Good morning,

I am in the process of putting an inscription on a fly rod, I am using a dip pen and Testors silver metallic paint. I haven't had any problems writing on the rod that part turns out fine, but the other day I sprayed some clear acrylic over the inscription to seal it prior to putting some rod finish on and the acrylic made the inscription run. I let the Testors paint dry for roughly 16-18 hours then gave it the spray of clear Krylon and there it was gone. My questions are: Should I have let the inscription dry longer? Is there anything else I can use as a sealer prior to putting the rod finish on? maybe colour preserver?
Any tips or advice on this would be great.

Thanks

Jeff

I think the time you let it dry should be sufficient, and suspect the spray you used attacked the Testors. But, in my experience, there are so many things that don't work and so many that do, but some with CP only and some with Testors only and some with india ink only etc etc etc, that I only trust what I have tried with an inscription on a pencil first. Then I write what I used down. It's very confusing.

My favorite writing fluid is Bombay India Ink, which comes in a myriad of colors, even opaque white. The opaque white, in my testing with Flex Coat CP alone and Flex Coat wrap finish alone does not run. Other colors? Haven't tested them yet. Two advantages for india ink is that it has low viscosity which means it flows in pens well and you can also get a nice, fine, inscription instead of a fat, clubbly looking one (with the right tip).

Jeff,

I did a Krylon test spray on a gold leaf inscription I was going to apply to a blank. The Krylon Crystal Clear spray made the gold leaf inscription diffuse and get kind of blurry. I then did a second test and applied CP over the inscription and let it dry an hour, or so, then applied the Krylon spray and the gold leaf inscription was fine.

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

Jeff I had problems with some inks and testors. When I added CP, they ran. I bought a can of Krylon's Workable Fixatif. I tried it out on all of my inks ant it worked very well. I then covered the inscription with CP and then finish.

Good practice is to always test before applying to your rod.

Mike Blomme

If the testors was the enamil the spray would eat into it
When i am not sure I put several DUST COATS on and dry each with a hair dryer Then maybe a wet coat
The coat you put on may have been too wet

Bill - willierods.com

thanks for the replies !

Jeff,
I use testors quite a bit.

I don't put any CP over it, and I don't put any other material over the lettering before I apply finish.

The main thing that I found out, is that I never put a brush where there is any lettering. I also do not put the finish on very thick, which would tend to flow and move the lettering with it.

After doing those two things, I have had no issues with rod lettering.

Be safe