Glass containers?...

[+JingleBella]

Are glass containers a don't? I've come across maybe two in 400+ finds so far. I've just read all the logs on the one I specifically remember was glass (and even states it in the description) and no one has commented saying glass containers shouldn't be placed...

[+Beach_hut]

They are absolutely a don't. I've never seen one myself but here in the UK, I've known reviewers to disable caches when they heard the container was made of glass.

 

If/when it breaks, it's a hazard to cachers and wildlife alike.

[DannyCaffeine]

I found one today. It was a glass jar wrapped in electrical tape. The same hider hid mass film cans too. I like their hides but they need an upgrade.

[+Don_J]

They are absolutely a don't. I've never seen one myself but here in the UK, I've known reviewers to disable caches when they heard the container was made of glass.

 

If/when it breaks, it's a hazard to cachers and wildlife alike.

 

While it's a really bad idea, it's not against the guidelines. Why would a reviewer disable such a cache, unless it's broken and needs maintenance?

[+wmpastor]

I found one today. It was a glass jar wrapped in electrical tape. The same hider hid mass film cans too. I like their hides but they need an upgrade.

If fully wrapped in electrical tape, the risks are reduced, but it's still not ideal.

[Clan Riffster]

Are glass containers a don't?

Don't, as in against the guidelines, or Don't, as in a really bad idea?

For the first example, I'd say 'No'. Unless Groundspeak has changed the guidelines since my last hide, there are no clauses dictating what material the container is made of. For the second example, I'd say 'Yes', glass is quite possibly one of the worst container choices a cache owner can make. All containers can fail. What makes glass such a poor choice is the likelihood of injury to other people and wildlife when they do fail.

[+stijnhommes]

In the past 462 finds, I can remember finding 3 glass containers and I agree that it's a poor choice of container material. You don't want it to break and cause injuries to your fellow cachers.

A glass container hidden high off the ground is an even worse idea.

[+L0ne.R]

Not only does it have a risk factor, it''s chintzy. A quality cache container is more impressive.

 

Micro - bison type container

Micro - Matchsafe

Micro - soda preform

Micro - Nalgene jars

Small - Nalgene jars

Small - Lock and Locks (authentic, not the dollar store knock offs)

Regular - ammo can, Lock and Locks

[+Kacher82]

This is the only glass container I remember finding. It was one of my earlier finds, and I thought it was a cool cache. It was an old-style glass jar with a clamp-on lid, chosen for the theme (Old School Series). I was the last one to find it intact. The next log, 3 months after mine, describes the container as a total loss. He mentioned that while it was a neat idea, it made a good argument for the invention of plastic containers.

 

On a side note, I found my first trackable in that container. Looks like it was fortunate that I took it.

[+The A-Team]

Also consider that many glass containers have metal lids, which will usually rust over time and lose any sealing potential they may have had.

I've encountered glass containers a few times. A handful of them on average Traditionals, and a couple dozen as part of a 100-cache logging road "power trail". The power trail ones were in decent shape and had a well-sealing glass lid, similar to these:

The other caches weren't in very good shape. One or two were just plain nasty because the lid had significant rust and was leaking.

 

Regardless of how well those power trail containers were working, I still wouldn't recommend using them. Some of them were hidden near or on top of rocks, so a little slip would mean a destroyed container.

[4wheelin_fool]

You should not use glass containers, nor should you be uptight if someone else does.

 

I had a micro hidden in a rather small antique bottle, about 2 inches long and less than an inch wide with a screw on plastic lid. With thick glass and no concrete or rocks in sight, it probably would have to been tossed forcefully to break. There were no complaints, and it was ultimately stolen.

[Luckless]

I'm planning on using a small glass jar pimentos came in. It has thicker glass and more importantly it is just the right size for what I'm planning to do with it.

I've found some glass test tube like containers in use.

Edited June 8, 2013 by Luckless

[+JL_HSTRE]

A local cacher hid about a half dozen caches in 2009; all of them were mason jars painted black. They all seem to have survived pretty well and I think they have proven fairly waterpoof. They have been hidden in areas without any rocks or concrete; usually in brush or palmettos.

