i have a prismacolor premier fine point metallic pen to inscribe my name with on a matte black blank. my question is do i need to put CP over the inscription or can i just put finish directly over it without CP?

Tough call! I have seen CP smear ink inscriptions and I have seen straight epoxy smear them too. What I have taken to doing is putting a quick spray of Krylon Fix-A-Tif over the ink and after an hour putting epoxy over that. No problems to report after several dozen done like this.

i gotcha. also i did some practice stuff on areas that would be covered up by the reel seat and handle. the ink dried almost instantly. and i could barely remove it with alot of rubbing alcohol. so do you still think the ink might bleed if i let it sit for a while before putting anything on it?

Why not just try it? The particular ink you've used may or may not react to the CP or epoxy in the same way that the pen or ink used by someone else might. It would be very disappointing if you went on the word of someone else with even a slightly different product and got bad results.

Make a second inscription on a scrap piece of rod. Apply some CP to it and see if it smears. If not, apply the CP to your inscription, let dry and finish over it.

If you want to go the direct epoxy route, make a second inscription and when you get ready to finish your rod, apply some epoxy to the test inscription first. If it's okay after a few minutes, apply it to the inscription on your rod. If it smears, hold off until you've sealed it with something else.

..............

thats a good idea Tom. OK i know this sounds completely stupid but i don't have any access to broken rod blanks around, I'm at my apartment at LSU and don't really want to spend any extra change to buy a wal-mart rod to test on.

So...do you think if i tested it on a plastic mechanical pencil that would work? i mean obviously the shaft isn't made of graphite, but the epoxy or CP should still react the same to the ink right?

Unless your blank is bare graphite (no finish) then any hard smooth finished surface could
substitute. Your mechanical pencil would work fine for a test.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I use broken carbon arrow shafts to test finishes, inscriptions etc. If you have an archery store nearby, ask for a couple broken shafts or wal-mart usually sells cheap carbon shafts for a buck or two each, same construction and similar finishes to matte finish blanks and perfect for testing as they are as much of a pain to write on as a rod blank.

I have had the misfortune of smeared inscriptions often when applying epoxy. Now I do the inscription and wait two days to make sure the ink is very dry then when I apply epoxy I very carefully just graze the surface as to not disturb the ink... Bob.

I use art pens and generally let the ink dry and then put on a coat of clear finger nail polish. Let it dry and then epoxy. It's always worked for me but do some experiments and see if it works for you.