UKC

Is electrical tape the best to use for taping gear? Or is there something else out there which people generally use?
Thanks!

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

taping gear as in for recognition/identification as your gear?

You can get proper tags with your name/email/phone on.... I just use electrical tape!

In reply to Rhi Rhi: yeah for identification, sorry that wasn't very clear! Thank you though just read about different tapes etc and the glues damaging gear etc so thought I'd check!

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

If you want to be posh

http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Marking-Gear/...

In reply to Rhi Rhi: ha! That really is posh! :-p I'm thinking electrical tape will do just fine hehe!

In reply to Rhi Rhi: http://www.toughtags.co.uk/

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

What about using metal spray paint for marking? Not slings or nylon stuff, just the metal gear..

In reply to Rhi Rhi: try the car paint chip repair paint comes in a small bottle with a brush already in it the perfect size for marking gear and the paint is really hardwearing. only on metal and on a place where it is not in contact with rock, i do the top of nuts and the top of friends End of the shaft / mid axel, all you have to do to check gear is grab the clip and just look at the end of everything.
spray paint - to much work not getting it everywhere
tape takes too long to put on and comes off too easy and leaves a sticky residue.

In reply to Rhi Rhi: I bought some of those rack tags a little while ago but found the that adhesive on them wasn't very strong. Might just have been a dodgey batch but most didn't seem to stick. I just use electrical tape now, works a treat

In reply to Mattlamb90: Another recommendation for tough tags, well worth it if you think how much your gear costs.

Everyone I climb with tape tags their rack... so I know which ones are mine when we share gear 'cuz they are tape free

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

Nail polish.

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

If you choose electricians' tape you will eventually come across someone who uses the same colour, I use blue my partners use grey, red and earth, but I have climbed with UKCers and they always seem to use blue.

Some people use combinations, but that is getting a bit OCD IMO

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

Yellow electrical tape for me, until I started climbing with someone who also uses yellow. Now mine gets an 'A' on the tape in permanent marker too, just to be sure.

In reply to andic:

Blue with a thin white in the middle so looks blue, white, blue.... so mildly OCD, but never found anyone with the same

In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

dammit I use blue as well!

In reply to Rhi Rhi: Bright nail varnish. Tape wears off and at some point you are bound to meet someone who uses the same colour.

In reply to Rhi Rhi: Personally, I think nail varnish has no place near climbing gear - have a look at what acetone does to plastics, and think if you want that on your gear, even if it is only the metal parts. Best stick to tape, it's not really hard to remember what your rack consists of is it?

In reply to LJC: I only put it on the metal work so I don't see a problem there. I once heard of an accident that was caused by tape sliding down a krab and wedging the gate open. Don't know if that's true but it's not difficult to imagine it happening. I hate the way that tape starts to wear off but in order to totally remove it you have to scrape it with a knife. I'll stick with the nail varnish, it sets hard so shouldn't get absorbed by anything.

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

A level chemistry wa sa long time ago but if I had to guess I'd say that the acetone evaporates and leaves behind the "paint"

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

I use red and gold nail polish. It works great on i-beam krabs but rubs off exposed surfaces (especially nuts!)... The best part is the looks you get at Boots when you go to buy it!

I don't bother marking soft stuff because its usually attached to some hardware or to me. Acetone will not damage aluminium but keep it well away from plastic until the paint is dry.

In reply to Rhi Rhi: I use http://www.toughtags.co.uk/ they are pretty good, and even had a biner returned to me

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

I just haven't marked my gear, on the basis that most of my partners have and that we don't have identical racks and can mostly tell which is which anyway. Only ever had a problem once at the crag when the party next to us dumped a load of identical quickdraws right next to my own while we were mid-route.

If I was going to mark my gear, I'd probably avoid electrical tape and choose something different like hockey stick tape (as I have both in abundance). I seriously doubt that anyone else will ever turn up at the crag with gear marked with stick tape.

In reply to Rhi Rhi: I use electrical tape to mark my gear, the green and yellow earth tape as I,m sure nobody else uses it.

In reply to tehmarks:

I don't use green and yellow tape because I don't want to give lightning any ideas about where to strike.

In reply to GrahamD: never thought of that ! Don't want to be a lightning conductor so had better remove it to be safe

In reply to wobl:
I use a band of earth tape over a wider band of dark blue with the occasional gear tag. I climb with quite a lot of different people so having something destinctive is handy.

In reply to LJC:

I think if this was a problem there would be lots of women (and some men) with no finger ends. I find keeping all my stuff together and not over-thinking things seems to work.

In reply to Rhi Rhi:

Humbrol enamel paint. One tin lasts about 27 years at the last count

In reply to nniff:

Glad to hear you say that! I used some to mark some wires, probably 22 or 23 years ago. Sounds like they'll be good for a while yet.
You can get paint on the wire itself rather than the chock, doesn't wear off then

In reply to wobl:

I used to use that, until I mentioned it on here once offering the same reason as you, and at least three people then piped up claiming to use it too!

In reply to Rhi Rhi: Orange leccy tape for me. No one I climb with uses the same, and that's the important thing. It means we can cheerfully combine gear through the day, and sort it all out when we get back to the car/pub.

Sx

In reply to cuppatea:

Indeed - a splodge on the wire at the back of the nut lasts indefinitely and is readily visible

In reply to andic:


. . . oh dear (but that's only your opinion