TEKTON 5/32 Inch Letter and Number Stamp Set (36-Piece) | 6610

I always wanted to get a letter and number stamp set but worried about the quality and durability. I found this Tekton set and thought I would give it a try and Im so glad I did. This stamp set is so nice and it is made out of high quality material and easy to use. This really is a fabulous set and I would recommend anyone who is looking to purchase one to pick this one.

Great quality of stamps. They’re fairly durable, and after years of use, they’ve held on strong. The box is a great size and the clasp is reliable. Stamps are easy to use and effective on most metals for jewelry making.

This punch set is a good little set, like another reviewer said it doesn't have a marking to show you what is the top and bottom, this should be an easy fix and the box has alot of complaints, but I though it was fairly sturdy, the sides are dovetailed and sturdy wood, the top and bottom are made of a thinner wood, that seems like it could easily be cracked if you abuse it, but that's all well glued, the inside bit holders are the same thinner wood, but really for $12 I think it is an excellent value, and would buy it again. the punches work great too, in my giddiness to try my new "toy" I punched some letters on some coins and the lettering came out clear and without a problem.

I built my own AR rifle. In order to legally leave it to my heirs when I die, I needed to mark it with my name, as the manufacturer, as well as my city, state, country and a serial number. I checked into laser engraving, but they wanted $120 and three days working time to mark my lower receiver. Then, I considered just stamping it. The law requires that such markings be a minimum of 1/16 inch tall, and .003 deep. These stamps certainly exceed the minimum height. I called Tekton, and spoke to a very helpful employee. He suggested that these stamps should have no problem stamping the required .003 inch deep in 6061 hardened aluminum. He suggested to use a heavy hammer for best results, but not a steel hammer. He also suggested that instead of hammering with force the way you would hammer a nail, he said I would get better results by lifting the hammer a particular distance (to be determined by experimentation and practice), and then let the hammer head drop onto the stamp, so you could get consistent pressure on the stamp time after time, versus having the lettering end up being stamped at varying depths, because you could never get consistent pressure by normal hammering. That made sense. So, I ordered a set of these stamps, and Tekton's 32 oz. brass hammer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPUK66/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I also ordered a steel bench block from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058EDU8M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. He also suggested that to get a straight line for your stamping, to clamp a metal straight edge, such as an metal ruler onto your work surface, as a guide. I didn't have a similar piece of 6061 Aluminum to practice on, so I just had to jump in and begin my stamping. Because of the shape and size of the AR lower receiver, I wasn't able to find an appropriate straight edge to use, so I utilized the edge of the magazine well itself as a guide. To keep from crushing my magazine well, I inserted a lower receiver vise block into the magazine well, to fill most of the space, and filled the tiny remaining gap between it and the well with a business card. The bench block came wrapped in plastic, so I left the plastic on the steel block, with the idea that it would help keep it from scratching the aluminum. I placed the steel bench block on my work bench and put the area of the lower receiver I planned to stamp on top of that. I began my stamping, and it took quite a few whacks from the hammer to get the letters deep enough to meet the minimum depth. When I was done, I had all my letters and numbers in place, and to a suitable depth. The biggest problem I had was in keeping my stamping all lined up. As I went, I got better at that, so the end result was that the first few letters, were kind of crooked, but the ones at the end were pretty straight and spaced nice. Is my stamping perfect? No. Am I satisfied with it? Yes. It meets the legal requirements I needed, and because I placed the stamping in a location that is not readily visible unless you are looking for it, it doesn't look bad. If I were to need to do this again, I am confident that I could do a better job. Naturally, it is not as perfect as a laser engraving would be, but it is much less expensive, and I was able to do it at home in an hour or so. I've shown it to a couple gun owners I know, and while they admit it is not perfect, they both commented that it didn't look as bad as some stampings they have seen done by big gun manufacturers. Bottom line, my AR is now done, and when I die, I can legally transfer it to my heirs. Plus, I now have a nice set of stamps, a nice new brass head hammer, and a jewelers bench block for future projects. I'm happy! I want to give a big shout out of thanks to Tekton's great customer service employee for his advice!

