Pink axe handle

[Frickman]

Like many folks here on the forum I hand fell timber with a chain saw and keep a single bit axe with me to pound wedges. I prefer wood handled, hardware store axes over anything else. I tend to lose them sometimes and I'll be standing right beside them. They just blend right in with the forest floor.

For years I've painted my handles with day-glo orange paint. It helps some, but sometimes the handles still blend in with the leaves. Especially in the fall. The paint tends to chip off fairly quickly also. While walking past the hardware / paint section at Wal-Mart last year the solution to my problem jumped out at me. Flamingo pink colored duct tape. I put a few wraps around the handle up by the head and that did the trick. It's been on there close to a year now and I haven't lost / misplaced my axe since. A little tape up by the head of an axe doesn't hurt a thing either.

[MHineman]

  A couple years ago at an auction I bought several "flats" of tools.  2 of the flats had hammers in them.  I think there were 15 hammers in all.  All the hammers had some version of pink or orange painted on the hammer head.
  The best we could figure was it helped to find the hammer in the grass, etc. AND to identify the hammer as to who it belonged to, so his friends helping him didn't take home the wrong or an extra hammer.

[clww]

We've been doing a variation of this idea for years in the USN. See, when we go out to the aircraft carrier with all 9 squadrons, keeping "your" aircraft tie-down chains can be a chore. These are attached to the aircraft to keep them from rolling around, obviously. Each squadron uses a different color paint on the turnbuckle of their own chains: white, red, green, etc. Provides us with instant identification.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

CLWW,

We did the same thing with our shop tools on MSOs and DDGs...

Herb

[lumberjack48]

I did the same thing, spray painted all tools bright orange, plus engraved my encircles on them.

[reride82]

You can buy reflective tape that also has bright orange, green, yellow, etc on it. That way if it is lost after dark a quick sweep with a flashlight and the tool is very visible.  ;)

[Phorester]

Well now...., a pink handle ought to keep anybody from stealing it.  ;D  Our local Boy Scout camp uses baby blue paint.  Never had a tool walk away yet.

I stamp my tools with metal letter dies on the head, usually spelling out my last name to help prevent theft or to identify mine when several people are working together, each with their own tools.  I'll sometimes even use the dies on a wooden handle.  On tools I use in the woods, I'll spray the handles near the tool head with orange paint for visibility. 

[Tramp Bushler]

I first spray paint an ax primer white . Then florescent orange or pink . Do the same with my frameing tools .

As coastal Alaska is a rain forest I try to do a real good paint job on my ax .. the whole thing , then I put a few layers ofclear coat on top .

[brendonv]

Use Blue.  It's the only color you won't find on the forest floor.  I regularly loose my orange and yellow tools if left on the ground in the leaves.

[cutterboy]

Use Blue.  It's the only color you won't find on the forest floor. 

That is true. I marked some of my tractor paths with orange spots on trees and others with blue spots. The blue spots stand out better than the orange.

[MHineman]

That is true. I marked some of my tractor paths with orange spots on trees and others with blue spots. The blue spots stand out better than the orange.

The blue forestry paint seems to stand up better to the sun and weather than red or orange, but the red or orange on a tree is easier to see further away.

[Frickman]

I've tried blue tree and log paint in the past. It never really worked for me. I like it for marking trees and logs though.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

I paint all of my tools red, not to make them easier to see, but to be able to find them in my brothers toolbox.  :

[Woodhog]

Studies done in Sweden showed a dark blue to be the color for woods equipment.

I even paint my power saws blue.. also I think they "might" not want to steal them as quick...

[colinofthewoods]

I think about painting my rigging all the time,  I work in deep underbrush.  As it goes now,  I just lose a bunch of stuff and waste a lot of time looking !! ha ha

We used to paint the tips of the grapple of the madill 144 grapple yarder blue,  it stood out well in the fog and made spotting it on logs easier.