Experiments in Color Marking Tools

[benjrblant]

Since getting a job at a local 4x4 outfitter, my tool collection has grown substantially- out of necessity. I'll preface this that I'm no mechanic and I've never claimed to be, but I turn a few wrenches here and there. Ergo, I've opted for a more affordable brand of tools instead of the prized tool truck brands which most others seem to have. Except for the stripped hardware extractors. I definitely ponied up for the Proto versions of those.

It's not so much that I think anyone would take my crappy tools. I'm more prone to leaving them, forgetting them, or accidentally putting them in someone else's box. However, I'd still like to mark them in some way so that they can easily be ID'd as mine. ("Hey, you left your 10mm over here again.") I picked up a can of oil-based enamel and I'm testing out filling the embossed text.

The first attempt was admittedly my lowest possible effort. The enamel was applied with a paper towel and then wiped off while still wet. It doesn't stick to the chrome very well, so I think I'll try flooding the embossings and removing the excess with some 0000 steel wool.
I'm also testing out some Sharpie oil paint markers for color coding the interior, making select sizes easier to find in the drawer.

Seems OK for now. I'll keep you posted on the final results!

[Brickman]

@benjrblant That's a lot of work painting the letter indentations. Looks factory

I just use a dremel and grind my initials on em.

[benjrblant]

@brickman said in Experiments in Color Marking Tools:

@benjrblant That's a lot of work painting the letter indentations. Looks factory

I just use a dremel and grind my initials on em.

Hm, that sounds like more work to me. This process was to wipe a big swath of paint onto the tool, then wipe it off. The text is all that remained. Just a few seconds per tool.

[CivicWagonEngineer]

@benjrblant my dad would just spray paint one half of the tool green and the other half orange. Most of his tools still have the paint 20+ years of construction later. Doubt it took very long for him to paint them either. Don't know how "clean" you want the paint job though

[LooseonExit]

@benjrblant

That looks good with the added benefit of extra contrast so you can read sizes quickly... Would be curious how long it lasts. I've had a number of things walk off of the years unfortunately... Don't think this would have helped much, but I do like how it looks.

[Jb boin]

I love the look of it.

[jminer]

@benjrblant I'm with Brickman it seems like more work than I'd out into it, but man it looks really good.

[VincentMalamute]

@benjrblant So timely! I have just been thinking about this and just bought some colored Sharpies to experiment. I didn't know there were oil based Sharpies?!

I just can't read the sizes anymore, even the large print ones. I tried painting once, letting it dry and then steel wooling off the extra paint. I didn't like how it scuffed the chrome though.

Let us know how this goes.

@LooseonExit said

I've had a number of things walk off of the years unfortunately

Me too. It's weird given I'm the only one in my shop.

[benjrblant]

@vincentmalamute yeah!
https://www.sharpie.com/all-markers/art/oil-based-paint/SHOilBasedPaintAquaFine
the shop primarily uses them to mark bolts that have been torqued or changed because of service, but multi-color packs are available at target, wally world, walgreens, etc and mark steel nicely. It doens't stick as great to highly polished surfaces like chrome.

[sn4cktimes]

@benjrblant we’ve tried to paint mark tools here at work but we deal with so much hydraulic oil that it never lasts. The oil lifts up pretty much anything over time.

The bonus is nothing ever rusts...

[VincentMalamute]

@benjrblant said in Experiments in Color Marking Tools:

but multi-color packs are available at target, wally world, walgreens, etc and mark steel nicely.

huh! I can't imagine the retail stores would have the oil based Sharpies. That seems too specialized. I'll have to check the next time I'm there.

[benjrblant]

@vincentmalamute Aye, also Home Depot seemed to have the best selection, albeit in 5-color packs.

[jayvincent]

@benjrblant I'm digging the socket organization, i finally broke down and did the same with my loose sockets. I've got a plastic molded case for 1/4 and 3/8 drive Craftsman set I've had forever, but all of my 1/2 drive and deep sockets were forever loose in a metal toolbox, requiring me to play 20 socket pickup anytime I wanted to find the right size. I just got some plastic runners from amazon, organized the sets by drive size, metric or ansi, 6pt or 12pt, and separated out the duplicates. now I can easily find the right socket set, but reading the size of each is still a challenge... until your post came up! Now i'm going to have to color code them with something I can read more easily, thanks for the idea!

[Urambo Tauro]

@benjrblant I spray-painted most of my 1/4 and 3/8 drive sockets a few years back, using all different colors for quick reference in picking out sizes. It's been incredibly helpful! I used a color-coding system that was heavily based on the old Fisher-Price magnetic letters & numbers that I grew up with, so it feels totally natural for 8mm to be green, 17mm to be yellow, and so on and so forth.

[Longtime Lurker]

@benjrblant My dad used to dip his tools in plastidip.

[functionoverfashion]

I've done the same as you with some tools, wiping off paint across engraved lettering, etc. for the same effect. I keep some paint markers in my toolbox for marking bigger, individual tools, too. I don't share my tools much but it's still helpful for when they do leave the house for some reason.

As others have mentioned, a quick application of spray paint might do the trick too. You could even run a line of tape across the sockets so you don't paint the whole thing, and it would look neater, too.

[orneryduck]

Looks nice!

If you expand into using impacts an want a great socket set that is my the cost of tuition for the tool truck driver’s kids, look at Sunex. Taiwanese, durable as frig, only remark is that they laser engrave them (rubbish), but my sets also have stamped engravings too (awesome).

I have abused the hell out of them for over a decade and not a single issue. The also usually include a full suite of wobbler sockets too, which is how I initially learned of them. They are so good that between the two sets I have, I rarely need my chromies at all, unless it is an oddball size or the specific spot requires one of my extra thin wall sockets.

I may have to try the paint on my Sunex ones to make them standout a bit more. I LOVE the paint in the socket well idea for type indication.

[VincentMalamute]

@orneryduck said in Experiments in Color Marking Tools:

full suite of wobbler sockets

Those wobbler sockets are wonderful. So much better than universal joints.

[VincentMalamute]

@orneryduck oh yeah, I've seen the Sunex name around. Thanks for the recommendation.