods without one

* how to use a compass

* how to find potable water

* how to make a temporary shelter

* how to handle a snake bite or other animal attack

etc etc etc

 

This is an outdoor activity. To lump a critical tool that can possibly save your life in the woods with other illegal items is not sending the right message. We should advocate teaching young people how to use these tools, rather than banning them.

[+CYBret]

This is an outdoor activity. To lump a critical tool that can possibly save your life in the woods with other illegal items is not sending the right message. We should advocate teaching young people how to use these tools, rather than banning them.

I would rather advocate giving your child his or her own knife than waiting for one to pop up in a geocache.

 

The ban on knives in geocaches has nothing to do with you and me, it has to do with land managers. Here's an example of what caused the ban in the first place. This was written by a land manager in Ohio:

Recently, a geocache was placed on park property and was discovered by our Park Ranger.

Upon reading the log book, the staff of the Licking Park

District discovered that the original owner placed a weapon inside the

cache. It was placed near a well used trail and picnicking area. Had this

cache been found by a school group or child, there could have been serious

implications. Again, more Licking Park District Rules and Regulations were

violated including: Section 3.2 Improper Transportation of A Dangerous

Weapon in a Motor Vehicle and 3.3 Carrying Dangerous weapons which states:

"No person, except law enforcement officers, shall have or carry any knives,

daggers or other edged weapons, metal knuckles, slingshots, blow guns or

other dangerous weapons on or about his or her person while in the parks."

While we encourage visitors to hike our trails and enjoy our facilities,

former geocachers violated several of our rules and regulations, thus our

decision to outlaw geocaching on any Licking Park District property.

 

So it comes down to a question of which would you rather see: knives in geocaches or no geocaches at all? By putting pocket knives in the list of banned items on the guideline page we're alleviating the concerns of those who give us permission. It seems like a small price to pay to get to play.

 

Bret

Edited September 18, 2005 by CYBret

[Cape Cod Cacher]

Arrowheads.... no, seriously, some newly made units. If someone wants to put in the time and effort of fashioning a 'weapon' out of one, more power to them...

 

Silly topic, been beaten to death.

[+Googling Hrpty Hrrs]

Good point CYBret. I certainly understand why the rule is in place, if just for liability purpose.

 

But really, a park has a rule that I can't have my pocketknife in my pocket while in the park?!? How stupid is that?

 

I don't want to hide or hunt for a cache there.

 

I think a lot of us just find it funny that cachers would drag their kid through tick & chigger infested grass, climb up & down steep, snake covered creekbeds, in and out of prickly briar patches, only to have angst over a penknife found in the ammo can on top of the 150' high cliff face.

 

But I will repeat, I understand why the regulation is on GC.com

Edited September 19, 2005 by Googling Hrpty Hrrs

[Golden_Spike]

I found a victorinox swiss army knife in one of mine once. Although i think the rule is kind of dumb it was a great excuse to ¨trash it out¨ and add it to my collection!

[+Teamhawaii1981 & blueicyrose]

Much like other people I never place knives in caches, as it is against the rules, and they are there for good reason. However, I also have to add to the people that finding a high quality swiss army knife once was a great reward. It was made of some incredibly gorgeous wood for the casing, and I had to trade a watch to equal the value for the trade.

 

It's too bad that societal issues and certain people have made these things taboo, as I remember as a kid it was a right of passage to get the Boy Scouts knife and attach it to your belt loop. Now if they did that kids would surely get suspended.

 

But follow the rules. Someone above said it perfectly: Better to have no knives and caches than knives and no caches.

[+JanniCash]

If we want geocaching to be welcomed into our parks, we're going to have to play by their rules, no matter how idiotic they are.  If they say no knives, then its no knives.

If the smarter one allways gives in, this world will soon be ruled by idiots. Do you expect to have any particular advantage from that?

 

Jan

[PyroDave]

When I played in orginized sports there were rules I didnt like. However I fallowed them (most of the time) because rules are part of any sport or game.

