Nick. Let me start by saying I love all the questions you've posted lately. If you're saving for a Ladyfinger, help yourself out by posting a review of your Runt in other forums here on BF. WSS for example. That gets you 10% off on your next purchase. (You have to remind me that its due to you. I don't track these.)
The markinngs are electro-etched onto the blade. I buy stensils from TUS Tech and I built the etcher myself. Its a pretty simple circuit that I found on the net through the great guys here at BF. The negative terminal connects directly to the blade, and the positive connects to a little dauber I designed myself. Its an empty bic pen body with a wire that runs down it and sticks out of the end. I cut a Q-tip in half and shove it into the pen so that the cotton part sticks out the top. Then I wet the cotton with an electrolyte solution, and the current runs right through the blade and into the pen causing the mark to be left where the wet cotton touches the steel.
I am considering switching to a stamp. But so far, no progress.
