Perhaps a few of you read my last thread covering a burglary of shop equipment and tools. My tools are being replaced and precautions have been taken to avoid another such incident. I do remember the police asking me if my tools had any distinctive markings, stamps, engravings, of initials, numbers, etc. They don't yet. So as a matter of discussion, what is everybody's favorite engraving or stamping method? I'm sure I can purchase numbered adhesive stickers for the bottoms of the tool trays and other things. Hope this isn't too off topic but we all need our shop equipment to work on these old cars.
Continuing the method my father started. Stamping his/my initials on the tools with two stamps. Can't be duplicated by anyone else. One of the stamps has a piece broken off making it very distinctive and unique. Canuck Also a complete inventory list of nearly everything in the house and shop. Done by type, make, model and in many cases original purchase price. To be used for insurance purposes if required.
My experience with notches/marks/etc is that a mark is only useful to separate your tools from other guys in the shop. If a policeman pulls over a car with a trunk load of Snap On wrenches that have a mark EC (initials) they have no clue who EC is unless EC tells the police in that city he is missing tools. What is much better is a permanent mark that says something like CA 123456 which would be Calif driver license 123456. There are several ways to put the mark on the wrench....chemical etch, laser etch, or an electric engraving tool...OR there used to be the guys at the key shop who had a pantagraph that could engrave.
After my tools got stolen back in '83, I engraves all the replacements - initials on the small ones, Drivers license number on the bigger ones. Naturally I haven't had any stolen (thank god), but at a race quite a few years back I loaned my torque wrench to a guy and left before he could return it. He had a cop trace the DL # and called me to return it!
I have a little vibrating engraver and all my tools have my name on them. Is that distinctive enough?
My dad was a machine ist for over 40 years and worked in a very large shop. I now have almost all of his own tools. Every single one, even the smallest oiling wrench, has the number "755" crudely engraved on it.......which was his time card number. It was the only job he ever had, so I guess he never feared he'd have to change it.
i engrave or stamp all my tools with my initials, only it's the number that the letter is in the alphabet,IE: m is letter 13 and f is 6 so all mine are stamped with a 136 on them.i've recovered a few snap on tools this way as people go to get them repaired or replaced and my dealer let's me know who has them. some were misplaced and some were stolen at one time.
I used my service number issued by the U. S. Navy. I gave the number to my tool man a nd the local police.
All good ideas. Hopefully you find your tools, then take them and beat them over the head of the theif leaving distintive marks.
I use an automatic center punch and put a very subtle pattern on everything, I also have pictures of the marking that I do. Nobody even knows it's a marking till you tell them, then they can spot it on all my tools
http://www.etching-metal.com/ I used something very similar to this once. It makes a really nice, neat marking.
Harbour frieght. Electric hand engraver $ 6.99. I engraved my D/L number on my tools. Worked for me. But your robber could just grind any marks off!!
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