Marking wax coated bowls being seasoned......

[Odie]

I was just wondering if anyone has any good ideas for marking bowls with information that are wax coated and prepped for, or in the process of being seasoned.

In the past, I've used a regular pencil, and peal-n-stick stickers.

Both of these methods have their problems........

Pencil doesn't show up that well on dark woods, and the wax coating seems to suck the lead right off the wood, rendering it unreadable. If I can find a light spot on dark woods, I can get by with the pencil, but there needs to be a better way.

The peal-n-stick office labels work pretty good on woods that are fairly dry to begin with, but don't stick very well to wood with high moisture content. When the labels do stick well, you can apply anchorseal right over the top of them.....no problem at all. After the wax is applied, the labels do not stick at all, and I find my need to mark bowls with information after the wax is applied to be a requirement.

I've thought about grease pencils and paint markers, but don't really want to purchase these things unless I know they will work on a waxed surface.

Sharpies are not acceptable, as the inks will soak into the interior of the wood.

............SO.........what are you using to mark a waxed surface??????? I would appreciate hearing ideas that you use or have used.....hands on! Suggestions are ok, but I'd rather get the information straight from the horse's mouth!

Thank you........

ooc

 

[tomcatmartin]

Archival pen

Odie,
i use an archival pen to list date and species as well as who I have promised it to. Write what you want before sealing and it is visible after the anchor seal dries. Doesn't bleed at all. Same pen many turners use to sign there finished work.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Put the info on the bottom in waterproof marker. Even if you're using a mortise versus a tenon, it's not a lot of toolwork to clean it off.

 

[Steve Worcester]

If they are rough turned, I use a sharpie. I finish turn that part off anyway.

What you may try is an artists 9B pencil. Very soft and as dark as they come.

 

[Mark Warden]

Hi Odie I don't know what info you want or if your talking permanent marking but I tag my blanks that are wax coated with a strip of paper and a couple drops of candle wax you can add info or easily change the tag as needed.

 

[george morris]

mark

I mark my rough out on the tenon with a sharpie,tenon will come off at end! G

 

[rsser]

Chinagraph pencil?

 

[n7bsn]

Stanford type 705 pencil

Called a "Bottle of ink in a pencil"

On dry wood it's a regular pencil, on wet it turns blue and makes an "ink"

Available at most Artist Supply stores

 

[ihmserv]

odie,
I just write all the info I need on a post it note , date, species, any ideas i have about the piece for finish , weight if needed, and the person I got it from if its going back to them when finished.

I then staple that piece of paper to the tenon with 1/4 inch stainless staple, stainless will not mark wood, and 1/4 in length will usually be turned off on final turning, either from tenon or rim.

stainless staples are available from most home depot stores and marine supply stores.

IAN

 

[Odie]

Hi Odie I don't know what info you want or if your talking permanent marking but I tag my blanks that are wax coated with a strip of paper and a couple drops of candle wax you can add info or easily change the tag as needed.

Thanks to all who have replied.

What's a chinagraph pencil? Is this like the old grease pencils?

I'll make a note to look for one of those 9b pencils, that may work for some applications.

Sharpie really doesn't work for my purposes. Most of the time, it could be turned off, but there is always that example where it won't......and I normally wouldn't know for sure, until after the fact!

Staples don't work for my particular application, either.....

Marks method gives gives me an idea that I can mark information on a piece of paper and apply that to the wax, then paint over it with anchorseal......I'll try that out......

thx

ooc

 

[rsser]

Chinagraph pencil is white and yes, greasy.

Want me to run a test?

 

[Odie]

Chinagraph pencil is white and yes, greasy.

Want me to run a test?

Howdy RSSER.......

If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind seeing the test. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested to see what you've found.......

However, I think I've come up with a satisfactory way to add information to bowls that are waxed and being seasoned.

Thanks to Mark Warden, I simply took a printer ready folder label and applied it to the pre-waxed surface. Normally, this would simply fall off in a few minutes, but this time I applied more anchorseal over the top of the label. I did this sometime this morning, and the labels have stayed on......just as I'd hoped they would.

Here's a photo of the bowls I applied folder stickers to this morning:

Some of the other methods would undoubtedly work too......but, I can use materials I already have on hand to do it this way......good enough to go!

This really is soooooo simple that I'm a little embarrassed that I had to ask for help to come up with an alternative method to the way I was previously doing it.......😱

Thanks to all for your suggestions.

ooc