I noticed a comment in a recent issue of RodBuilder concerning how Heddonuse to ink by hand all of the rod information. I still have the remains on one of theie rods and remember the inking work. Can you still do that today? How would you apply the lettering? How did Heddon apply their lettering? Any thoughts or comments?

India ink, hand inscribed. White or black ink. Seal with CP and apply finish over it.

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Thanks Tom!

I write on the rods with liquid gold leafing using a quill pen. i like the gold if you are not use to a quill pen it does take a bit of pratice but the trick is to let the quill draw the ink up into the quill not to dip the quill into the ink. The gold leafing drys quickly and is not really easy to remove is best to always to pratice on a scrap rod first. Also one needs to use an extra fine nib.
Karen

How do you clean the quill?

I have used the liquid Gel pens and they work well once the ball in the pen gets rolling and moves the ink. Le tthe ink dry and cover with finish. CP may be a good Idea to put over the ink before the finish. The neat part about these pens is that they come in a large variety of colors.

You can clean your Quills by using alcohol wipes. Also when using liquid gold leafing make sure your letter is correct, because if it dries it is a pain to remove. My wife (Karen) now does my liquid gold leafing lettering for me. Another hint, You can also use Acrylic paints that have been thinned down with distilled water. If you do use Acrylics make use you cover the lettering with one coat of CP, making sure you just wipe in one direction

Good Wraps Bob

I am very careful with my quills if not using them for more than a min or so I have a container of alcohol that I set my quill in and I always make sure they are clean so I do not get blobs of ink when writing or drawing with them. I have used the quill with the liquid gold leaf to draw a medical insignia on a 2 weight fly rod verse Bob trying to weave on such a small rod and adding any extra weight to the rod. Took me a bit of practice was able to make the snakes on the insignia look as though they had texture to their body and face. The nice thing I like about the gold leafing verse other medias is that we have had no running/smearing issues when putting on the finish.
Karen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2009 03:34PM by Karen Balcombe.

OH Heck now she is editing my work LOL

Good Wraps Bob

Mark,
When first starting into rod building, I searched many many different combinations for lettering on rods.

The technique that I have finally been satisfied with is the use of a fine line quill pen, and testors model pain in the color of my choice.

Most of the lettering is done in gold, silver, or white.

Since Xylene is one of the components of the paint, this solvent is used to clean the paint from unwanted areas as well as to clean any brushes or the quill.

If you use a plastic quill holder, one needs to be very careful in the use of Xylene, since Xylene will melt the plastic quill holder.

Good luck
Roger

Sorry Robert, Thank you Karen...
Mark

I use a quill pen/steel nib pen. I use Doc. Martin Irridescent inks that come in many colors. I really like this ink since it thins and cleans up with alcohol. The irridescent properties makes this ink glow when it is in the sunlight. The colors can be mixed to create another color.

I polish my nibs on really fine sand paper (1500 to 2000 grit), and then buff them with a dramel tool. When I can not feel the nib scratching a piece of paper, they are good. I am still trying to figure out what nib to use. There are regular nibs that come in anything from soft to hard, and then there is crow quill nibs that come the same way.

One thing about using alcohol to thin the Doc Martin inks is: work in small quantities. several drops of ink to a drop of alcohol. Use a seperate container to do this mixing.Trying to thin the whole bottle really messes things up.

My handwritting is less then bad. I use my computer to generate a font that I like, and then practice matching it on paper. I then try to match it on a scrap piece of rod blank.

I have never seen the "water slide decals" I am wondering if I can't generate a font I like, place it under the decal material, and then copy it in an ink color I like?

Mike where do you get your Doc Martin ink?

Good Wraps Bob

Have you ever tried using dry letter transferring? Once you see it or use it I don't think you will ever want to use ink again. I use a 18 point script and I think it can't be beat. To me it looks real classy and professional.

Call me old school and not in age, to be honest quite the opposite. But I learned from a local rodbuilder how to do my signatures.

I just use the same pen that every rodbuilding supplies place sells for a few bucks and Testors Enamel model paint. If you make a mistake then you wipe and start over. Just try not to make too many mistakes because I wipe with Acetone. I've learned one thing in rodbuilding. Everything can be cleaned up with Acetone. The key to a nice signature with this pen is nice penmanship. If you've got bad penmanship that you can most likely disregard this post.

Tony Ruffino