Marking tools- who's stuff is who's?

The Garage Vehicle Setups
1

does anybody have any clever ways to mark their tools so they don’t get mixed up with other workers’ stuff?

i try to get my guys to keep track of their stuff, but things end up floating around, guys “borrow” other guys stuff… and then when it disappears there’s no way to know who’s it was that was lost, and who lost it.

so i was thinking every guy could have all his main stuff marked so that if something went missing, i would know who’s it was. i just cant think of a good way to do it. i tried a sharpie, but it wears off and doesn’t stick to stainless steel.

anybody have any other ideas on this?

2

A simple label maker can do the trick.

3

If you’re talking about hand tools and window cleaning gear, you could dip the handles in different color plastic dip…

As long as they are not losing expensive equipment, it would probably be easier to just replace it…


4

A inscriber for metal you can pick one up from any DIY shop that’s relatively good and they don’t cost much at all

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5

Electric engraver

6

… You could do like my wife does for our luggage and tie different colored pieces of ribbon on the tools…

7

Yep.

8

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9

ahhh… i have a dremel 4000 with the flexible attachment. i probably have a bit that would work great for that. never thought of it. good idea

11

You could also give each guy a different colored electrical tape.

2013 World Series Champion
Boston Red Sox

12

^ Thats what we used to do

13

I used to work at a large WC company before i started on my own. everything was engraved and things that were not the everyday use would have to be signed in/out.
If an employee lost something they would have to pay the replacement cost.
If it were something as simple as coloured electrical tape, whats to stop Joe from grabbing Johns gear and taking his tape off and putting his coloured tape on.

14

the guys i hire aren’t that shady.

good point about signing stuff out and making them pay replacement cost. that’s something i’ve never required and it may make them more diligent about holding on to stuff.

15

i spray the squeegee handles with different colour car spray paint for each worker .

16

We do one or two colors of electrical tape on the handles. It gives you several options. The guys can easily spot their tools if they move from one truck to another in a given week. We haven’t had problems with this simple system and have used this method for several years. Engraving the tool is a bit risky if the employee doesn’t stay around long.

17

I used to engrave, and I guess I still do somewhat.

But like C said, I’m not worried about my guys taking something.

  • as much as I am getting their tools mixed up.

I color code down to the bucket itself.

Disclaimer: I’m not one of those ‘every second counts’ types.

  • but it’s awfully convenient to have your tools blatently stick out from the others.
18

harbor freight sells a little ‘pen engraver’ for around 8 bucks that I mark all my tools with.

I recently started dipping my handles in plasti coat tool dip ('cause I like the feel of it and it peels off and replaces easily after wear).

I also add a ‘turks head knot’ to my high rise gear, looks better than tape and stops all that clanging when I walk around:

~Jimmy~

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19

I love this idea, so much!

Nothing worse than when you are walking down a hall sounding like ‘the ghost of christmas past.’

I got in the habit of holding my carabiners to mute them, but… still.

Great idea, man!

20

thanks, try using a chunk of gutted rope shell around carabiners too ( slide it over the carabiner and use a lighter to seal the ends, I like it on my chair to descender connection to limit wear on the gear, and it makes a nice hand grip too )

~Jimmy~

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