Spouse is fed up of seeing his replica iron work sold as originals at a fat profit by 'antique' dealers so wants to mark his goods with a unique identification.
We've looked on Google but can't find any makers of such small, one-off stamps.
Has anyone any experience, or know where we can try please?
If all you want to do is identify it, why not simply use a standard set of engineering alphabet punches? If you want something unique, then just overstamp one initial letter with another turned 90 deg. Another way would be to grind two punches down so they will fit together then weld them. Thus producing two letters close together with a fixed spacing. You can often get sets of these alphabet punches at the Sunday market at Cross Green.
Carry the welded together punch with you and if you spot a fake item, you should be able to identify it by the fact that the double letter will be a perfect fit for the mark stamped on the object. Any of the engineering suppliers will be able to supply a set of punches, but the will be expensive.
We might go and have a look, thanks. He did use a combination for a time but found it fiddly and would like to have one make for him. I suspect it would be very expensive for a one-off though.
Welding two together is a very good idea, I'm surprised he hasn't thought of it!
SFAIK, there is only one place left in the UK that still makes custom impression marking stamps.
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cover everything, from impression stamps to laser marking systems. Obviously, it depends on your budget and actual needs, but I suggest looking at their Marktronic dot marking system as well. It makes a permanent impression mark, but is much more flexible than a custom stamp.
Small - not bigger than 50mm. It would have to be used on some quite narrow pieces of iron or steel.
No, but I suspect that, as an ex ferrous metallurgist, Spouse would be reluctant to damage the temper of the steel by mechanical or heat treatment. He thought of that when I told him of Harry's solution, which he said was a good idea except for the welding. He was talking about making a strap to hold two parts together.
I'm still very glad I asked the question, it's making us think. I'll post what he says about the tool steel idea.
Not much of a mechanical metallurgist then :-) With an electric weld, the two would be joined together before the tip knew it was to be siamesed. After welding, just chuck it into oil/water and you have a purpose made stamp. The weld may be a little brittle, but the stamp would not change one bit.
HTH
Dave
With a long career in engineering, including welding such things as your spouse wants
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