Knives at college v. don't walk away!

Hide it in plain sight...

we used to take textbooks, and cut the pages out to make a "well" in the book

place your um... "valuables" in the well, close the book, and then place it in a
bookshelf...

find some hated subjects, trig, calculus, etc...
 
Just remember-locks basically keep honest people and impulse thieves away from your valuables...

That said, I would probably buy an economical, two drawer, steel file cabinet with locks. (see below-63.95 @ http://store.yahoo.com/suppliesroom/fexfxv2215l.html) A lockable file cabinet is small enough to fit nicely in a dorm room but large enough that it's not likely to be carried off by one person. It would also be a good spot for storing other easily stolen valuables such as laptops, CD's, cell phones, or MP3-Players. (out of sight out of mind)

Unfortunately, I speak from experience when I say that good quality knives have an amazing ability to sprout legs and walk away when you work (or live) in a high traffic environment. Keep that in mind when packing your favorite knives to take with you.

suppliesroom_1848_15394892
 
Sharp Phil said:
The unofficial boot knife of my alma mater was the United Cutley Black Widow (no accounting for taste). I knew at least four people who carried them.
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I completely forgot about those. I received one as a birthday present when I was probably 5.
 
Zerileous said:
So the only issue is the casual lifter. How do I prevent them from walking away? Assuming I dont have a locking drawer and am not allowed to modify furnature, what am I to do?

I am talking in the area of 100 ish bucks, so I am not too worried, but I still would like some security.

Thanks.
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Find a military surplus ammo box such as this one, available in the UK for £4.50:

AMMO-BOX-US-SMALL.jpg


Drill 4 holes in the base and a hole through the top/lid interface. Insert small padlock through the top/lid hole; attach can to floor by screws through the 4 holes in the base. If done inside a lockable wardrobe, you have extra security.

maximus otter
 
I carried my Caly Jr. all through first year at the University of Toronto and no one seemed to mind and I plan to carry edc it during second year too. I lived in res and I had a few knives but that wasnt against the rules and the don on my floor was okay with it and I used the caly in front of him, he thought it was a neat knife.
 
and don't take anything you will not need, you will be glad you did. Less is better. That's how it was when I lived in a dorm. Also, after your first semester you will know what you need and what you can live without and then make adjustments. Twenty five knives seems like a bit much. You could easily get by with a half dozen, leaving the rest at home. The SAK will be your best friend.
Also , the 2 drawer locking file cabinet suggested by another poster looks like a good idea. It doesn't take up too much space in cramped dorm rooms but still has enough capacity for a laptop, cd 's and cd player, cash, important documents, liquor, girlie magazines and other stuff you may need to keep away from sticky fingers and prying eyes. just my.02
 
I agree than hollowing out a book is another good technique. You can find large textbooks cheap at a Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift store. Some libraries also sell surplus or donated books cheap. I used to keep my Smith and Wesson snub nose .38 in a hollow book when I was at college. Of course I was in a student apartment with a secure locking door to the outside. I picked a really dull book called "Accounting Principles".
 
My wife and I rented a house in college. We had that party goers life style though and there were always people in and out and lots of times we had overnight guests from the partys we had. For me it was camoflage that worked. Most of our friends were too buzzed to notice that I had a house full of secret drawers and hiding places for any number of things I wanted out of public view.

For example, and speaking of 'hiding in plain sight', for spare keys to the house I picked a nice size log with the bark still on it. I made what is called a 'band saw box' many times using any old log I found. Every now and then I'd find a good log off the side of the road that had fallen off someones truck while hauling fire wood.

To do this, you obviously need a band saw to make one. Without that you may as well forget it.

It is made with a series of cuts so that you make a log with a drawer in it. It requires glue and in the way I made mine for outside hiding, some small finish nails. I made the cuts without using a fence, just free hand because it just gets glued and pinned right back together. Then I' cut out a drawer, then glued and tacked it all together and let it set up over night using strap clamps to hold it together.

Then once everything set up you had a log with a concealed hidden compartment. For jewelry boxes and the like I'd put little handles on them. For this outside hide away though I used weather proof epoxy glue in conjunction with the tacks. I didn't put anything in the way of handles on it and the bark concealed everything as far as the cut lines and the hidden drawer and any glue I missed. Then I could put my spare key or notes for the wife or anything else in the drawer of the log and set the log on the wood pile by the door on the screen porch and it blended right it. No one ever noticed. That log box got through all of college.

This worked great for a good while after college too until we had guests over from out of state and one of them accidentally burned my log in the wood stove. :-( Fortunately there was nothing in it at the time.

Here is a pic of one of my latest band saw boxes that I used as a presentation box for a knife I made as a Christmas gift for a friend. This is nothing but a scrap cut off end piece of a cedar log.

