AFTE Store - An Introduction to the Forensic Examination of Toolmarks

As part of the curriculum at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Firearms Examiner Academy, the students receive basic training in the forensic examination of toolmarks. Although firearms examinations are a specialized area of toolmark examinations, the toolmark section is specifically devoted to tools and the marks that they produce. Information that the students receive include basic instruction in metals, metal deformation, chip formation, metal shaping processes, tools and tool actions, toolmark identification, and other related information. As one of the instructors for this section, I thought that it would be beneficial to other examiners in training and examiners who do not routinely examine toolmarks to have a basic introduction of this material available to them.