On the subject of "everyday" containers, how about the small plastic 35mm film containers. I find these ideal topped off with cotton wool for capsules, tablets etc. in my first aid kit/psk. Film processors throw them away, so I find no probs. getting as many as I want. Grab them before digital cams make them go the same way as metal coffee cans.

Yeah' they used to be much more useful made out of metal with screw-top lids and gaskets. Still there are alternatives. There are small screw-top gasketed plastic "jars" in the spice section of the grocer that are quite usable for the same things. These hold around twice as much as the film cans since they are a bit larger in diameter.

Welcome to the board, Whisky. I use the film canisters for holding cotton balls and other tinder, fishing kits, firestarting kits, change holders, etc. They are indispensable. I'd better stock up before they're all gone.

I asked the lady at the pharmacy to save them for me - they have a film drop off and people used to just throw out the film cans.

Boy, when I think about it, there's all sorts of great containers that are going or gone. Maybe someone should be collecting all of them to sell in the future. Things like:

Wooden Cigar Boxes
Plastic Film Canisters
Metal Coffee Cans
9-Track Computer Tape Cases (These were AWESOME)
Metal Cigar Tubes

When I was in college I had a roommate who worked in a photo lab. He put a small box on the counter and would fill it with the containers because people asked for them so much, until the mangler made him throw it away. He used to bring us the remains of the disposable cameras, we had fun, mostly shocking ourselves with the caps for the flash.

I recently discovered metal bulk film cannisters that a friend and former photograpy teacher was throwing away. They are aprox. 3 1/2" diameter and 2" high. I grabbed the few that he hadn`t crushed. They might make a nifty lt wt stove, kit container, or............ I haven`t had time to play with them yet but soon. Any one interested in these might ck with their local high school art/photography teacher. Apparently long lengths of 35 mm film came in them and the teacher would load film cartridges from this for the students. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />