[Twix]

Keep getting the tools in my service truck mixed up with the tools in the shop. Need a good way to mark the tools so they get put back where they belong. Have 3-4 users of these tools.

Thought of paint, but the grease and penetrating oil will wash it off the wrenches and sockets.
Stamp in a Letter or? Not sure you can stamp hardened sockets and wrenches though?
Engrave?

Looking for easy fool proof ideas.

Thanks

 

[meskie]

Buy different brands.

I’ve seen guys put thin pinstripe around their tools when I was in school. I engraved mine but you have to be careful cause they may void warranty.

 

[adsinaus]

Cable ties cut/trimmed around the handle and/or sockets?

Can be tightened where they don’t get in the way and cutoff/replaced if using on really difficult to acces jobs

 

[iksn]

We have the same problem. What we are trying right now is different coloured electrical tape. Just do a wrap around the middle of the wrench. Not sure how it’s going to last, but it was cheap, quick and easy to do.

 

[marshall]

We have the same problem. What we are trying right now is different coloured electrical tape. Just do a wrap around the middle of the wrench. Not sure how it’s going to last, but it was cheap, quick and easy to do.

I think that you have a good idea . Another thing you could doo is to dip the handles of the ratchets and pliers in different colour plastic dip for wrenches . But buying different brands of tools for the different machines is mainly what I doo as I can't afford snap on for the tractor !! Canadian tire or princess auto when on sale usually make the grade . Another thing is to have the wrenches in roll up pouches to keep everything in order and to know that you are short a wrench after fixing something and sockets in a box set .

 

[Macfarms17]

I've used the electrical tape idea and it works really well, especially for differentiating metric/standard tools at a quick glance.

One thing I did when I bought my first set of nice tools was to engrave them, and then inset some paint in the engraving. Takes some time, but man it looks sharp and the paint last for much longer.

 

[phantom970]

A spot or two of MIG weld on all tools say for the shop.

Or a couple of grinder marks in an easy to see place.

I have done this before to keep tools together, and it makes would be tool thief’s look embarrassed when arguing over who’s is who’s

 

[SWFarmService]

Buy more tools!
Problem always starts because you are short something in one or the other but if both have the proper tools they will continue to move around.

I dont have this problem with the shop but from the truck to a pickup or tractor. My problem is the pickups and some tractors are not properly equipped with enough basic tools.

 

[Twix]

so what works on sockets?

Thinking that the colored cable tie or colored electrical tape will fall off. Spots of weld or notch with grinder would catch your hand all the time when using the sockets, would they not?

I already have the tools, so don't really want to buy a different set. Yes part of the problem is that some tools end up in tractors and grain trucks as well and then later nobody can remember where it belongs.

Some great ideas, keep them coming.

 

[SWFarmService]

One thing that helps make it easy to know if some tools are missing is that we have two montezuma (think spelling is close) tool boxes in the truck.
They are unquestionably the most organized tool box you can have on a service rig and if your service rig goes down its easy to move them.

 

[quappelle]

Good stamps will mark Gray and S-K wrenches. I marked mine when I worked winters in the bush back in the 1970's, and can still read them.

 

[phantom970]

It’s a bit extravagant but I guess you could get anything without plastic handles powder coated.

The right sort of spot weld or mark with a flappy disc isn’t going to grab your hands.

 

[Dirt farmer]

The Mark you need to make is a bruise on the forehead of whoever doesn't put it back where they took it from! Tools not being put back drives me insane!

 

[marshall]

Buy more tools -- an older neighbor had several sons that liked to work on their own stuff in his big garage and they were always loosing wrenches so when down in palm springs one year he came across someone who was selling bulk wrenches at a flea market so he bought a box of 250 wrenches of the most popular sizes that his sons were loosing ( 1/2, 9/16 , 3/4" ) . A year later he was out of wrenches again but if you looked around the yard and in the grass along the road you could find lots of rusty once used wrenches of that certain sizes . So putting them back is probably the best idea for keeping track of your sets .

 

[Don Boles]

Is it just me or are tool markings getting smaller as my eyes get older?

 

[Licensed to kill]

When I was running multiple trucks up north in the winter, I painted all of the tools (as well as the cam locks on the hoses)to correspond with the truck they belonged on, green on the green truck, blue for the blue truck, red for the maroon truck. This served two purposes. the main purpose was so that when the trucks came home in the spring, one driver couldn't take a tool or hose off another truck if he lost one and claim that it was his and two, whenever I saw painted tool in the shop, I know where it belonged (what you are faced with). Paint will work on almost everything. I have painted wrenches that have been inservice for over ten years and are still coloured enough to recognize at a glance. Sockets might be more challenging as they are quite smooth and paint may not want to stay. However, while time consuming, you could chuck each one in a lathe and run a groove around the base to hold the paint. If you don't have a lathe, a drill press and file would work or even just a small notch with a zip cut. Just something where the paint can adhere and wouldn't be subjected to rubbing.

 

[schraefel]

When I was a kid my dad painted all of his tools bright yellow so he could spot them when he lost them in the field. 30 years later I still see his tools and have found several of them in the field. He always seemed to leave a few on the frame of his equipment.

 

[albertabuck]

Is it just me or are tool markings getting smaller as my eyes get older?

Lol, you are not alone. I have noticed some stamped numbers are smaller and not as deep so they are less visible on the newer ones than what used to be on older tools and brands. What I really hate is how some instead of stamped or etched numbers, they use a painted one instead. An example is Jet impact sockets that are like this, and after years of use on the popular ones it has been worn off, can be a PITA for sure.

I can only imagine what a mess things could be with employees who don't care enough to put things back where they belong, never worked in any environment where that was tolerated.
I will say that welding or grinding on most tools will void the warranty and even engraving them really reduces their resale. Anyone who has ever bought any high end used stuff of a tool truck that is marked can attest to that. Probably a splash of paint on them would be best IMO.

 

[iksn]

so what works on sockets?

Thinking that the colored cable tie or colored electrical tape will fall off. Spots of weld or notch with grinder would catch your hand all the time when using the sockets, would they not?

I already have the tools, so don't really want to buy a different set. Yes part of the problem is that some tools end up in tractors and grain trucks as well and then later nobody can remember where it belongs.

Some great ideas, keep them coming.

Good point about sockets, we put chrome in one spot and impact in another so we never bothered taping them. It may still work. When I put electrical tape on our wrenches I used a lighter to melt any ragged edges.

 

[Combine Pilot]

What about acetylene torch the chrome blue, but if done too much my soften metal. then i thought does gunblue work on chrome. Other than that i would uses a course flapper wheel and spot grind and apply a good tremclad oil based paint to the abrasion. sockets right on the back on the face with the square drive.