Any suggestions for marking black fins or derlin canisters?

[Rooinater]

I have a tendency to mark every major piece of gear for a couple reasons;
1) it's a habit that stuck with me from the Marines,
2) I like to be able to identify which is my gear at a glance,
3) I've had all of my gear stolen before and it gives a psuedo peace of mind if an item gets taken or is inadvertently left behind as well.

Since I switched to OMS Slipstreams I still haven't figured out a semi-permanent way of marking my fins, or at least making them easily identifiable since most people I dive with have the same/similar fins and size. Also I'd like to mark my Lightmonkey canister semi-permanently. I know it's huge (20 amp/hr) so it's easy to spot in a group of mainly 10 watt HID lights, or LED's but I would still like to have it marked. Has anyone found a good way of marking derlin cans or black fins?

[lamont]

reflective mailbox lettering from home despot works on can lights and stage bottles. paint pens that you get from art supply stores along with sharpies are good. i believe there's marine lettering you can get at stores like seattle marine, i haven't used that, but you could use that to stencil your name on your tanks even.

[Sounder]

The 3M Solas tape seems to work on jet fins pretty well, but only after you've dived them for a bit. At first there is a bunch of oils and such that need to come out... I'm aware of nothing that sticks during that phase. This said, I'm absolutely not an expert on this kind of stuff whatsoever.

[Matt S.]

A paint pen should work but you will need to redo the lettering once in a while, on the fins anyway.

[Waynne Fowler]

Check out the tri-chem paints, they stick great to lights, fins and most other materials.
But as Sounder mentioned, it won't stick permanantly on the fins till they've aged a bit due to the oils.
I've not personally used the stuff as I hate marking my stuff for the most part. Nobody wants my shit anyway as its gettin pretty old (like me)
Though several of our customers used it years ago (3-4) and it still looks good. The downside is IMO, its that pooffy kinda paint... It actually stands up... Hey, I could use it to mark my line arrows and cookies! Hmmm...

[ArcticDiver]

Does prepping the surface to be painted with some abrasive like fine sand paper do any good?

[renoun]

I have done OK with paint markers, the ones I have purchased at Tacoma Screw seem to be better than the others I have used. Sharpie has a silver marker that is a bit more widely available that also works OK and is suitable for marking black objects.

[Sounder]

But as Sounder mentioned...

Be warned - nothing good ever came from this. Often, this can be right up there with "Hold my beer, watch this!"

[kdupreez]

I just use a plain old silver sharpie.. I tried the expensive "diving markers" (white paint pens) its just flakes off fins and delrin..

the silver sharpie has been on my Hollis fins for 2 years and still visible!

[spatman]

i used our office's Brother label maker to create labels with my name and phone number. they adhered nicely to my backplate, canlight, and other smooth surfaces and have lasted through many dives. cheap and easy to replace.

i don't think they'd hold up on fins, though.

[Fishstiq]

Odd colored zip ties. I was on a live aboard with 14 or so other divers, all with nearly identical gear. I put a green zip tie on each item... One on each spring strap, on my comp and compass, smb, wet notes, mask, you name it. Cheap, durable, easily replaced, easy to ID your gear in a pile on a charter, and they'll annoy the crap out of your tech instructors!

Me---> <---BDub



.....then.......




BDub---> <-----me.





<---Jeanna

[Biodiversity_Guy]

Odd colored zip ties. I put a green zip tie on each item...

Nice out-of-the-box thinking!

[LCF]

When I was in Florida last week, I saw a couple of people who had marked their Delrin canisters with their names around the top of the can in p-touch tape. Very elegant, and seemed to be sticking well.

I haven't found much that works on fins, but I have surfboard decals on mine that are doing sort of okay . . .

[Dive Monkey]

Bring it over! I have a torch and a leather punch stencil kit. We'll "mark" it up real good for you