www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I want to mark my hand tools because I use them at work, and I don't want them getting mixed up with the shop's tools. I tried engraving, but it looks like a 5-year-old's handwriting. I thought that stamping them would be a good idea, and would look a lot neater. It seems that most stamp sets are intended for marking jewelry, so I'm not sure if they would work very well on hardened steel tools. Does anyone have any experience with this or any other advice concerning marking tools? Thanks.

heeelllooo and welcome Rouleur
good to let tools get covered in paint and crud away from cutting edges
no one will give them a second glance



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Stamping metal is hard work and it's hard to keep it neat.

Engraving would be much better IMHO

I stamp most of mine, just my initials. Pretty easy to keep that neat. A few things dont stamp up very well, a couple of hits usually does the trick, just make sure when going for the second hit, you reposition the punch in the first imprint.

When you do it, just make sure its sat on a nice solid bench, and there is no bounce. Or it wont work very well.

Thanks for the advice, guys. My main concern about stamping was whether or not it would work well with hard, steel tools. I guess it's worth a try, though, and if I buy a set of stamps, I'm sure they'll come in handy for other things down the road anyway.

As for engraving, I really don't have much of a clue. I dug up a handheld engraver the other night that I have never used before. It's an electric one with a plastic body, and it's got a metal tip that moves in and out. Are there more effective methods of engraving? Like I said, I really have no experience.

You can electro etch your name or a design on them. The harder the metal the better the etching, as long as the metal you etch on conducts electricity. as for engraving I find it rather difficult on metal as you have to use the right bits and have a very steady hand to achieve passable work.