 

PyroDave

[+Snow Birds]

I agree...if you can't follow the rules, don't play the game. There are reasons for the rules, even if they seem stupid. And what makes sense in the middle of LA seems stupid for the middle of the desert in Arizona. But...that's the rules!

 

I carry a Leatherman Wave with 2 blades all the time. I've walked all around the Phoenix airport (Sky Harbor) with it on my hip and didn't even think about it. I have a right to carry it.....but is it logical in an airport? I don't think so! I goofed out of habit and should have left it in the car. If I had gotten caught with it, I could have been in a lot of trouble even though I had no intention of using it.

 

I'd love to find a cool knife in a cache, but I wouldn't support breaking the rules to put one there.

 

Just my opinion.

[+geckoboy49]

 

The ban on knives in geocaches has nothing to do with you and me, it has to do with land managers. Here's an example of what caused the ban in the first place. This was written by a land manager in Ohio:

Recently, a geocache was placed on park property and was discovered by our Park Ranger.

Upon reading the log book, the staff of the Licking Park

District discovered that the original owner placed a weapon inside the

cache. It was placed near a well used trail and picnicking area. Had this

cache been found by a school group or child, there could have been serious

implications. Again, more Licking Park District Rules and Regulations were

violated including: Section 3.2 Improper Transportation of A Dangerous

Weapon in a Motor Vehicle and 3.3 Carrying Dangerous weapons which states:

"No person, except law enforcement officers, shall have or carry any knives,

daggers or other edged weapons, metal knuckles, slingshots, blow guns or

other dangerous weapons on or about his or her person while in the parks."

While we encourage visitors to hike our trails and enjoy our facilities,

former geocachers violated several of our rules and regulations, thus our

decision to outlaw geocaching on any Licking Park District property.

 

So it comes down to a question of which would you rather see: knives in geocaches or no geocaches at all? By putting pocket knives in the list of banned items on the guideline page we're alleviating the concerns of those who give us permission. It seems like a small price to pay to get to play.

 

Bret

I think it is a bit of a leap to extrapolate the goofy views of one particular land manager to all of them and raise the specter of "no more geocaching." I would surmise that this person didn't like geocaching activity in the first place, and used this as a flimsy pretext to crack down. Do we establish guidelines to satisfy the majority or the crackpot few? I've already had conversations with local "environmentalists" who object to geocachers (and anyone else it seems) walking about in potentially "sensitive" areas and trampling down weeds which may turn out to be "endangered species." Should we quickly pass some rule limiting caches to paved areas so as to not upset these kooks? They probably have the clout, if so inclined, to limit our sport even more than does the park ranger.

[+Team Neos]

I like knives. My husband loves knives and collects them. I carry a pretty (but sharp and quite useable) knife with me every day. I have another knife that I use when I fish. I have yet another knife and a leatherman tool that I carry when I geocache. The tool came in handy just yesterday while caching when we need it first to extract a log from a container and later to trim a spare log book we had with us to replace a missing logbook in a cache. I think that every child should be taught knife safety when they are able to handle a knife responsibly, and I love the fact that elders pass down well-taken-care-of knives to younger people as a rite of passage. My point is that I like knives.

 

That said, if the guidelines ask me not to put them in caches, I don't do it. If the place I want to go requests no knives, I leave mine at home, or I don't go there. It doesn't matter what I think of that guideline/rule/request--I just do it because that is the right thing to do. It shows that I respect authority, even when I don't agree with it. If I had a huge problem with that guideline, I would try to work within the system to change the rule, but I wouldn't just decide to break the rule out of disdain.

 

But if any of you find knives in caches and don't want them, feel free to send them to me. They probably shouldn't be put in the caches under the circumstances ~and I like knives.

[Team LawDog]

Found a knock-off swiss army knife in a cache this morning. FTF this new cache, so I went and took it. Everything else in the cache was fine.