What an Orchevo tag is made of, how the text gets into the metal, and how it hangs on the tree. The full specification, in plain language.
The material: why 316L
Not all stainless survives a garden
Ordinary stainless (304) pits when chlorides attack it: coastal air, fertilizer salts, orchard sprays. 316 adds molybdenum, the marine-grade defense: roughly a third more pitting resistance, proven on boat fittings in salt spray year-round.
Why the L matters
Laser marking heats the mark zone through 425–870 °C, the range where stainless loses chromium to grain-boundary carbides and starts to rust locally. Standard 316 degrades this way in minutes; low-carbon 316L takes tens of hours. On 316 the engraved text can end up less corrosion-resistant than the tag around it; on 316L the marking pass simply doesn’t matter.
We test the mark, not just the metal
A bad mark can rust even on good steel, so we salt-spray test marked tags against unmarked ones, and weather real tags outdoors in public.
the 1 mm brushed 316L sheet our tags are cut from
The name isn’t printed on the tag. It’s carved into steel.
The text is engraved by laser ablation: the beam vaporizes metal and cuts it into the surface.
No ink, no coating, no sticker
There’s no layer sitting on top for weather to peel away. The letters are recesses in the metal itself, like the date on a coin: the only way to lose the name is to lose the tag.
Dark graphite, easy to read
Ablated text on 316L comes out a deep graphite tone against the brushed steel. That colour is the ablated metal itself in the groove, not a coating, so the contrast is as permanent as the tag.
Mounting included
Nothing to buy, cut, or improvise
Every tag ships with a 316 stainless ball chain. Thread it through the hole, snap the connector shut around a branch, and you’re done: mounting a whole order takes minutes, not an afternoon of hunting for wire.
Made to be loosened
The connector re-opens by hand, so you can let the loop out as the branch thickens. Give it slack, and check it when you prune.
What decades outside throw at a tag
UV light
Sunlight destroys printed labels and bleaches plastic in a few seasons. Metal doesn’t photodegrade; carved steel reads the same in year twenty as on day one.
Frost and heat
Coatings crack because they expand and contract at a different rate than their backing. An Orchevo tag is one solid material, so there’s no interface to split, from hard frost to high-summer sun.
Salt and fertilizer
Fertilizer salts, coastal air, and irrigation water attack ordinary stainless with pinhole rust. 316L adds molybdenum, the marine-grade defense, so the tag shrugs off exactly the chemistry a garden bathes it in.
Dirt and grime
Because the text is a recess, dirt settling into the grooves often makes it more readable. When it’s truly grimy, scrub it with a brush or pressure washer, treatments that would erase any printed tag.
Scratches and knocks
Surface scratches sit above the engraving plane, so they don’t cut through the letters the way they slice through print. The tag can look weathered while the name stays sharp.
Simply time
There’s no clock ticking inside this tag: no adhesive drying out, no pigment budget being spent. Left alone, 316L just sits there being 316L. Decades of legibility is the design target we’re testing toward.
Orchevo tag specifications
The numbers behind everything above.
| Material | 316L stainless steel (marine grade, low carbon) |
| Marking method | Laser ablation: text engraved into the metal, no ink or coating |
| Size | 75 × 25 mm |
| Mounting | Two holes on the centreline; hangs on an adjustable 316 stainless ball chain (included) or a ground stake |
| Text capacity | 3 lines, sized 5 / 3.5 / 2.5 mm (bold, italic, regular). Line 1 is the shortest by design; the live preview shows exactly what fits before you buy. |
| Weather resistance | Immune to UV fading; resists frost, salt, and fertilizer |
| Maintenance | None required; scrub or pressure-wash if grimy |
| Durability | Engineered for decades outdoors, substantiated by our ongoing public weathering test rather than a guaranteed lifetime. |
Special characters welcome: ñ, é, ü, × hybrid signs and ‘cultivar quotes’ engrave exactly as typed.
Name it once. For good.
Engrave a single tag, or upload your whole orchard from a spreadsheet.
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