Looking for a particular prybar/carving type tool.

[Michael Riley]

I've been married for about a year and a half now and the wife and I like to go hiking and check out different attractions. On each adventure there are always multiple places/surfaces where people carve their names into. I'm looking for a small tool of some sort that can carve names into stone, metal, and wood. I often carry one of my thicker tipped knives for wood, but I'm never prepared for stone or metal. On our latest hike, I used a stone to scratch our name onto a rusty I-beam. I've seen a couple of mini prybars that looked like they might possibly work, but they were titanium and I'm not sure how well that would work given it's "softness."

I'm on a budget and would prefer to keep the tool in the $30 or less range, but I would be willing to go near, but not above the $100 mark if it was something crazy awesome...

So show me some compact multi surface carving capable tools!

 

[22-rimfire]

One needs to be careful and respectful of other people's property as to where we leave our graffiti. That is a sore spot of many.... leave no trace and all that stuff. But a small chisel with a hammer would take care of cutting your initials into a rock depending on the type of rock (hardness of course). A rock hammer would do it or a brick layer's hammer would work with softer rocks. My vote is for a rock hammer and chisel.

 

[Mahoney]

What's wrong with spray paint? Cheap, fast, and will eventually weather away.

Seriously though, setting aside the moral implications of defacing private or public property, anytime you carve into a surface you weaken it and/or create a foothold for corrosion, destructive fungus/plants/etc., which speeds up the eventual deterioration of whatever it is that is being marked.

Just because a place already has lots of graffiti already does not mean it needs more. 100 year old graffiti can be interesting, last week's...not so much. And wouldn't it be sad if while chipping your name in, the big rock broke?

However, since you asked, if you are willing to carry the extra weight a hammer and a grooving chisel would be the closest to an all around tool for carving metal and stone. Hard stone might require a pointed tool. And a lot of patience. Or you could consider a cordless rotary tool with a few grinding points.

 

[Michael Riley]

One needs to be careful and respectful of other people's property as to where we leave our graffiti. That is a sore spot of many.... leave no trace and all that stuff. But a small chisel with a hammer would take care of cutting your initials into a rock depending on the type of rock (hardness of course). A rock hammer would do it or a brick layer's hammer would work with softer rocks. My vote is for a rock hammer and chisel.

We are careful not to disrespect private property as well as public, however many of the places we visit have dozens, if not hundreds of names carved. Many of which have acres of land to where I feel it is OK to mark our spot. I would never leave a mark in an area I did not see fit.

Given your suggestion of the rock hammer and chisel, I'm looking for a small single tool such as a mini prybar that can accomplish these tasks. I know using a single tool may be time consuming and less effective, but I need something I can easily carry on me at all times while hiking several miles. Stone is not hard to carve into with the right tool, and metal is easy to leave a lasting mark; but having a small light tool that can accomplish both is the goal. I have researched many, but I'm hoping someone can maybe show me something I haven't found that will work better.

Thank you for your reply!

 

[Michael Riley]

What's wrong with spray paint? Cheap, fast, and will eventually weather away.

Seriously though, setting aside the moral implications of defacing private or public property, anytime you carve into a surface you weaken it and/or create a foothold for corrosion, destructive fungus/plants/etc., which speeds up the eventual deterioration of whatever it is that is being marked.

Just because a place already has lots of graffiti already does not mean it needs more. 100 year old graffiti can be interesting, last week's...not so much. And wouldn't it be sad if while chipping your name in, the big rock broke?

However, since you asked, if you are willing to carry the extra weight a hammer and a grooving chisel would be the closest to an all around tool for carving metal and stone. Hard stone might require a pointed tool. And a lot of patience. Or you could consider a cordless rotary tool with a few grinding points.

Perhaps I am wrong in doing so, but I feel the areas we target are fine. We hike long trails with many boulders, large rocks, and bridges with ample areas to leave marks. I don't think leaving names in the side of rocks/boulders or bridges, etc are an environmental concern.

I am always open to opinions and willing to change my ways if given insightful information that I morally agree with!

Thank you for your input!

 

[tiguy7]

When I go to the woods, I am not hoping to see signs of human intrusion. Beer cans, cigarette butts, trash, initials in trees, invasive species, power lines, rusty automobiles, etc. If you feel the same, make up your own list. As the world gets more crowded, the number of pristine or even slightly violated spaces is disappearing. The axiom: take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints makes sense. We're still working on getting rid of the footprints.

 

[wensynch]

Boker's

Pry knife

Toucan

 

[A.L.]

How about metal/glass marking pen with carbide tip? Those cast few bucks at hardware store.

 

[billym]

Nobody else cares that you were there, leaving any mark carved into any surface that you don't own is vandalism.
If you carve into a rock or tree that is not on your property you are a criminal.
LAME not other way to put it.

 

[Scott321]

As many others have said, you might want to limit just how liberal you are with your markings... particularly where. Isn't it illegal to do those things in a national park? There are a couple YT videos/news accounts of hikers not respecting the environment even though they had good intentions (for example the group that pushed down a 20 million year old rock formation because they thought it was unsafe). There's a reason why it's called "defacing".

If it's a property where the owners don't mind, or it's a stone where everyone scratches in their name over the years, I think there's actual artistic integrity in that. There used to be a "shoe tree" at my old University with shoes thrown on it over the generations. Please use your best judgement. That being said, I might suggest a metal punch from your local hardware store... or better yet, just use some sidewalk chalk.

Don't be one of these idiots:

[video=youtube;7gT3WsCOIJc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gT3WsCOIJc[/video]

[video=youtube;-7hyiCmGdAk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hyiCmGdAk[/video]

 

[AnotherDogDown17]

I'm sorry but I'm disgusted by this thread. I would have many choice words for you if I ever came upon you defacing anything. I would happily inform the authorities as well.

Disgusting....

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[mnblade]

Nobody else cares that you were there, leaving any mark carved into any surface that you don't own is vandalism.
If you carve into a rock or tree that is not on your property you are a criminal.
LAME not other way to put it.

Very very well put! Agree 100 percent.