Best nail polish and/or paint for marking gear?

Tape isn't cutting it anymore for marking gear. I tried nail polish a few years ago, but it was the cheap , 12-year old girl store brand stuff and immediately flaked off. Any suggestions for a good nail polish brand and/or marking paint that you've used and stays around for a while? Thanks!

I had good luck with Maybelline. I suspect that as long as you stay away from the cheap 12 year old girl stuff and get a name brand, you'll get a nail polish that will stay on.

Duct tape is now available in plenty of colors, I bought a roll of neon pink a while back that seems to stay on pretty well. A lady friend who works as a rafting guide uses pink duct tape to mark her gear because it doesn't disappear as fast- all those macho river guides don't want to be seen carrying gear with pink markings.

Any acrylic paint will do.

I use tape. But my buddy uses a paint pen that he buys at the auto part store. He makes sure he get the metallic one, being the one that adheres to metal. Looks good and seems to last.

I don't remember what I used but I put it on the nose of the biners and the cam axles and it has stayed pretty well. Those two areas aren't really likely to see much abrasion.

Clean the metal surface first with acetone (nail polish remover) to remove oil and dirt that will interfere with adhesion. Don't get the acetone on any soft stuff. Mark non-wear surfaces. I use cheap nail polish and it lasts for many years.

OPI is considered one of the best nail polishes you can buy in a store.

It is funny to read the number of people that are now using nail polish. I have been using it for 25 years now. As folks have said get some good solid color polish, clean good, and apply a couple of coats. Find a place that will not come into contact. The axial swag between the cams is a good place. On biners on the gate hinge work well.

A friend just spray paints his biners and stamps his initials in them. I gotta watch him cause he once stamped one of my biners.

so they make this "engraving" pen for metal shop work. It is a reciprocating sharp point(probably tungsten carbide) hand tool. I was planning on using on my gear at some point does anyone do this? It is a permanent marking which does not add weight, goo, or glitter to your gear and goes not much deeper than any rock would scratch your gear through regular use. Thoughts?

like this:
ebay.com/itm/like/251578653…

Kyle Cobbler wrote:"engraving" pen

engraving pen on my ice screws + nail polish
nail polish on all cams + tape
tape on everything else

The only tape that seems to get particularly beat up is that on my lockers

someone once gave me the "is the engraving pen ok for the ice screws" spiel, yet you'll notice the stamped "black diamond" name in the metal, that clearly isn't engineered into every screw's shear load path consideration, etc..

i bought the nail polish at the dollar store 99c. Then returned when I saw I could buy it at Walgreens for $1.60 and for it not to have glitter in it... Think you guys could save your efforts researching Nail Polish brands' durability and just try to apply it in a low-use area.

Kyle, if you have any 10cm screws that you no longer have faith in and want to donate... I'm in need =) sorry to hear about the accident, hope you heal up quick

EDIT: think my pen was $20 at home depot , it doesn't really engrave, kind of scratches it, I write my initials in block letters

Thanks Tom, I am doing well considering. The ice screws were not my own. The axes and crampons may be available soon... the lady and I are working that one out.
Back to the engraving pen, I know you said you use this on ice screws but what about anything else? In particular I had the lockers in mind, they seem to take the most beating, thus nail polish or tape don't work so well. The name brand and weight rating is also stamped into all of these, usually in a recessed location, I would most likely engrave there.

Mr. Wonderful wrote:Clean the metal surface first with acetone (nail polish remover) to remove oil and dirt that will interfere with adhesion. Don't get the acetone on any soft stuff. Mark non-wear surfaces. I use cheap nail polish and it lasts for many years.

I'm not a chemist but this is okay to do on climbing hardware? Obviously not softgoods.

Kyle Cobbler wrote:Thanks Tom, I am doing well considering. The ice screws were not my own. The axes and crampons may be available soon... the lady and I are working that one out. Back to the engraving pen, I know you said you use this on ice screws but what about anything else? In particular I had the lockers in mind, they seem to take the most beating, thus nail polish or tape don't work so well. The name brand and weight rating is also stamped into all of these, usually in a recessed location, I would most likely engrave there.

Yeah I don't do it, apply on the biners. But not sure why it would hurt. Especially if the mfg is stamping in that area. Now when your talking about a big fat bar stock biner I wouldn't hesitate a second, but then when you start talking about these ultralightweight, i-beam constr. biners, for instance the camp photon, me personally I wouldn't be too thrilled about hitting that thing with a engraving pen, (I don't like seeing those things dropped from 10' off the deck) but I'm sure its fine. To note, IIRC camp photon biners have their name and spec painted on, not stamped or engraved...? (<<I think this should say something as well) Think about how much meat you let wear out of the bend in your biner before you retire it, and how relative that is to engraving. Again I'm sure it's not that big of deal, but I don't do it.

I just use tape and on my draws I have to replace it like once a year and on cams even less often. I get why paint would be better because someone who jacked your gear wouldn't be able to remove it as easily but in all honesty i don't really stress about that sort of thing.

colored duct-tape

walmart.com/ip/Sally-Hansen…

Brendan Magee wrote: I'm not a chemist but this is okay to do on climbing hardware?

It's already part of the manufacturing process. For example with anodized biners, before the anodization step, the mfg has to clean off all the gunk with a solvent such as acetone or similar strong acid or alkaline cleaner. This does not have any negative affect on the strength of the metal.

I use paint pens that you can buy at any hardware store (or any craft supply store). I painted everything two season ago and haven't had to touch up anything. Much MUCH better than nail polish (and easier to use) and obviously better than having pieces of tape everywhere.

I put a tiny ziptie on my cams and screws. Works perfect, no mess.

All of my nail polish came from an ex girlfriend. The only thing I can say: avoid "crackle" polish. It doesn't last for crud, even in a low use area. I accidentally used red crackle polish to paint a "warning: unlocked" stripe on my ghetto lockers* in the unlocked position. A lot of the polish "crackled" right off.

Ha! My girlfriend told me I screwed up when she saw, but I was already done. D'oh!

- * Ghetto lockers being those from Black Diamond and Camp that don't have the red stripe like civilized Petzls.

Model paint.