Buying engraved tools....

[unslow1]

most of the used tools i buy, (pawn shop & flea mkt) have some type of engraving or marking on them.

doesnt bother me at all.

I wish I was still near a pawn shop that sold used hand tools. Over the years I've picked up a lot of stuff. The couple of places left that sell used tools have very few and want laughable prices.

 

[EastrnShore]

No I don't buy engraved tools from pawn or ads etc. While still working my way through school I had my tools stolen, thankfully mostly junk then, and forty years later it still makes me angry. I also knew some guys who sold tools off as their bad habits over took them and this just made me sad.

After my tools were stolen I got hooked up with the Police and Operation ID. I have engraved everything I have of value over an inch long with my driver's license soundex number. This includes the actual tool boxes and even personal items. This has been great when another mechanic thinks one of my Snap-On tools belongs in his box, when he states he thinks it's his and I show him the soundex number there is no further discussion. If the tool is stolen and recovered or someone tries to pawn or sell it the tool is easily traceable. The Police also informed me that they can make an immediate arrest, due to positive ID, if I report the theft and they are found anywhere. ID marks, initials etc even if reported are not enough on their own to ensure they will bother with an arrest that might not stick. I know this is a piece of personal information but one that is not much use to a lowlife.

Engraving thousands of tools was done as each was purchased. I'm getting ready to engrave a new set of ratcheting wrenches for my "B" team tools in my home garage.

I'm now the old guy and my beat up, run into by a shop owner's friend, used when I bought them, tool boxes are like a security system in itself.

Finally, the wife came without tattoos 44 years ago and the only one she has added was a humming bird.

 

[IBEW702]

View media item 89563Bought this off Ebay a few years ago. I thought it was kind of neat.

 

[Perrorojo]

What the heck is an Orthopedic machinist? And it seems like the muffler shop guy could have gone into business with the AR conversionist and made suppressors available, etc.

They make Hips/Knees etc.

Biomet, Depuy, Zimmer, Tecomet, Paragon, Orthoworx and Medtronic all have factories in my little town. If you've got a bone related implant it probably came from Warsaw, Indiana.

Suppressor guy died

 

[Jaja]

Most of my dad's tools are engraved with DALE. When I was a kid he told me it was a good idea to etch mine cause if you loaned a tool or were working with someone on a car your tools wouldn't get mixed up.

Now that I'm much older, he recently he told me he bought many of his tools from a retired mechanic named AL, my dad just added the D and E on the ends!

 

[TwoInch]

I wish I was still near a pawn shop that sold used hand tools. Over the years I've picked up a lot of stuff. The couple of places left that sell used tools have very few and want laughable prices.

Same here. I have talked to my local pawn shop guy who is a friend... He said this is normal. When the economy is doing better, you see a drastic decrease in the numbers of tools on the used market/pawnshop.

Similar trends in guitars and other things.

I have bought many great hand tools I'm pawn shops over the years... But the last three years or so, I haven't found much of anything really. Just a screw driver here and a file there... That kind of stuff.

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[TwoInch]

View media item 89563
Bought this off Ebay a few years ago. I thought it was kind of neat.

Was it less than standard market value?

I hope so. Wouldn't be hard to make up some fakes.

I have a number of old Armstrong armaloy tapered beam wrenches and other things like measuring tools that are marked with Bethlehem steel, USS, and other large national names from the past.. Very cool specimens. These are all old local tools tho, I live in a very industrial area.

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[Magnum440d100]

I wish I was still near a pawn shop that sold used hand tools. Over the years I've picked up a lot of stuff. The couple of places left that sell used tools have very few and want laughable prices.

No you don’t! Haha

I was at my local pawn shop today, picked up that 1/2” Craftsman with the V selector, and spotted much much more items I’d love to get.

Yeah, they’re a great price at the pawn shop, but it is really really easy to get carried away...

 

[Jazz1]

Don't care at all. Got a bunch of random Snap On wrenches and ratchets given to me all with various engravings. My tools are for practical use, not a showroom

 

[wornoutoldman]

I'd rather have a tool with initials or owners marks than a tool where the seller has ground of those marks...

