Hey Guys,

I just finished wrapping the St. Croix Ultra Legend I built for my son. I've heard mention of a particular process for applying decals and inscriptions to a rod blank. Would someone be kind enough to walk me through the process? In addition, for inscribing the the rod, I found an ultra fine gold paint pen at an art supply store that should look great against the dark green blank. Is this suitable for the task? The finish I'm using will be LS Supreme. Thanks for all of your help!

Mike

The gel pen will work very well, provided your penmanship is better than mine! Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work well - some brands of these various gel pens work better than others. Keep searching for the brand that works on your blanks.

Test an inscription to make sure the finish will not cause it to smear. Most 100% solids epoxies are not a problem, but that's not to say it cannot happen. If you need a barrier, then CP (which can also smear some gel inscriptions) or something like a clear spray artist's fixative should be used.

We covered the various methods of making rod inscriptions in the May/June 1999 of RodMaker, including gel and paint pens, dry transfers and computer generated varieties. New methods are appearing all the time however.

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Mike,

I have used the gel pens and had to use clear polyurethane spray to coat the gel and prevent smearing. Let the spray dry completely before moving on to the epoxy finish. Worked fine for me but I know use the computer generated inscriptions, just stick on and finish over them with epoxy.

The pen that works best for me is the Pentel brand. Although my daughter has recently come home with some offbrand variety that will write on any rod surface I have tried. It is fantastic! Of course I have only seen hers and all she uses are yellow and pink. I will have to check and see if those are available in any of the metallic colors.

Also, you will notice that in the metallic colors the shades of colors like gold and silver will vary from brand to brand. I try to keep different brands in the same color so I can easily match the color of any metallic thread I'm using. For instance, the Gudebrod HT Gold seems best matched by the gold gel pens that Pilot makes. The Pentel is a greener shade, the Pilot more yellowish gold.

Zebra gel pen in gold and silver will not smear, even with Crystal coat. Just let dry thoroughly first and do not apply much pressure directly on the inscription with finish brush.
elrod

I have used the Pentel gel pens in both gold and silver metallics with good results, but after making the inscription I apply heat from a hair dryer for about a minute to set it up. I've then applied LS Supreme finish with a light touch without first using color preserver, and I have not had a problem with smearing the lettering.