Best way to mark stoppers?

I just bought a set of used Black Diamond stoppers, does anyone have a good way to mark them or color code them to make placements faster? I was thinking spraypaint or nail polish but didn't know if someone had a more reliable way of doing this. Thank you

Have you heard of the Mark? mycarabinerkeychain.com/Mar…

I love them, stick on long time and so far not many climbers have them, so unique for my gears.

I guessing that these are the old stoppers before they started anodizing them? the only way I can think of that doesn't cost an arm and a leg would be like 2 different colors of nail polish and paint the tops of the nuts alternating colors for the sizes. ala the trango system. Here's a pic of the trango nuts

If it were me, I'd rack them on two biners, one biner with smaller nuts, and one biner with the larger nuts. That way you're in the right ball park.

If your looking to color code them to allow you to find the appropriate size faster, its not worthwhile. Just look at the nut itself. The sizes are apparent immediately. And your mind will relate crack width to size much faster, rather than width to colors to sizes. Most of my nuts are anodized, and I dont even realize while climbing. Im not looking for colors aside from when grabbing a cam. TIP: Rack your nuts on 3 separate ovals. One for micros and like #2-3, one biner for medium sizes, and one for the largest sizes. It simplifies things. You can then throw a color ID on the biner, and know your grabbing the medium sized nuts immediately. I mean, if you just have 10-12 nuts, You may just want to break them down to two biners. Large and small. When your rack gets larger you'll see it makes it easier to separate them further.

Now, If your looking to mark for identification purposes, Throw some nail polish (color of your choosing) on the bottom of the nut between the wire.

I actually find color coding useful. Yes, you can easily pick a nut by size alone (done it for many years) but I think the color coding makes it faster.

Most of my nuts are the old style BD (not anodized). Starting a couple few ago, I started color coding them.

I follow the BD color scheme using model paint:

I apply the paint to the short length of steel cable that shows at the business end. Sorry I don't have an actual photo handy, but here's one I just made up:
BD nut showing where to apply paint

To apply the paint, I pull the nut down its cable loop 1/4" or so, then apply paint to the cable loop. Takes a couple layers. When dry, I pull the nuts back into place and done!

Because the paint is in a spot that does not normally come in contact with the rock while placed, it lasts about a season.

Yeah I agree with everyone else. Color has nothing to do with finding a size faster. Same with cams...I don't care if my number one is puce or mauve. I know that cam fits in a certain size crack no matter the color.

My DMM offsets are all silver, and I'm not going to color them anytime soon (they are a modern version as well).

Big is big and little is little, unless you are going to take the time to correlate what color fits in what size crack. Seems like an extra step to me.

As a pretty newb trad leader, I don't find colors on the nuts useful at all (my BD nuts and offsets all anodized/colored). Like John suggested, I have mine divided onto 2 biners, one small one large. I place the nuts while still attached to the biner, so I almost always have bigger/smaller options readily available if I choose the wrong size the first time (which is becoming less frequent, thankfully). And since I can easily see the nuts together, it's usually much easier to see "this one is smaller" or "I just tried 5 and it was loose, so maybe a 6 is better"...I don't think it would ever help to think "purple was too big, maybe red will fit".

Cams, on the other hand, I enjoy having my racking biners matched to the cams. When I want a #1 I just have to grab one of the red biners on my harness and I know the #1 cam will be attached to it.

+1 for color is a distraction. You can just observe the size if you are going to look at them. Case in point- what happens the first time you use someone else's rack?

True, if you're going to use someone else's rack, and they don't use the same color code, you have to revert to just visual size gaging.

However, if you tend to always climb with the same partner (I do), and like to do long routes where speed and efficiency is everything, color-coded gear makes selection of the right size just a little faster IMO.

BD's color code is nice in that it is now used consistently on their nuts, cams, etc. I have known these colors by heart for a long time. When I see a potential placement, I instantly know what color C4 or nut I need, and that saves me a second or two every placement. Same is true with other brands I favor, such as aliens.

Say you grab a green C4 and it's a bit small, you grab a red one! Fast and simple. Same with nuts: tried a green and it's too small? Pick a red one! Sure you can do this by size alone (again, I've done it that way for over 10 years) but having a consistent color code is faster. Your eyes can recognize a color much faster than they can judge a size, and without having to look at the cam/nut from a specific angle.

Anyway, it's 100% a matter of personal preference.
Oh, and yes, I too rack nuts in two sets (small & large), which is a big help too.

Eric and Lucie wrote:Say you grab a green C4 and it's a bit small, you grab a red one! Fast and simple.

I'm sure over a period of time it can help. But if my .75 is too small...well I just grab the next size cam no matter the color. With cams the color is nice just for spotting it on my harness, but it really doesn't have any correlation with my choice of a cam. I know what size cam I need (or think I do), and it just happens to have a color when I grab it. With all my nuts on 1-2 biners that need to reach around and see that "red #1" isn't really necessary for me.

But with climbing everyone has their own OCD methods. Some like biners in, some like biners out. Passive on the left, passive on the right. Sling or no sling. Whatever works best for your systems.

I also happen to climb with about 2.5 sites of nuts in some places - 10-12 per biner, 3 biners. One for brass and steel (you have to have nuts or brass or steel to climb 5.11 trad in Eldo) one for the large nuts (you have to have large nuts to climb 5.11 trad in Eldo), and one for everything in between.

Is a green width-wise wider or narrower than a red the thin way? Will it just go 1.3" lower into the slot? Trying to organize by color instead of size is just one more thing to think about. I look at the crack, look a the rack, and let the spacial skills area of the brain do the work (*)

(*) = For fellow nerds out there: That would be the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbital inferior frontal gyrus, and the right fronto-parietal. I don't want to have to call in the caudate nuclei and anterior intraparietal sulcus to translate colors to sizes... that's just too complex when I'm trying to enjoy a climb!

Thanks for the ideas everyone, this has definitely been helpful