 

I have a couple glass containers that I was given and intend to hide when I find the right place for them. They are Vose water bottles (with plastic lids, not metal), which seem fairly thick. I am wrapping them in camo duct tape and placing them in locations away from rocks or concrete, and where they are very unlikely to fall. If the worse happens and a cacher drops and breaks it then I will go clean it up. I will also put a warning on the cache page that the container may be fragile.

 

I would not use something made of thinner glass, like most glass food jars (which also have the usual issues of hiding old food containers).

[AZcachemeister]

Also consider that many glass containers have metal lids, which will usually rust over time and lose any sealing potential they may have had.

I've encountered glass containers a few times. A handful of them on average Traditionals, and a couple dozen as part of a 100-cache logging road "power trail". The power trail ones were in decent shape and had a well-sealing glass lid, similar to these:

The other caches weren't in very good shape. One or two were just plain nasty because the lid had significant rust and was leaking.

 

Regardless of how well those power trail containers were working, I still wouldn't recommend using them. Some of them were hidden near or on top of rocks, so a little slip would mean a destroyed container.

 

I have found a few glass cache containers, and one was like the above picture.

The gasket had degraded and the contents were wet and slimy.

 

I don't think the threat of breakage is such a big deal, though. Do people tend to play 'catch' with caches when they find them?

 

Almost ALL the summit logs I have signed have been in glass jars, and the jars were in great shape...the lids were not always so good...so the real issue with a glass container is the closure.

[+Don_J]

Also consider that many glass containers have metal lids, which will usually rust over time and lose any sealing potential they may have had.

I've encountered glass containers a few times. A handful of them on average Traditionals, and a couple dozen as part of a 100-cache logging road "power trail". The power trail ones were in decent shape and had a well-sealing glass lid, similar to these:

The other caches weren't in very good shape. One or two were just plain nasty because the lid had significant rust and was leaking.

 

Regardless of how well those power trail containers were working, I still wouldn't recommend using them. Some of them were hidden near or on top of rocks, so a little slip would mean a destroyed container.

 

I have found a few glass cache containers, and one was like the above picture.

The gasket had degraded and the contents were wet and slimy.

 

I don't think the threat of breakage is such a big deal, though. Do people tend to play 'catch' with caches when they find them?

 

Almost ALL the summit logs I have signed have been in glass jars, and the jars were in great shape...the lids were not always so good...so the real issue with a glass container is the closure.

 

I've never seen a glass summit log. Everyone that I have seen has been a soup can with a bigger soup can placed upside down over it. I have only found two glass container caches. One was a quart pickle jar, the other similar to that pictured above. Both were intact but later logs reported them to be broken. By that point, both owners were long gone from the game.

[+The_Incredibles_]

If you're hiding it in the desert and not near any rocks, it might work.

[Pup Patrol]

Also consider that many glass containers have metal lids, which will usually rust over time and lose any sealing potential they may have had.

 

Glass Lock n Locks with the regular plastic snap lid are more prevalent here than the ones with plastic bodies.

 

http://locknlock.in/products.aspx?cat=114&catname=Lock%20N%20Lock%20Glass&scat=0&v=1

 

 

 

B.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Also consider that many glass containers have metal lids, which will usually rust over time and lose any sealing potential they may have had.

 

Glass Lock n Locks with the regular plastic snap lid are more prevalent here than the ones with plastic bodies.

 

http://locknlock.in/products.aspx?cat=114&catname=Lock%20N%20Lock%20Glass&scat=0&v=1

 

I can actually get them more easily than the plastic ones. TJ Maxx has them. They are sturdier than most glass, but I have not hidden one. I found one that was hidden under a bush, with no camouflage, in a busy city park. Surprisingly, it lasted a few months. (Replaced by a throw-down micro on the lamp post. Then another magnetic cache right next to the playground. Not that this has anything to do with glass containers..)

I have found a few glass containers. Mason jars. (Which lasted five years or so.)

