Stephen Edholm uses aluminum Venetian blinds
Last year I cut up an old license plate. It’s a bit on the heavy side though and I used a jig saw.
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I have a probably 4’ x 8’ aluminum plate/sheet from a printing press. I’ve been cutting pieces out of it for various projects for years. Not sure the thickness but considerably more than a soda can. Hmm, just how thick are those? Ten minutes later after going down that rabbit hole it looks like they’re typically around .004" thick.
A quick search on Lowes website turns up a roll of flashing that’s 10" wide by 10’ long for just a bit over $10. The flashing is .087" thick. Probably enough so to require an engraver or a stamp/impression set. Definitely more time/effort but the results are IMO worth it.
I’ve mentioned on another thread here in the past, I use a stamp set and then paint the entire thing bright yellow. Then draw inside the impression with a black acrylic paint pen. The paint may only last a few years but the “tag” itself should last for the life of the tree…
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If you want to get really fancy you can rub some gilders paste into the impression. I’m not sure how well it holds up long term though. I would think it would be as good or better than paint.
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I made a bunch of tags from aluminum pop cans. Hung them from branches at about eye level. Deer chewed every one into an unintelligible crumpled mass, if they didn’t make off with them altogether. Should have made an orchard map at the same time.
Got 'hold of some discarded 4 ft aluminum venetian blinds with baked on enamel finish - brown on top/white on bottom. I cut 3" sections, write name in pencil on the white side, scribe it into the brown upper side, then affix one to the tree with a small aluminum nail, and bury one at the base of the tree on the North side.
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Last fall i dug up a blackberry plant for a friend that was moving. It was a triple crown and was planted around 2010 or so they said. So in the ground for 10 years. On the crown way below soil level there was a tag still on it. It looked like this label… professionally done and in a band. It looked as good as new.
So i know that these can be buried for over 10 years.
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Yes, but if it is above ground, exposed to UV rays, the plastic will fade, print fades, and sometime the tag gets brittle.
I use the aluminum tops from tins of sardines. They are free, big enough for plenty of info, and come with a healthy dose of omega 3’s.
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These are certainly not free, but I took a cue from a suggestion @Naeem had made:
I purchased a used Dymo 1011 stamping label maker from eBay and used it today for the first time, and I am thrilled with the resulting labels.