Used to think a cable tie on every anvil tool was overkill

I always thought those guys who zip tie their hammers and tongs to the anvil stand were just being extra. Figured I'd remember where everything goes. Then last month I was working on a set of three matching fireplace pokers for a customer in Boise. Must have grabbed the wrong hammer 15 times in one afternoon because they all looked the same in my hand. Now every single hammer head has a colored zip tie on it matching a sticker on the shelf above my anvil. Red for the 2lb cross peen, blue for the rounding hammer, yellow for the ball peen. Saves me maybe 30 seconds each swap but over a 6 hour shift that adds up to a lot of heat still in the steel. Anyone else color code their tools or do you just memorize by feel?

2 comments

2 Comments

troykim13d ago

I actually read about this in a blacksmithing blog a few months back. The guy ran a shop class and said they color coded all their tools after a student grabbed a hot cut off hammer instead of a rounding hammer and ruined a project. He used bright orange zip ties for safety tools like tongs too so you could spot them from across the room. That stuck with me so I started doing the same thing. I use green for my go-to hammers and red for the ones I rarely touch, keeps me from grabbing the wrong thing when I'm tired.

skyler_craig13d ago

Ngl the zip tie trick is genius, I've been using colored electrical tape on my tool handles but it peels off after a while. Might have to switch to zip ties since they're way more durable and you can spot the bright colors even in low light.