Nano logs

[+sword fern]

I have found a ton of nano caches, and rolling the logs back up proves itself challenging. Sometimes it takes me more time to roll up the log than finding the cache. Sometimes with bison tubes I find it hard to roll the log up tooI was wondering if any other people had experiences with rolling these logs and would like to share them.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Just how many micros does it take to make a ton?

 

Generally, we don't rush to find micros. When we do, and the log has been rolled for a while, it usually rolls pretty tight for us.

If not, we usually grab one end (on the side) with the tweezers and start rolling around that. After a few turns you can remove the tweezers and roll it tighter yet!

[+sword fern]

Just how many micros does it take to make a ton?

 

 

It was just a hyperbole.

[+GrateBear]

Just how many micros does it take to make a ton?

 

Generally, we don't rush to find micros. When we do, and the log has been rolled for a while, it usually rolls pretty tight for us.

If not, we usually grab one end (on the side) with the tweezers and start rolling around that. After a few turns you can remove the tweezers and roll it tighter yet!

As a nano seems to weigh about 1 oz, that would be 32,000 nanos they've found

That's a lot of re-rolling!

[+WRASTRO]

Role. Pull on loose end to tighten. Repeat as necessary.

[+spdrbob]

Role. Pull on loose end to tighten. Repeat as necessary.

 

Perfect , I just wish 'how to get them back in' was my issue , Nano's are my Nemesis !

Edited April 29, 2011 by spdrbob

[+sword fern]

I'm not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them!

[+WRASTRO]

I'm not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them!

Oh, ok. I find the cache. I get the log. I unroll it. I sign the log. I roll it back up. I put it back in the container. I rehide the container.

[+sword fern]

I'm not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them!

Oh, ok. I find the cache. I get the log. I unroll it. I sign the log. I roll it back up. I put it back in the container. I rehide the container.

 

No, that's not what i mean!

Edited April 29, 2011 by sword fern

[+WRASTRO]

I'm not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them!

Oh, ok. I find the cache. I get the log. I unroll it. I sign the log. I roll it back up. I put it back in the container. I rehide the container.

 

No, that's not what i mean!

I guess I am confused as to what you are looking for. I find 'em, I unroll and roll 'em after I sign 'em. I don't smoke 'em though.

[+Ambient_Skater]

The one time my dad and I found a nano he insisted that I don't open it because of how hard it could have been to get the log back in. Yes, it really is that challenging.

[+niraD]

Some use tweezers. Some use quilling tools.

 

Some logs have a bit of wire or toothpick glued to one end, which helps. You can hold the sides of the coil, gripping the wire/toothpick between your finger and thumb, and pull the log to tighten it. Roll more of the log up and tighten the coil again. Repeat until the whole thing is coiled tightly.

 

The technique I find most useful is to hold the "inside" end between my thumb and finger, then I rub my thumb and finger together in a way that rolls the end of the log around itself tightly. I repeat this until the entire log is coiled tightly.

[+spdrbob]

SwordFern is " not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them! "

[+Chokecherry]

I have a hard time rolling them up as I don't have dainty little fingers and after years of playing guitar and in other ways being rough with my hands have some callouses which make it hard to really feel it out. Even better is when someone manages to shove two logs in there because the other one is full (had that nano experience last summer).

 

I don't use any tools. I just do the best I can as I don't want to carry around more junk.

[+GrateBear]

I'm not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them!

I "roll another one, just like the other one". But, experience has proven that if you can squeeze your signature in with minimal unrolling, that works very well. If I do have to unroll it all the way, I do my best to reroll it very tight so it fits in the threaded cap--makes it a lot easier to put it back together.

[+niraD]

Sorry. I was just sharing my "experiences with rolling these logs".

[+larryc43230]

My only truly negative geocaching experience involved a nano log.

 

About three years ago, I was driving back to my hometown after a day of caching in a city about 30 miles west of me. A cache appeared on my unit's "radar" at an upcoming interchange. Unable to resist going after one more cache before calling it a day, I decided to go for it. As a bonus, it appeared to be a new cache that no one had logged yet. I pulled off the freeway and drove to the spot, which turned out to be an island of trees at a large truck stop.

 

After quite a bit of searching, I found the cache; it was a nano hidden in a fake pine cone. There was a lot of vehicular traffic in the area, so to minimize the muggle problem, I took the nano container back to the car. I then discovered that the cache owner had stuffed two log strips inside the nano, and had stuffed them in tightly. I found out later that the cache owners were long-haul truckers who put in two log strips to stretch out the time before they would need to replace the log when it filled up.

 

I extracted the log strips with the help of a pair of tweezers, and signed the first spot on the empty log. I don't normally go for FTFs, but it's still nice when it falls into my lap that way.

 

Then came the fun. Try as I might, I could not get both strips wound tightly enough to fit back into the container. I sat in the car for about half an hour, swearing under my breath, and simply couldn't get both strips back in. In desperation, I rolled up and re-inserted one of the two log strips. After I returned home, I entered my find log on the cache page, mentioned that I was able to get only one of the two log strips back in the container, and apologized.

 

About an hour later, the onslaught of e-mails commenced. Both cache owners (they cache using a team name) sent me a steady stream of messages expressing their outrage that I "ruined" their cache, and told me that it would be my fault when they had to visit the cache sooner than expected to replace the log. They stated that I shouldn't have removed the logs in the first place if I knew I wouldn't be able to get them back in.

 

To make a long story short, I eventually decided that the smiley, with or without the FTF claim, wasn't worth the hassle. I deleted my find log, and made it a point to put any and all of this caching team's caches on my Ignore List.

 

It's not an ironclad rule, but for this and other reasons, I tend to avoid most nano caches.