So far, I have used these stamps on brass key tags and a dog tag made of soft carbon steel, and they worked very well. I clamped the pieces down on a bench vice anvil, and struck with a simple claw hammer. The first couple tags ended up being practice pieces, while I adjusted to the proper striking force, and figured out how to make sure my letters lined up properly. My set came with an extra "&" instead of an "I", but it was very quickly and courteously resolved with a simple email. I wrote the email on Monday, and on Thursday morning, FedEx dropped off my replacement set. I'm extremely pleased with the customer service, I would've been happy to get my missing "I"! I'm glad to see a company that takes care of their customers, I will definitely be checking out their other products.

These will stamp letters on metal, but the results are not super pretty. My 'E' was way larger than the rest of the letters. Some of the letters were 'sharper' than others and when stamped deeper it was obvious. Some letters were a but uneven in height, and even using a jig to ensure that the stamp was perfectly perpendicular left letters that were stamped deeper in some areas and less in others. However, despite the unappealing visuals, they are functional. I stamped everything from 6061 and 7075 T6 aluminum to 1018 CR steel, and the letters are readable and serve their function. I use them mostly for labelling things, such as custom tools, so being pretty is not one of my requirements for this set. I do wish they looked nicer though because I could use them for other more artistic projects.

The wooden storage box is great as a organizer and dust cover for the punches when they sit on your work bench, shelf. It is not so great when put in a tool bag and it rubs against hard things because the light material latch will break/rip off and the box will be damage spilling the punches everywhere. I you want a tool bag punch set look for the punches that come in the small plastic cases that dont waste space. The punches themselves are wonderful, i have used them to imprint on T6 6065 Aluminum, copper, thin stainless steel, metal pet dog tags, spare car/house keys, and other thin/less dense than steel material. Obviously the denser the material is being stamped the less it will imprint on the material, this will also cause the letter face to wear faster. It is a good idea to stamp all your object on a hard flat surface on top of another hard flat surface (piece of steel plate/granite/ delrin (dense hard plastic) on on top of concrete) this way all the energy from the hammer transfers through the punch, material being punched, and into the ground. Punching on an object that absorbs shock will decrease the quality of imprint and create uneven imprinting. Also this prevents you from damaging the surface of your object and thing you are using as a flat surface. Mine came shipped in its own plastic wrapped cardboard box that looked nicer than the actual box. I am glad I bought mine, but i should have People are complaining about the punches not imprinting evenly, that is the nature of hammer punches. Only hydraulic or gear presses give an even imprint through the entire raised edge of the letter. If the punches are not aligned on the x-axis then you will get odd kerning (spacing), if the punch is not aligned on the y-axis the words will have a weird wavy look. All these problems are normal for hammer stamp/punches, issues in human/operator errors, and no way an issue on the quality of the punch. The obvious exceptions are the punch had manufacturer error, send an email tekton. They have a pretty good customer service and will most likely fix your problem, I have seen tekton resolve problems from low raters because a piece was missing,broken, had rust, and other various issues.

These are exactly what I was expecting. Letters are just the size I wanted (5/32) and they stamp everything I want to stamp. I have tried them on thin mild steel, 0-1 annealed tool steel, aluminum bar and on aspen wood. Also tried them on an old chisel blade, but as I expected, they didn't make a mark at all on the hardened steel. (A file won't even scratch properly hardened steel) On the softer steels and the aluminum, I used a 3 pound hammer and used a medium hard strike. Marked the steel perfectly once I figured out how hard to hit. On the wood, I tried the same thing, but found it difficult to hit the stamp lightly enough, so I switched to a 16 ounce Estwing with a light stroke and it marked beautifully. The attached photo shows the mark I got on a piece of annealed O1 tool steel that I use for making blades wooden hand planes. If this isn't good enough for someone,mthey do not need to be using a hand hammered stamp. They should invest in a stamping press. I didn't have any problems with the box as a few other reviewers reported. In fact, I didn't see any of the problems that a Few reviewers posted. My box was in perfect shape and is reasonably well built. Looks just like the photo in the product description. I even used the stamps to put my initials on the top of the box, so it's pretty strong! With any hand hammered stamp, it will be necessary to figure out how hard to hit the stamp for different materials. If possible, each time you use the stamps, it would be a good idea to do a couple of test strikes on a hidden area of the piece you are stamping or on a scrap piece of the same material. From reading the reviews, it looks like the company has outstanding customer service. Although from what I have seen so far, I probably will not have to call on them. In fact, I'll be ordering other sizes of these stamps.