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Marking your Climbing Biners

Original Post
Mike P. · · Dillon, Colorado · Joined May 2015 · Points: 5

What's the best way to mark your climbing gear so you don't confuse it with your partners?

Colonel Mustard · · Sacramento, CA · Joined Sep 2005 · Points: 1,241

Pink nail polish

Dave Baker · · Wiltshire · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 303

I use nail polish (two colours to make it more distinct).

I used to use electrical tape (but it tended to peel off too easy)

Trango makes cheap gear tags that work very well -- http://www.trango.com/p-280-rack-tags.aspx 

Also, I saw this link -- https://www.tagyourgear.com/ -- and have idly thought about trying it out, but (as noted above) all my gear is already marked with nail polish so it's of no urgency.

Jared Chrysostom · · Clemson, SC · Joined Oct 2017 · Points: 5

+1 for the Trango tags, they don't last forever but they also don't turn to goo when they die. Electrical tape sucks.

Roy Suggett · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 8,821

I agree that electrical tape can come off...unless you really stretch it, on a clean surface.  This has worked for many years.  Two colors might be a hassle but with so many of us these days, your chance of correctly sorting out gear at the end of a multi-pitch goes up. Please don't use my colors! 

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236

I use green sparkling nail polish. 

mark felber · · Wheat Ridge, CO · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 41

I've used nail polish in the past, with good results. I found a roll of bright pink duct tape a while back that's been working well for a while.

David S · · Lewiston, NY · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 0

+1 nail polish

Women gladly give you their ugliest color nail polish. 

Lena chita · · OH · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 1,667
Roy Suggett wrote: I agree that electrical tape can come off...unless you really stretch it, on a clean surface.  This has worked for many years.  Two colors might be a hassle but with so many of us these days, your chance of correctly sorting out gear at the end of a multi-pitch goes up. Please don't use my colors! 

+1 

I think if someone is just starting from scratch right now, the Trango tags may be better than electric tape, but I have the two electric tape colors that I have been using for all these years in my closet, so it is easier to just re-apply them. The tape seems to work well enough for me.

And yes, two colors! it seems that one-color choice of RED is the default option of 90% of climbers...

Back when I first labeled my gear, I was climbing with two people who were blue/white and green/yellow (in addition to several reds, as mentioned above). So I went with purple/orange. I have only ran into one other person with that color scheme choice in ~12 years...
Matt N · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 415

Nail polish. Last for many years, applied in the correct, protected places.

Tags and tape are not LNT when they randomly fall off on a route. 

RockinOut · · NY, NY · Joined May 2010 · Points: 100

Paint pen from the hobby shop or auto shop. Hobby shop tends to be cheaper...but it's made to stick to metal. I find it lasts longer than nail polish

John Barritt · · The 405 · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 1,083

Had a friend use colored heat shrink on gates one time, lasted a while.

Bitd I took a jewlers file and filed two shallow angled lines on the noses of all my biners. Same with the ends of cam stems. You can retrieve your stuff later when you see it on someone's rack even if the tape is gone or has been changed.

MP · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 2

Paint designed for BBQs. Thick, quite cheap, designed for metal, and you get more volume than nail polish.

Kevin Mokracek · · Burbank · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 342

Paint pen.  Choose yer color. 

Taylor Spiegelberg · · WY · Joined May 2012 · Points: 1,676

I use milk. It dries a nice white color. 1% or 2% works well

corpse · · jtree area · Joined Jun 2006 · Points: 5

I mark all my gear with microfractures.

Matt Himmelstein · · Orange, CA · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 194

I have a patterned electrical tape that is fairly distinct.  I place it where it is harder to scrape off accidentally.

Andrew Rice · · Los Angeles, CA · Joined Jan 2016 · Points: 11

Marking every biner just seems excessive. I tend to mark gear like my cams, just to avoid confusion, but I don't really care if my buddy ends up with one of my Camp Nanos at the end of the day or I with one of hers. It all comes out in the wash. Then again, I'm not very promiscuous in my climbing behavior and also tend to just climb on one person's rack rather than throwing everything in a pile and mixing it up. 

Eli 0 · · northeast · Joined May 2016 · Points: 5

I use https://www.toughtags.co.uk/

I have my name, email, and phone number printed on them. If any of my gear gets lost, it will make it easier for a kind person to return it.

Shane F · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 0

I am another finger nail polish user. For biners I mark them on the spine where the UIAA stuff is. For cams, I make anywhere that doesn't see abrasion. For nuts I push the wires through a bit and mark the place under the wire. I have never had to retouch a single piece of gear since the paint is in a protected location.

Robert Hall · · North Conway, NH · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 27,827

There once was a Company that sold colored, "clear" epoxy (not to be confused with epoxy paint).  3, or so, different colors.  This stuff stayed on FOREVER. I Forget the name of the co. or the stuff, I think I bought it from one of the smaller climbing gear shops.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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