View Full Version : What kit have you found?
Harvestman
20-08-2010, 21:06
Just wondering if anyone else on here has found kit that they subsequently used. That's found, as in just lying in the grass/street whilst out and about.
My second-best walking socks are a pair I found lying on a rock in the Black Mountains, soaking wet after some rain the day before, but otherwise perfect. After a run through the wash, they are great socks. :D
I have a beanie hat that I found in the street (again, in the rain), a waiter's friend (corkscrew, blade etc) from near a stream in the Black Mountains, and now a bag for my stove kit made from a pair of trousers I found lying by the side of the river Usk. I've also had two broken fishing rods from the Usk that between them have made one useable one.
Am I just lucky (or a scavenger :p), or have other people acquired kit in this way?
I found a Polartec hat on a trig point in the Lakes about ten years ago.
But I've probably lost more stuff than I've found to be honest.
I found a Wetterlings axe stuck in a stump on an estate I once worked on.
The axe had a broken handle and was one of the cheaper ones with the blue painted head . Still a great little axe though, especially after re-handling and striping the paint and rust off.
They're loss my gain :D.
when fishing when i was about 14 i found a folding knife in a tin of meat that some one must have been using for fishing. still have it. somewere.
When I was about 11 I found a brown envelope with about £40 in it just lying on the pavement. I took it home and my mum made me give it in to the police station :confused:
After about a month we got a phone call at home to say nobody had claimed it so it was mine :red: At 11 years old £40 was a lot of dosh, I'm pretty sure it got spent on my first catty, a Milbro which would be worth a penny or two now. No idea where it ended up though.
I was working on a farm renewing the overhead power supply. I found a two man fibreglass canoe in the hedgeline where we were going to erect the poles.
I asked the farmer if he wanted to sell me it but he said I could have it as it must have been there when he bought the place. I still have it and use it now, over twenty years later! Me and my sons have had great pleasure from her in that time and many great memories.:)
slammer187
20-08-2010, 22:53
I once found an Original Therm-a-Rest in an house I was helping clear out before being put up for sale :)
ThreeFires
21-08-2010, 05:32
Machete, external frame backpak, day pak, 3 knives, paracord, rope, boonie hat, 1/2 gallon of Jack Daniel's Green label whiskey, after that I can't recall anything else.
woodtramp
26-09-2010, 07:19
Five years ago I found a C.S. gas grenade in a field walking to the supermarket , two months ago $123.00 in cash blowing down the street, a big bag of Marry Jane, A .22 rifle with a broken stock stashed in some trees, two naked people doing the nasty in my camp spot and a park ranger watching: sometimes it just does not pay to walk quiet, several tents and assorted sleeping bags, a altimeter of a plane that crashed into a glacier, a real old wooden ice axe, axe heads, knifes all kinds of old stuff from abandoned farm steads......
when i was about 10 or 11 i found a double barrel shotgun and a box of cartridges on my way to school needless to say the teachers wernt very happy when i turned up with it over my shoulder ! ps im 45 now so it was a long time ago
Well, I had to think, I get all sorts of freebies...
Found, as opposed to given or traded
a norway shirt and a black cordora shoulderbag.
Im sure theres more but thats all I can think of for now
forrestdweller
05-10-2010, 02:24
knives, all sorts of fishing gear, a garmin gps-receiver beside the road whilst pushbiking along(sold it), one time i found out that the strange-looking plastic box was in reality an anti-personell- landmine(in central europe in an area which had never been used by military) :yiles: ... but i did not keep it...
gordonmac
05-10-2010, 09:44
None :( :( :(
found a rusty horn handled bowie once on the local allotments,....
me and my Bro saw it together and both wanted it.
we argued for about a day, decieded it was a lot of bother and threw it in the pond.
daft really,..but 11 year olds rareley compromise
RAPPLEBY2000
05-10-2010, 10:13
ok here goes,
a discarded heavily over-sharpened and worn 9" butchers carving knife (possibly used in a crime) that i used in scouts as my survival knife....if only they knew! lol
I found an unexploded WW2 mortar round in my mums garden it's now polished and on her mantelpiece (only kidding).
several Bungees on "bungee trees", Ammo boxes, (on MoD land).
12lb sledge hammer head and Shovel head (made ash handles for both and use them for work)
found a Mountain bike with "free Bike" written on it, took it home found it had an aluminium frame, and now use it for work.
Found a pair of RAF foul weather trousers (now used for work).
found a German army sleeping bag (sniper sort) had a frog in it! someone had obviously used it for camping got it soaked and dumped it.
2 mess tins (at 2 different places)
a Swedish army Meths bottle
a hammock on a climbing trip in Spain (only a cheap string one).
a Terra nova Quasar tent without poles(don't know if it counts cause they were chucking it after a course I did).
and a partridge in a pear tree!
gordonmac
05-10-2010, 11:02
a Terra nova Quasar tent without poles(don't know if it counts cause they were chucking it after a course I did).
LOL :D - A Quasar, even without poles, is a pretty decent find!
Found a pair fo fancy softshell, windproof gloves. Ladies ones so gave it to someone. I found an old pre-CRoW act OS map of part fo the Lakes in the active version which is not about £14 each IIRC. Other than that nothing.