 

--Larry

[+Mark+Karen]

The most important thing with nanos, but the log back into the top of the container and then screw the bottom onto that! Do it the other way around then you won't be able to screw it back together!

[+Chief301]

The most important thing with nanos, but the log back into the top of the container and then screw the bottom onto that! Do it the other way around then you won't be able to screw it back together!

 

+1

 

Took me a little while to learn this tip but it's great advice, makes it much easier to screw the container back together.

 

The tweezers suggestion is also good, I've sometimes used the tweezers from my Swiss Army knife to get it started. ( A pointier tweezer would probably work even better, the tweezers on a SAK are squared off at the end. )

 

The first real nano I found is still one of my favorite finds because it was in a very muggly area at a shopping mall and I found it without even using my GPS, just working from the description and the hint.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Chief301

[+Lieblweb]

There's one nano (blinker) that we didn't sign because the log was sooo tightly packed in this thing - there's no way we'd get it back in. Whoever packed it last had it engineered down to a precise sciense because there was no room in there for any margin of error!!

 

I wanna go back there and take a picture of it - its right down the street from my house. But, my luck...it won't look as good as it when we opened it and not worth the picture!

[+the3gmen]

My only truly negative geocaching experience involved a nano log.

 

....

 

To make a long story short, I eventually decided that the smiley, with or without the FTF claim, wasn't worth the hassle. I deleted my find log, and made it a point to put any and all of this caching team's caches on my Ignore List.

 

It's not an ironclad rule, but for this and other reasons, I tend to avoid most nano caches.

 

--Larry

 

or you could have volunteered to replace the log when it was full and made a Geocaching friend.

[knowschad]

The most important thing with nanos, but the log back into the top of the container and then screw the bottom onto that! Do it the other way around then you won't be able to screw it back together!

 

Yup... that is very important. Likewise with Bison tubes. The log goes in the cap.

[+DadOf6Furrballs]

I keep a few unused toothpicks in the center console of the truck. I also have a couple of them in my wallet, just in case the cache is not near the truck and I end up needing one. It's the perfect size to roll that thang around and get it small enough to shove back in the lid.

[+baack40]

I purchased a package of toothpicks in the dental section of Walmart that are plastic and have little "burrs" on the end used for flossing. (Not the kind with the brushes on the end, but that might work too.) I wrap the log on it and then pull the toothpick out from the other end. The little "burrs" grab the end of the paper and holds it and you care wrap it up quickly and tightly. I used to get frustrated with those logs especially trying to be stealthy in a public place. LOL This sure helped me out.

[+W7WT]

I always carry a bobby pen with the ends cut off about 1/4". They work the best for us. dick & arlene

[+Lieblweb]

We carry small 'rollpins' and use those to roll up the logs. Or, if you carry a set of tweezers (to pull the log out), you should be able to use the end of the tweezers to help roll it back up(especially the blinkers).

[+Ambient_Skater]

I deleted my find log, and made it a point to put any and all of this caching team's caches on my Ignore List.

or you could have volunteered to replace the log when it was full and made a Geocaching friend.

Who knows what the CO's email to larry looked like? Maybe it was rude and left no opportunity for him to make such an offer. If it's made him stay away from nanos it probably wasn't subtle. My advice: there's a delete button in your email client-- use it.

 

Seeing as I don't have any experience with nanos, I'll talk about my experience with a micro. The logbook was a strip cut from a pad of sticky notes. The book fell apart as soon as I took it out of the container. Fortunately I was in the car when I took it out, since it was a windy day and that could have been the demise of this cache.

[+GroveBird]

We always carry some kind of "extraction tool". Usually just a swiss army knife with some tweezers for getting them out. Some micros have a little "stick" with them that you can use for pulling out or winding them back up. I like those.

[+autigerman]

The most important thing with nanos, but the log back into the top of the container and then screw the bottom onto that! Do it the other way around then you won't be able to screw it back together!

 

+1

 

+2 Also, the suggestion to unroll as little as possible works for me.

[+ApanAnn]

I don't get the "Oh, I'll just stuff this nano/micro with as much log-paper as possible to save on maintenence trips!!!". Sure, you won't run out of place, but you will run into other problems like wet log because someone couldn't cram it all back in AND close the lid. And if it's stuffed really tight all it takes is a tiny bit of moisture to stick it there for good. Sheesh...

[+threenow24]

I had an epiphany about a month ago when I found a nano with it's tightly rolled log. It was one of those with a little piece of wire attached to the end of the paper (center). I'd always wondered why some had them and it hit me... I took the magnetic base I was holding, held it to the cap with the log and it pulled that little sucker right out of there! I'm glad it only took me about 50 or so nanos to figure that trick out. Unfortunately the majority don't have that wire built onto the log.

[+Coldgears]

I can't be the only one who rolls it up as tight as possible, and if it doesn't go in at first jams it in until it works... Can I?

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

SwordFern is " not asking how to roll them up, just your experiences with them! "

I have no problem rolling them up..just finding them. But really...I see a lot of them...since I live in the SF Bay Area.

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

I can't be the only one who rolls it up as tight as possible, and if it doesn't go in at first jams it in until it works... Can I?

 

I put it into the cap with the screw thread. Never had a problem with the better ones. The cheaper ones are actually shorter so they are a little easier.

[+AlohaBra and MaksMom]

We always carry some kind of "extraction tool". Usually just a swiss army knife with some tweezers for getting them out. Some micros have a little "stick" with them that you can use for pulling out or winding them back up. I like those.

DITTO...I use the knife and screwdriver sometimes also...mine is a 2.5 inch Gerber. Plus I am a IT/computer tech, so I use it on the electronics also. I carry it nerd style, clipped to my belt along with keys and my badge.