UKC

I've got a bunch of spangly new alpha sports and i've tried marking them with the little coloured tags that Needle Sports sell but they keep peeling off. Any reason I shouldn't mark the (metal) of the quickdraws with some red nail polish?

In reply to ewanjp:

None at all, I've been doing it for years.

In reply to GridNorth:


.......as have loads of other people

In reply to GrahamD:

What! other people have been marking my gear?

In reply to ewanjp:

Has anybody got all the slings and chocks that I lent to my brother back in about 1990 and he seems to have lost? They wre marked with black and blue tape.

In reply to ewanjp:

Once upon a time green and yellow earthing tape was used as it was readily available. Too readily, everyone had it.

In reply to ewanjp:


Can't think of any. It might even stop Rob Durran from pinching your gear should you leave it unattended.

In reply to GridNorth:

Judging by what you see at the crags, you must have personally lost a shed load of your gear over the years...

In reply to GrahamD:

In 50 years I've only lost 2 pieces of gear. A large cam in the top pitch of King Kong at Wintours Leap about 15 years ago. My son managed to wriggle it so far back in the crack that I could barely even touch it when I tried to get it out on abseil. A number 5 rock at Goblin Coombe only last year. Strangely enough there was another No.5 rock stuck lower down in a very similar shaped crack on the same route. Could probably have got it if I had used my extractor and a stone to bash it but I couldn't be arsed. Anyone who knows me will vouch that I am very parsimonious when it comes to climbing gear. To the extent of being quite anal about it. I must have been having an off day.

In the early years there was no gear to lose and latterly: well I am a Yorkshireman.

In reply to ewanjp:

Maybe mark them with another colour... Most people seem to choose red, including me. Maybe go for sparkly blue or something.

In reply to RyanOsborne:

2 colour code, on the other hand, is very unlikely to be mixed up (unless blue/white in Scotland!).

OP: You can also consider http://toughtags.co.uk service, but it's the same tape, essentially. I have infamous green/yellow tape which gets tatty in some of the carabiners and can't decide whether I want to go for nail polish or toughtags.

In reply to PPP:

Even the Toughtags edges catch on things and start to flake off. They can also be hard to completely remove when you want to replace them, as can adhesive tape. Nail polish lasts a long time.

In reply to ewanjp:

Some good tips here. Please keep up with diligently marking your gear everyone.........

...... mainly because my gear marking strategy relies on not bothering under the assumption that everyone else marks theirs, thus making my unmarked gear unique and easily identifiable

In reply to ewanjp:

I like reflective tape, easy to find when one more route means its dark.

In reply to fire_munki:

Luminous nail varnish? I got some odd looks in the Chemist when I asked for the brightest available, luminous if possible. Is it for your daughter they asked, no it's for me I replied.

In reply to fire_munki:

Apparently, glow in dark nail polish is a thing, too.

In reply to ewanjp:

I use humbrol enamel paint, as used on airfix models. Most gear has some sort of embossed logo which can be painted and does not wear off easily as it's within the texture of the marking.
The only gear I lost lately had one of those address labels on, but since it was not mine I never saw it again! A mate gave me a no. 9 walnut as he had a spare and I accidentally left it on Orion Direct this winter. I wonder if it made it back to him?

Andy

In reply to ewanjp:

I use Tulip Slickwriter from my local craft shop - it's essentially liquid plastic designed for fabric decoration and comes in all sorts of colours including fluoro ones. Works well on slings and metal items if you put it on the embossed bits and in corners or on the wires.

In reply to ewanjp:

I use a car stone chip touch-up brush & pot from Halfords, and paint it onto where the brand & performance data is stamped; it seems less prone to wearing off there.

In reply to Andrew Wilson:

Yep, I use fluoro enamel paint too, it' seems to last well.

In reply to Toerag:

Not sure putting random solvents on slings is a good idea? (if it's a liquid in the bottle, and not a liquid later, it has a solvent of some kind in it).

In reply to ewanjp:

Use car paint on metal gear. Clean gear thoroughly, spray/apply paint and make sure it gets into the markings/knurling. Even when most has rubbed off, there will still be a small amount left in those awkward letters and grooves. When down to that level reapply. Cheaper and more wear resistant than nail varnish.
Did mine when gear from the group started to 'disappear'. Everyone had tape on theirs in a colour scheme devised by the club. Peeling tape and cleaning off the residue is easy, removing all the paint from awkward places takes much more effort. As soon as I used paint my gear stopped 'disappearing', although others still had theirs 'disappear'. You can't always trust friends.

In reply to ewanjp:

Another vote for nail polish, an extremely garish pink has rendered my krabs undeniably mine among friends.

As others have said surprisingly hard wearing if on the brand stamp etc. Or in recesses on nuts & hexes.

In reply to Fraser:

Hopefully not fluorescent red, or our gear will get mixed up ?!

In reply to GridNorth:

Does parsimonious mean "tighter than a camel's arse in a sandstorm"?

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

No - that's a Natts Chuff. What your thinking of is a Duck's Arse.