Bandsawbox-copy.jpg


DSCF0001-copy.jpg


I used to make little hide a key logs like I described above but stopped after mine got tossed in the wood stove by someone that didn't know what it was. Kind of back fired just a bit on that one, but it did work for a number of years. :-) I also hid drawers on the back and under side of desk legs, and computer tables using the same technique. You'd be amazed at how many places you could put a hidden drawer like this with a little ingenuity.
 
I would get a little Sypderco ladybug for my keyring, nobody will squawk about it and it cuts like you won't believe.

For bigger stuff I'd lock it a tackle box in the car truck if you have one (a car). Then when your roommate invites you to go to his house in Maine to go Moose or Bear hunting or Salmon fishing you'll have everything all setup in your car ready to go!
 
Regardless of whatever additional hideouts or lockboxes you use, you should always lock your room door when you're not in it. Follow the crime briefs of your campus newspaper -- they'll invariably be full of "valuables taken from unsecured room" items.

Even if you take the rosy-colored worldview that your fellow collegians are trustworthy, dorms are usually full of visitors, "townies", etc.
 
I'm not the first one to say this but always keep your room door locked and never leave any of your stuff (wallet, bag, etc) out of your sight in public for even a second. Something like 95% of theft in the dorms at my university is because people don't keep their doors locked.
 
Yeah, everyone in college is honest and everyone is free to hang out in your room when you're not there . . until your cds all disappear . or your favorite sunglasses or computer or your knives take a walk. Just get in the habit of locking your door when you're not there . . you'll save yourself that crushing feeling of idiocy when theft eventually happens to you. People tend to be a lot more honest when you lock the door.

Also, kind of plan on the fact that things will be stolen from a dorm room. Don't bring your nicest posessions to school unless you can afford to lose them. 2-5 knives is ok, but 25-100 is just asking for them to be ripped off.
 
don't be naive. there will be a klepto in a building.

reading the newpaper crime briefs is pretty amusing, just because of all the stupid stuff on there. like an article will say "student reported $3000 laptop stolen. the student left the laptop in the dormitory commons room at approximately 2pm and returned at 4pm to find it missing"

don't be that dumbass.
 
There are kleptos or people with substance abuse problems who are very entertaining and are welcomed at parties and bull sessions in people's rooms. Eventually you compare notes and discover who it was that was stealing things. There was a friend of my brother's who swiped things from everybody in their circle of friends including my wife. "He seemed like such a nice guy."
 
I know that story. I lost a knife several years ago. A Cold Steel "Ultra Lock" that was pretty much brand new. Looked everywhere. Asked my friends if they had seen it. One of them was an aquaintance that happened to be there at the place I was at the last time I saw it. I have to admit I wondered if it was possible that he had it but then realized that I was just being rediculous.

Five years later I got it back when at his house to help him out financially by purchasing a gun he had that I wanted. He walked out to look for the extra clips and I looked down into his lab desk drawer and there was my knife. At first I thought no way. But upon picking it up and looking sure enough my initials were right there plain as day on the spine right where I put them. He seemed like a nice guy too.

I pointed out the fact that I found my knife and that I was taking it back now. Then told him I decided I didn't want the gun after all and left. He knew I caught him. I asked him to his face the day after losing it if he had seen it and he said no. POS is my description of someone like that. They're out there.

Anyway, that is my lost and found story on that one.
 
perhapse my original post was a bit misunderstood, if nobody is around, the door will be locked, but ppl will be in and out and such. I dont expect to bring a collection either, just a few nice ones, 25 was the highest number i could think of me possibly getting.

I like the idea of the filing cabnet. Especially since i plan on using a filing system for school work. A hanger for each class, a folder for each chapter and each test. Otherwise i won't be organized at all. At first I had planned on using a plastic filing tub (we debaters use em all the time for our files) but to be honest, the cabnet would give me some security also, I like the idea.
 
Zerileous said:
perhapse my original post was a bit misunderstood, if nobody is around, the door will be locked, but ppl will be in and out and such. I dont expect to bring a collection either, just a few nice ones, 25 was the highest number i could think of me possibly getting.

I like the idea of the filing cabnet. Especially since i plan on using a filing system for school work. A hanger for each class, a folder for each chapter and each test. Otherwise i won't be organized at all. At first I had planned on using a plastic filing tub (we debaters use em all the time for our files) but to be honest, the cabnet would give me some security also, I like the idea.
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just bring a few and put them in the back of your desk. if people are going in and out but one of you is in the room, nobody is going to start digging through your desk.

as a general rule, leave your wallet and other expensive items in the back of a drawer, out of sight. if other people are present, nobody is going to go digging through your drawers. if they can't grab it in 5 seconds they aren't going to steal it.

the other thing is to always carry the knife around, and use it so that everyone else knows you carry it and use it. I have not gotten a knife stolen before, but if it were stolen, every other person in the building would recognize it and let me know who had it.
 
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