But, since I was a trail maintainer for ten years, I buy my beer in tin cans. I've seen what damage glass bottles can do,

[AZcachemeister]

... I've seen what damage glass bottles can do,

 

I don't know about actual 'damage', but glass is probably the most durable and long-lasting man-made material.

 

Eventually it will get ground down back into the sand it came from, but that could take centuries.

 

The thing is that centuries (or even millennia) are only a bump on the geologic time scale, but people have trouble thinking beyond their own lifetime.

[+ras_oscar]

please don't do glass cache containers.

[+3Woofs]

Are glass containers a don't? I've come across maybe two in 400+ finds so far. I've just read all the logs on the one I specifically remember was glass (and even states it in the description) and no one has commented saying glass containers shouldn't be placed...

[+BlackRose67]

THere is a cache here in the Ottawa area that has the distinction of being the oldest active Multicache in Ontario (First Try) that is a mason jar.

 

The lid was replaced after 8 years and the jar after 10 years.

 

It's been in play since June 2, 2001. I plan on finding it as my 1000th cache find.

[+Brian~!]

I've found two. One was a medium sized confectionery jar in the woods.

 

The other was a small micro sized container which had then been wrapped in black tape. The actual cache had shattered - the entire container felt squidgy because it was the tape allowing it to keep the shape.

[4wheelin_fool]

... I've seen what damage glass bottles can do,

 

I don't know about actual 'damage', but glass is probably the most durable and long-lasting man-made material.

 

Eventually it will get ground down back into the sand it came from, but that could take centuries.

 

The thing is that centuries (or even millennia) are only a bump on the geologic time scale, but people have trouble thinking beyond their own lifetime.

 

Glass Beach is a beach in Fort Bragg, California that is abundant in sea glass created from years of dumping garbage into an area of coastline near the northern part of the town. In the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household garbage over cliffs owned by the Union Lumber Company onto what is now Glass Beach, discarding glass, appliances, and even vehicles. Locals referred to it as "The Dumps." Fires were lit to reduce the size of the trash pile.

 

The California State Water Resources Control Board and city leaders closed the area in 1967. Various cleanup programs were undertaken through the years to correct the damage. Over the next several decades the pounding waves cleaned the beach, by breaking down everything but glass and pottery and tumbling those into the small, smooth, colored pieces that cover Glass Beach.

 

In 1998, the private owner of the property determined that Glass Beach should belong to the public, and began a five year process of working with the California Coastal Conservancy and the California Integrated Waste Management Board for the cleanup and sale of the property to the state. Following completion of the clean up, the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the 38-acre (15 ha) Glass Beach property, and it was incorporated into MacKerricher State Park in October 2002.

 

And now it is illegal to take clean up the glass which was once waste, but people do it anyway.

 

 

 

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

4wf - where were those pics taken? Where is it illegal to pick up beach glass?

[4wheelin_fool]

4wf - where were those pics taken? Where is it illegal to pick up beach glass?

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg California.

 

It's protected litter.

[Clan Riffster]

4wf - where were those pics taken? Where is it illegal to pick up beach glass?

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg California.

 

It's protected litter.

I gotta say, that's a most unusual end result.

Toss a little bit of litter, and you are breaking the law.

Toss great big heaping mounds of litter, and California will turn it into a park.

Gotta scratch my head on that one...

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

4wf - where were those pics taken? Where is it illegal to pick up beach glass?

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg California.

 

It's protected litter.

I gotta say, that's a most unusual end result.

Toss a little bit of litter, and you are breaking the law.

Toss great big heaping mounds of litter, and California will turn it into a park.

Gotta scratch my head on that one...

 

And now the litter is protected "natural, cultural and historical resource."

[+Don_J]

4wf - where were those pics taken? Where is it illegal to pick up beach glass?

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg California.

 

It's protected litter.

 

BB, read the quoted text above the photos. Amazing how things have changed in California. They used to let you throw washing machines off of a cliff into the ocean, not, they are trying to ban our plastic shopping bags.

[+DanOCan]

Last glass container I found was so brittle from the freeze/thaw cycles (or something!) that it broke in my hands when I went to unscrew the lid. No issue marking the logbook in that case!