What do you use to mark your lumber?

[treebucker]

Need non-staining, easy to read, easy to apply and cheap. Don't want it to be hard to remove but want it to stay on through drying without coming off.

[Tom]

Log Crayons.  Used for marking logs and Grading lumber.  they are brilliantly colored with the aim being that they can be read by machinary so that the grader's output can be mechanized and recorded by computer.

Check out this LINK at our sponser, Bailey's, website.

[treebucker]

Is is reasonable to assume I'm not going to find them at a big box store and will have to order them?

[Tom]

You can find them sometimes at a lumber yard.  Sometimes you can find them at a Hardware store.  But, your best bet is to order them.   

[Brad_S.]

Since my lumber will never see an optical scanner, I use the crayons they sell at the big box stores. They are located in the tool section, but you can also usually find them as a POP item next to the registers.

[Bibbyman]

We tend to pick stuff like that up at the forestry shows. 

At the show in St. Charles we picked up two boxes - 1 red, 1 blue - of crayons and one case of 12 cans of orange spray paint.  The paint was in cans designed to spray upside down for marking the ground. 

[Larry]

I've used lumber crayons to keep track of different owners through the kiln drying process.  Seems the only way to get rid of the marks after drying is to run the board through a planer.  Most of the time I use chalk...course it may erase to easy for your use.  I also use cheap spray paint on board edges when in a pack.

[woodbowl]

I use the crayons they sell at the big box stores. They are located in the tool section

Brad, it looks like I may switch over to those. It's hard to find a tire marker that works well at the auto parts and I've raided the kids crayons to the point that all the reds, oranges and yellows are gone.  :-\

[Ron Wenrich]

We've always used lumber crayons to mark the different grades so the stackers can see where things go.  I used to have a crayon holder that had a piece of rawhide on the end.  That was nice so you could hang the crayon up.  The holder was sold by my sawmill supply guy.

I've seen those crayons in hardware stores. 

[beenthere]

 
Go to Bailey's (sponsor) and see item # 15380 for the crayon holder with leather thong.

Crayon holder

[Brad_S.]

My understanding of one of the differences between the box store crayons and lumber crayons (besides any scanning properties) is that a lumber crayon will mark much the same at any temperature while the carpenter crayon barely works in cold weather and over marks in hot weather.

[thecfarm]

In this area the lumber crayons can also be bought at chainsaw places.I use to use them when I was selling logs.I would mark the lenght on the log.

[woodsteach]

I've been using my kids sidewalk chalk.  It lasts for weeks outside and is cheap!

woodsteach

[PineNut]

When I treat lumber, I like to mark it. Use craft paint from Wal-Mart. I take a small bottle; fasten a dowel on the inside of the lid to use as an applicator. When about half full of paint, it works good to mark the end of a board. I know this would not work very well for length of boards and that type of information but it works well to identify treated lumber.

[FiremanEd]

Like Biddyman we use the upside down spray paint.

Most of our logs come in double length so we use the paint to mark them before we cut them up w/ the chain saw. Then use the same paint to mark bundles of lumber going out.