Reply by Lee Barker

I use number stamps for the date.

I also have a propane torch heated brand, which has its place, as does a hand signature with Sharpie.

There are three reasons to sign your work: Your own feelings of completion, the respect you show to the owner/purchaser/client, and the ultimate questions of history: “How old is this and who made it?”

I think the species identification would be especially appropriate for the turners and boxmakers who do the multi-thing so dazzlingly.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"