To go letterboxing you’ll need your gear.
You will need:
~A personal stamp
~A personal logbook
~An inkpad
~A compass
~A pen or pencil (or both)
And a bag to put it all in!
Your Personal Stamps
“Your personal stamp is what you use to ‘stamp in’ in the logbooks of letterboxes you find. It is a rubber stamp that is your signature in the letterboxing world. Creating a distinctive personal stamp that is ‘you’ in part of the art of letterboxing” (Letterboxing Companion by Randy Hall 6).
Now your stamp can be store bought or hand carved. It’s all right if you have a store bought stamp, no one’s going to judge. My first stamp was a store bought stamp. Now when you pick out your stamp make it personal. You want your trailname, or “username,” to coincide with your stamp. For example, my stamp is of a cat face and my “username” is Catchow. You don’t want to pick “Dog Lover” as your trailname and your stamp to be of a bird. What a lot of people do is stamp their stamp then write in their trailname under the stamp. Some people carve in their trail name with their stamp picture as well. I’ve also seen people who will prestamp their personal stamp and write their trail name onto a label sticker. Do whatever you’d like to do!
Your Personal Logbook
“Your Personal logbook is what you’ll use to collect he images of stamps from the letterboxes you find, and to write notes about your adventures. It is also where you’ll show off all your finds at gatherings” (Letterboxing Companion by Randy Hall 7).
Now when picking your logbook you can buy or make your log book. You will want to have blank pages to stamp on. You can used lined pages but it’s your choice on whether or not you want lines through your stamps. I was given a scrapbook for my birthday so that’s what I use for my logbook. Scrapbooks are good log books. If you buy a scrapbook that allows you to add on pages they will save you the cost of having to buy more books and you can just keep filling it up! Blank journals or sketch book also make good log books as well.
I’ve made logbooks before by taking note cards and wrapping the cover and back in duct tape. Then I whole punched the note cards can put a key chain ring in the wholes. There are lines on the back of the cards but you don’t have to stamp on the back.
There are many different ways to make logbooks and many different ones you can purchase. Just pick what you like and what feels comfortable to you.
The Inkpad
Some boxes might have stamps in it but you’ll always want to bring one. You definitely want to have a stamp pad for your personal stamp. Bring stamp markers or different color stamp pads. You can stick with one color 24/7 but it may it boring looking. Also some stamps are made to have tons of different colors so it’s handy to have different colors.
The Compass
Not all boxes require a compass but it is a good thing to always have one with you. Learn to use a compass. Trust me, you’ll need it!
The Pen and Pencil
Always have a pen or pencil with you. You’ll need it to write down the name of the box you found, the location and date. They are also handy when you need to write down notes while out hiking around.
A Bag
Completely optional, but I don’t know anyone who carries all their letterboxing supplies in their arms the entire time. I use a sling bag that holds all my stuff and within the bag I have a box that holds my stamps, stamp pads, pens, and such. Pick a bag that suits you and is comfortable to carry while letterboxing out in the wilderness.
~Catchow
http://catchowlbna.tumblr.com/
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