 

[nmantas]

I'd rather have a tool with initials or owners marks than a tool where the seller has ground of those marks...

This, very few people are going to sell stolen tools with the previous owners initials still on them. If each wrench in a set has a grind/sanding marks to wear off an identification mark it seems like red flags for being stolen.

 

[1320]

I wouldn't think that the likelyhood of a tool being stolen is increased by the presence of engravings, or ground off removed engravings, on tools listed for sale on Craigslist, eBay, or OfferUp over anything else listed there. That is to say, I suspect the amount of stolen tools listed for sale is in line with the amount of stolen items listed for sale in general. I don't know what that amount is. I'd also suspect that there are more un-engraved stolen tools for sale than engraved ones.

 

[danielbuck]

I wouldn't think that the likelyhood of a tool being stolen is increased by the presence of engravings, or ground off removed engravings, on tools listed for sale on Craigslist, eBay, or OfferUp over anything else listed there. That is to say, I suspect the amount of stolen tools listed for sale is in line with the amount of stolen items listed for sale in general. I don't know what that amount is. I'd also suspect that there are more un-engraved stolen tools for sale than engraved ones.

I'd say without a doubt there are more non-engraved tools stolen and for sale. Of all my friends who work on their own vehicles, houses, whatever... I'm the only one who engraves my tools. I don't personally know anyone else who does.

My father used red tape on his tools, but that was mostly to distinguish them from tools of another family member, who (if I remember correctly) used a different color tape. I still have some of the tools that have tape on them. I keep the tape on there for as long as the tape lasts, a nice reminder of who's tools they were before me.

It might be a stretch to say, that someone who engraves their tools is maybe more likely to take good care of them, maintain them, and what not as they are probably going to keep them for a very long time. But after seeing the number of shiny tools and tool boxes I see around here... that's probably not the case, haha! Engraved tools might get used/abused more

 

[ChrisLS8]

I've never understood seeing someone doing sloppy engraving with a knife or Dremel when I use letter stamps to make clean neat stanpings

 

[Doc995]

I still have a set of Snap-On SAE wrenches from my dad's best friend, Ed. He gave these to me in the mid-1970's when I was a kid and I thank him (silently) for buying these for me as my family was in NO position to buy me any wrenches, let alone Snap-On's during that time. He had etched, albeit VERY neatly, MY initials, NCB over his, EHH. Kind of a cool design, IMHO.
Ed is long gone now, but to me, using these tools is kind of a tribute to him and all he had done for me.

 

[Lassen Forge]

My father used red tape on his tools, but that was mostly to distinguish them from tools of another family member, who (if I remember correctly) used a different color tape. I still have some of the tools that have tape on them. I keep the tape on there for as long as the tape lasts, a nice reminder of who's tools they were before me.

My dad painted a red stripe (rumor was it was mom's nail polish so he could have a bit of her with him when he worked) on his for the same reason - you could tell his tools from someone else's. My first boss where I work now used white stripes on everything. The one before that used a big yellow dollop. When I first got mine, I put 3 red dots in a triangle on mine - I still use red to mark my tools, the only exception is I use 3 stripes of this horrendously bright green duct tape on my extension cords (when I first started marking them a coworker was already using red tape on his, so that was out). I still have a lot of tools with a red stripe on them, and every time I reach for one, it makes me smile just a bit.

 

[metaldad]

I generally don't buy etched tools, however sometimes it is unavoidable, especially if the price is right. I generally pass if it's a chrome tool (can cause chrome peel) and also if the mark is unnecessarily large and sloppy.

Im with Dave on this.
we used to paint tools on job sites. paint comes off somewhat easily.
my color was red. my partners used green, yellow, purple.
female fitter we had for awhile used pink

 

[IBEW702]

Was it less than standard market value?

I hope so. Wouldn't be hard to make up some fakes.

I have a number of old Armstrong armaloy tapered beam wrenches and other things like measuring tools that are marked with Bethlehem steel, USS, and other large national names from the past.. Very cool specimens. These are all old local tools tho, I live in a very industrial area.

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I think I paid around $60 for it. I was finishing out my Snap On wrench set to 2". I would rather it not have the engraving but price was right.