Pro tip: mark your hammer handles so your crew stops playing musical tools
Three years ago I ran a two man crew out of a rented garage off Sumner Ave and we lost a whole morning hunting down a 3 pound cross peen that somehow walked to the welding table. Last week it happened again, except this time it was my own rounding hammer, and I stood there for 15 minutes staring at four identical handles on the rack. The fix is dumb and cheap: I took a wood burner and scorched my initials plus a single dot on every handle in my box, and did the same for the two guys who work with me. Now we can sort the rack in about 10 seconds instead of digging through the whole pile. Total cost was nothing, I already had the burner from doing tool handles. I know it sounds like kindergarten stuff but when you have three people swinging iron all day and everyone grabs whatever is closest, tools drift. Curious what the rest of you do, do you color code, stamp the heads, or just accept that your favorite hammer lives at the other guy's bench now?