no biggie: an inexpensive Zebra V301 fountain pen marks wood better than a 0.5mm pencil

[Bob Hammond]

I'm a little heavy-handed for using a 0.5mm mechanical pen on wood. The lead breaks too often. But a ballpoint pen clogs and skips, and a felt tip wears out quickly.

I prefer fountain pens for signature and handwriting letters, and have several nice ones for that purpose. I've noticed that they write effectively on wood (that's paper in a coarser form), but I don't want to beat up a nib on a favorite pen.

However, I found a cheap fountain pen in a drugstore that serves very well for rougher use. It's a Zebra V301 that costs about $3-5. It draws a nice black line on wood, and when it's used with a perforated ruler (e.g. Incra-Jig) it leaves a fairly fine line. Of course, the line can't be erased, but if you're sure about what you want to lay out, then it works well. Hmm, I wonder if a disappearing ink could be found....

[Mario Proulx]

Does it come in white? I've forever sought a good, fine, white ink pen...

[Bob Hammond]

An interesting question that I've been wondering about too. When I use a fountain pen for writing, I'm usually writing on white paper, and so white ink might reduce the impact of my words...

But..., I've been wondering if a thinned-down white paint or lacquer might satisfy the need. Generally, fountain pens should be filled with ink that is specifically formulated for fountain pens, and the use of India ink is a disaster. That said, viscosity is probably the most important factor, and then prevention of 'drying out' of the nib is next. I suppose the pen's nib could be stored in a solvent bath, since it would be used for only for marking wood.

By the way, the Zebra has a stainless steel barrel, and a stainless steel nib.

[Bob Hammond]

Oh, I forgot to mention, that my grades in college went up dramatically after I stopped using a black highlighter in the books and literature. That's good advice that you can pass on.

[Mark Swanson]

Mario, I have a bunch of pencils that write in silver. The guy I got them from called them "welder's pencils", they show up well on rosewood and other dark woods where a regular pencil isn't easily seen.

[Mario Proulx]

Hey, thanks for that, Mark! A quick google search found them all over the place! Yet I didn't even know they existed....

Must to get!

[John Kingma]

Thanks for the tip Mark.

We have welder's pencils at work but it never occurred to me to use them with dark wood.

[Rodger Knox]

The silver and gold gelpens also work pretty good on darker woods. They skip a little on oily woods, but cleaning the surface with a white vinyl eraser usually takes care of it.

[David King]

I use "watercolor" pencils on dark woods. They come in at least *50* shades including white. You get what you pay for, the $2+ ones work a lot better than the $.59 ones and the lead doesn't shatter when you drop them.

[David Bingham]

In a previous career I was a draftsman and still have a number of Koh-i-noor technical pens that I fill with white ink. They're a pain to clean and new ones are expensive but they work. I haven't tried them yet and they're a bit pricey but Gioconda White Chalk pencils look like a good alternative.

[Michael Lewis]

Sharpie pens come in fine point and available in silver. I got one from my brother who uses them in various aircraft bonded repairs. They make a very distinct line and last pretty well if you don't abuse the tip.