A mate when I was at primary school got a calculator casio watch from his brother who had found it fastened around a wad of cash (£100 IIRC). He handed it to the police who gave it back (complete with the £100 exactly as handed over can you believe it???!!!). Any way the elder brother kept the £100 and gave the watch to his brother my mate. Still the £100 would have bought about 6 calculator watches back then I think.
I never really find anything worth keeping. Some of you are rather lucky.
Marin Bear valley MTB --- fell off a lorry in front of me.
Arc'tryx - waterproof jacket.
tinkerer
10-10-2010, 00:01
found a nice goretex dpm large stuff sack, in a tree in the new forest a couple of weeks ago . makes me wonder how they carried back whatever was in it.? oh and about 10 years ago i found a nice animal chronograph watch with my feet in the sand it was about 6 inches down . gave it a good wash and still wear it daily for work.:)
bushwacker bob
10-10-2010, 13:54
Now that you folks have recovered my gear, can I have it back please?
Everything Mac
10-10-2010, 13:57
nothing comes to mind however:
if anyone finds a SAK with a red lanyard on the isle of Arran in North Glen Sannox - it is MINE!!!!
same goes for an identical SAK minus the lanyard on Dartmoor.
:P
I think the most useful thing I've ever found was a piece of Dyneema cord that somebody must have dropped on the way in or out of the Scouts camp site at Spitewinter. I'd have handed it to the warden but it had been run over a few dozen times by the time I picked it up so I took it home and gave it several good washes. Seems like some of you are pretty careless with your kit, can I sell you a bit of cord, to tie it to your person? :)
Sometimes I need to 'find' something to get a job done and I'm not above a bit of dumpster diving to do it. A couple of years ago a customer invited me for a sail on his boat, which he keeps in the marina at Ipswich. You need to motor quite a way from the marina before getting the sails up. We were almost ready to leave the marina but he couldn't fill the tank with diesel from the cans he'd taken because he didn't have a funnel. So I dragged him around the marina looking in the bins for a discarded plastic bottle to make one. He was hugely embarrassed and kept trying to get me to stop, but I wouldn't stop until I'd found a bottle, made a funnel (that took all of 30 seconds once I'd found a suitable bottle) and handed it to him. He filled the tank no trouble, but he never asked me to sail with him again!
RAPPLEBY2000
11-10-2010, 12:10
over the weekend I can now add to the list a discarded Thermarest, and OG RAF waterproof!
not found much but lost a primus gas stove brand new on dartmoor once
i must not be that lucky when it comes to things coming my way
Front Room Woodlander
11-10-2010, 17:47
Lost my way and my mind, if you come across either I'd recomend not using them.
I reckon it could be worth keeping some pack space available when venturing near dartmoor - sounds like there's some good kit still up there!
This thread remids me Fallout 3 game. I shall add, that I found:
http://antraspasaulinis.net/uploader/failai/ppsha.jpg
so called PP-SHAK. And loads of bits and bobs left from WW2, nothig recent though..
I seem to come across a lot of old fishing gear, just weights, lines and lures really..... that's about all I ever find!
Spikey DaPikey
15-10-2010, 11:12
spoons, always spoons. When i go anyware with Mad Dave, i find spoons. Its becoming a bit spooky now !
I found a waterlogged DVD player in a rucksack on the banks of the Vltava last winter, left it where it was :)
My friends have found tons of stuff on Dartmoor, map cases, binoculars, torches, sunglasses and probably more since I last spoke to them :)
Mesquite
15-10-2010, 15:58
spoons, always spoons. When i go anyware with Mad Dave, i find spoons. Its becoming a bit spooky now !
Well that saves you the need of having to carve any then Spikey :D
drewdunnrespect
16-10-2010, 20:14
well al i know is i am now wereing a differnet bushat cos the orginal with the bcuk badge on the front i have left on the side of hastacks in the ennerdale valley and had to buy a new one. TO say i was gutted is an understatement and some one will probably find that at some point #
drew
redandshane
29-11-2010, 21:46
Well I knew this thread was here somewhere
I had a late bimble up the hill and down the valley today and found
A White stuff wool beanie; wearing it now
A 21 " bush saw made in Denmark; chucked out by some rubbish
I removed the rusty old blade and just ordered a new one for it from Amazon
A Wainwrights short dog lead Multi use item for me or perhaps a gift for someone with a suitable large dog
I find loads of rubbish but consider this quite a useful haul for one walk
Harvestman
29-11-2010, 22:46
I found a tin of "american-style salad" in a hedgerow near work on Friday. Dented but intact, and still in date. I washed the mud off and it is now in my outdoor meals store. The tin looks useful too.
RAPPLEBY2000
29-11-2010, 23:10
I need to add a hammer to my list! :p
wingstoo
29-11-2010, 23:28
110ltr Bergan with side pockets attached
Helly Henson Fleece
Trousers, lightweight with Zip
OG Shirt
Gortex Trousers (DPM)
SA80 Bayonet
Para-illuminating flare
Heli marker panels in carry bag
58pat water bottle
Carabiner
Aide Memoir
Ear defenders
Map and map case
Lots of tent pegs
Lots of fishing end kit
Hardy fishing Priest
Trip flare wire
Cable tidy
Trip flare trigger
Smoke Grenade
(Of course the grenade was left in location as the thing had no pin in it but the seal still intact:yikes:)
Scary what people leave lying around isn't it.
Wings
Once, found an old discarded 1/0 hook, stuck in my hand on Chesil Beach.