letter stamps / punch's?

does anyone know where i can get a set of letter and number stamps with the serif's on the letters?
i want to make some brass tag's for my car's but i want them to look old

something like this


thanks
Zach

 

thanks
they may be hand cut?
i dont need a wheel for a machine
I'll do them one by one by hand.....i'm kinda behind the times!
Zach

 

Harbor Freight sells them for about $10 or so. I've used them and there fine. Guess you can't really screw up a stamp too bad. If you want machine shop grade then go to a tool company of course.

 

If mcmaster carr dont have em good luck.

 

http://www.gasenginemagazine.com/archive/0403/0403_feature1.html
I take it you've seen this.

 

The sample you show looks as though it was done with a "Plate Press" which is what was referred to in a previous post when he said "Wheel". It's almost impossible to achieve the regular spacing and even lines as on your sample using individual stamps.
McMaster-Car does have both individual stamps and plate presses. The presses go for $1000+ to $1300. Go to McMaster Carr.com and look at "Hand stamps and type holders.

 

I've tried the HF ones, and they are no good for fine work. For example, their 8 stamp almost always can't do the inside of the number.

What I've seen recommended is "knife point" stamps. Although I haven't found any yet in a small size.

Yea, hand stamping will wear you out, as every error costs another plate, and position errors creep in and ruin the look.

 

if your going fo the old look hand stamping is the way to go. any old stamped numbers i have seen all look really poor

 

You are mostly correct except the stamping on his sample plate didn't look "really poor". That was my point: the sample was too regular and even to have been done with individual hand stamps.

 

Harbor Freight stamps are pretty good except the 9s are missing.

 

I've got an old set that I found in a junk shop a few years ago. They look like they're 100 years old, but they have held the letter definition pretty well. How many tags are you doing? You're welcome to use mine if you want to come by my shop sometime, but I'd probably rather you use them here. I have a hard enough time keeping track of all the letters myself!
Curt

 

No, they have the 9s its the 6s that are missing

 

I have two to three old sets.....I know the #'s are right for old Fords but I've never really paid much attention to the letters. I'll go look right now and if they are, you can borrow a set and send them back to me.....be right back

 

sorry, they're just plain....don't know how else to describe them...

they say "Matthews of Pitsburg"

 

thanks everyone for the help
and you guys offering to barrow/use your sets i really appreciate that
but i would really like to own my own
i believe that the original SCTA tags are done by hand....this one just happens to be exceptionally nice
i have pictures of alot of them and they all seem to have flaws here and there...notice the O in murOc is off and if you look at the name...its not perfect either...just really good...probably someone did these all the time by hand and was good at it? i could be wrong though
in any case I'm just going to do mine by hand as i cant see spending a large amount of money for a whole set-up...I'll check out McMaster Carr and MSC and see what they can find for me
i was hoping someone might have recently bought a set and had a direct line to ordering one
thanks alot everyone
Zach

 

Wouldn't a trophy shop be able to engrave something like that and make it look right?

 

Yea, and Ford could build your car.

Sometimes the fun is in doing it yourself (sometimes, until your hands get all bloody)...

 

Zach I have several sets that are 50 years old and none of them have the serif's. Google hand stamp steel and you will find a bunch of manufactures. Numberall.com has a stock script set (no serif ) and Infinitystamps.com claims thay can make any font in any language.
Fred

 

Forgot there is a set on eBay right now 270063940868 can't see the font on the other one but 130057003102 might work also.
Fred

 

thanks guys
those e-bay ones would work but they're too short at 3/32

thanks
Zach

 

After a bunch of looking, I bought a set of number punches for wood. I don't know why they wouldn't work on metal but, I'm not going to try. The 3/8" size seems to be harder to find than other sizes. Same problem with the fonts though. These look ok but not exactly like the '40's style numbers I wanted. For $8 they were worth a try. Mike

 

If your hand stamping and you want even spacing try electrical taping the group together and then clamp that with a small c clamp.Strike the group and you should have evenly spaced groupings.A kinder,gentler xderelict.

 

I remember the set we had in shop class had the serifs - only problem was most of the vowels were missing and a few popular consonants ... let's just say it was a real challenge to make names or words that made a whole helluvalota sense. People who viewed our work probably thought we were too dumb to spell for shit. Go figure.

 

To brain storm a bit.

Would it be possible to take a vintage typewriter and attach the ends to a punch set?

I.E. shear the alphanumeric from the arm and weld it to a punch end?

Or would that metal not be hard enough? If that were the case, you could have them hardened, or cryo'd.

I know all the old typewrites varied in font from one manufacture to another. The issue then might be the font is too small. But I can't imagine them being that much smaller.

Who knows, maybe I just shouldn't think out loud.

 

I bought some "Young" co. stamps from : My tool store.com They worked for me.