Tool - stamps

No, I have not used one of those rotary stamping dies.

My hand-eye coordination is such that I have hit several single letter/number dies just right(or should that be wrong)that the die flies out of my hand into the brush or snow never to be seen again. That is why I get this stuff.

http://www.harborfreight.com/36-piece-1-8-eighth-inch-steel-letter-number-stamping-set-800.html

I still have mine that I've carried for almost 40 years. Only paid a third or less than what these are priced at. Pretty sure they were less than a $100 for the set.

A lot easier on the fingers than the single letter ones when hitting them with a hammer.

This is why I carry a vice grip

Derek

That's what we used in the camp I worked out of when with the BLM. They work just fine. The only drawback from the individual letter/number staps is that you need to take a little extra care to ensure that you line it up and hit it square, otherwise the wheel might roll a bit on you and you end up with half the letter you want and half of the next one over. As I recall, they have a ball bearing/spring type click stop that is designed to keep the wheel from inadvertently rolling on you while not making it to difficult to intentionally turn the wheel, but they can begin to loosen up after several seasons of use. Overall, they hold up pretty well.

That drawback is more than offset by the convenience of compactness and the possibility of losing 1 stamp here & there from a set of individual letter stamps.

Unless you stamp all of your caps at you workbench before going into the field, I can give a good recommendation for these rotary stamps.

I've used them before with good results and longevity.
Last set we had got lost/ left somewhere. I replaced it with the single stamps. harbor frieght has them cheap. - as stated below.

> Does anybody use one of these?

I've used sets of number and letter stamps for more than thirty years. The letters are the same set, except for the "D". That one ended up in a burrowing mammal hole in the middle of a West Texas ranch that I would place the odds at "fairly good" as being a time share condo for rattlesnakes. It's still there. I bought a replacement "D".

The numbers get a bit more of a workout, so I'm on my second set.

I find that it's extremely useful to have a zip-up tool bag to carry them around in along with the other associated tools like a heavy aluminum plate to use as an anvil for stamping aluminum washers, the drive cap for rebars, and a munged-up aluminum cap to use as a drive cap for hammering aluminum caps onto rebars. A small bag just a bit larger than necessary to hold everything keeps the boxes of stamps from opening up and scattering. If it happens, they're all in the bag.

Given the huge price difference and the fact that if you keep the letters in order in the box they aren't difficult to locate, I'd prefer to have some good quality loose stamps instead of the uber-expensive dial-a-stamps.

Life expectancy is not very long when stamping brass. Use the single letter/numbers set if you have brass to stamp. I'm currently stamping about 40 mon's a day on a 500+ brass monument project. I usually have to grind the heads daily on certain letters. After 500 mon's I just buy a new set of letters/numbers. Pliers with circular grip teeth insures no slippage and saves crushed bloody fingers.:excruciating:

Pablo B-)

> Life expectancy is not very long when stamping brass.

Probably 95% or more of what I stamp is aluminum, either washers or caps for rebars. I'm having some difficulty, though, believing that hard brass would dull a steel stamp.

As for the fingers, if you use a 16-oz. hammer on a 1/4-inch letter stamp, it's pretty unlikely that you're going to damage any body parts. It's a two tap deal: one to set the punch and the other to give it depth. Trying to do it all with one mighty blow could be a problem.

Sounds like Pablo is working on a project with existing hard brass caps.

I think I know what he is doing. The requirement is for 1/8” stamps and even 3/16” stamps will be too large for all the info they want on a cap. Most of them already will be really full of stamping so getting the extra info on them takes some skill.

If the stamps are in one of the wooden or metal holders the ones that get used over and over will tend to mushroom on the striking end and you have to grind them up so they will fit back into the holder. The only problem with Pablo doing it is that it's a young man’s job, all that bending over and jumping fences and stuff.;-)

Used them for about 40 years. Not the same set the whole time, but have stamped hundreds of brass caps with one set and had no problems.