Nobody wakes up wanting laser engraving. They want the chairs numbered, the cattle tagged, or the parcels sealed — and the same machine does all three.
Nobody wakes up wanting laser engraving. They want the cattle tagged before the vet comes, the parcels sealed so the depot cannot argue, the chairs numbered before the auditor arrives. The engraving is the answer, not the question, which is why most businesses never find out that the thing bothering them has a straightforward fix.
This is the list of what gets asked for, and what each one costs.
The jobs that come up most
Livestock ear tags: from KSh 25 wholesale. Numbered, readable at a distance, and they survive a rainy season. Ear tags are ordered in runs of hundreds and are one of the few engraving jobs where the numbering scheme matters more than the design: get the sequence right and the tags do the record-keeping for you.
Security seals and cable ties: KSh 25 each. Numbered, engraved with your own details, and made to be broken. Seals are what transport and courier businesses use to turn "the box was open when it arrived" into a checkable fact. Ballot boxes, cash bags, sample crates and shipping containers all use the same thing.
For high-value cargo there is an international standard behind seals. ISO 17712 classes mechanical seals by strength, and a high security ("H") seal is one that generally has to be removed with bolt cutters or cable cutters; to carry the H mark it must pass impact, tensile, bending and shear tests in a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025. The engraved cable-tie seals in this list are the lighter, tamper-evident kind: made to be broken by hand, and to show it.
Button tags: from KSh 100. Small engraved discs that attach to almost anything: keys, tools, bags, uniforms, equipment cases. Button tags are the answer where the item itself will not take a mark.
Asset tagging: from KSh 20 an item. The volume job. Chairs, desks, computers, kitchen equipment, workshop tools. Done on site, because the assets do not travel well.
Door tags and floor signs: from KSh 400. Room numbers, department names, direction signs. Ordinary, until you try to buy them and discover nobody makes them in ones and twos.
Engraved keyholders: from KSh 200. The store room, the vehicle, the spare set. Costs little, and ends the game of working out which key opens what.
Trophies and awards: from KSh 3,500. Schools, sports days, staff recognition. Engraved and assembled here, not bought in and stickered.
Wristbands. Events, hospitals, schools. Engraved instead of printed where they must survive water and a week of wear.
Memorial tiles and granite: from KSh 4,000. A different kind of job in every respect, and one that deserves its own time.
The pattern in all of it: these are jobs where the mark has to outlive the label. A sticker on a chair leg is gone within a year of mopping; a printed band on a cable tie is unreadable after a month in the sun. Anywhere you have replaced a label more than twice, engraving is the thing you were looking for.
Mark the item, or tag the item
This is the decision underneath half the list above, and it is worth two minutes before ordering anything.
Marking cuts into the item itself. It cannot be removed without damaging the thing it is on, which is exactly what you want on assets, cutlery and anything where the mark is the security. Its limitation is the surface: some materials will not take a legible mark, and some items have nowhere flat enough to work with.
Tagging fixes a separate engraved piece to the item. It works on anything, it can be read from further away, and it can carry more information. But it can also be removed, which for an asset register is a weakness and for a rental business is a feature.
Most real jobs use both. Desks and chairs get marked; upholstered furniture and cabling get tagged. Deciding which is which before the engraver arrives saves an hour of standing in a corridor discussing it.
What makes a small job expensive
Two things, and neither is the engraving.
The first is setup on a tiny run. Ten items still need the artwork prepared, the jig set and a test piece cut. That work costs the same for ten items as for a thousand, so the per-item price on a very small order looks alarming and is not unfair. The fix is usually to group: if three departments each need something engraved, one job is dramatically cheaper than three.
The second is changing your mind after the test piece. Once a run is going, it is going. Look properly at the sample.
Where to go from here
For a specific job, the full rate card has the published figures and explains what moves them. A building full of assets is a different question from a box of items. There, what matters is whether the engraver comes to you, and the on-site comparison works through where that line falls and what an on-site day needs from your side.
Sources: Unisto (seal maker), ISO 17712 and high security seals (read 14 Oct 2026).
Common questions
What materials can be engraved?
Metals of most kinds, anodised and coated surfaces, glass, granite and stone, wood, leather, and the majority of rigid plastics. What does not work well is untreated soft plastic, some powder-coated finishes that lift instead of marking, and anything with a surface too uneven to sit flat. If you are unsure, send a photograph or bring one item in for a test.
Is there a minimum quantity?
Every product page prints its minimum, and on workshop jobs they are small: engraved keyholders and door tags start at 10 pieces, while gift keyholders and lasercut trophies can be ordered one at a time. The ear tag price applies from 100 pieces. On-site work is where quantity matters, because a trip has a cost regardless of how many items it covers.
How do I supply my logo?
A vector file is best: AI, EPS, SVG or PDF from whoever designed it. A high-resolution PNG usually works. A logo saved from a website almost never does at engraving sizes, because the detail is not there, and it has to be redrawn first. Ask around your organisation for the original file before assuming it is lost; it usually is not.
Can you engrave items I buy elsewhere?
Yes, and it is common: bring your own bottles, tools, cases or gifts. Two things to check first: that the material takes a mark, and that engraving does not affect a warranty on anything still covered. A single test item settles both questions before a whole batch is committed.
