Best pen for writing on bows?

[bradsmith2010]

this one works pretty good and you can get at hobby lobby,, has a bunch of tip sizes too,,

[bow101]

Just picked some Sharpie style pens that are India ink filled.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Depends on how "good" you want it to look. Sharpies look like crap in short order, but you can still read them for a bit. So I suppose they serve the purpose. I have a few gift bows with Sharpie writing that is unreadable after a few years and they haven't been used much. I think the UV rays through our windows killed the writing. It almost looks like the color ran, but it didn't obviously.

I use basically the same pen Brad does. I apply one coat of finish, sign it, then apply whatever I want after that. Its compatible with tung oil, tru oil and any spray poly. Its dries in seconds and stays bold. At least on mine it does.

Nothing wrong with almost any pen, just depends on what your after and how slick you want it to look.

[Joec123able]

I just use a pencil right on the raw wood then finish over top, has never caused me a problem.

[Badger]

   I am sending off my broadhead record holding flight bow for my invitational trade bow. I want to write the dates of the record, place and distance and sign. I want it to last for a long time if possible.

[Aaron H]

That is too cool Steve, someone is getting a great piece of history in that bow

[bradsmith2010]

some kind of archival ink,, with a good finish over it should last a  long long time,,,you can make a practice run on a scrap piece of wood, to see  which pen you like best, of course I have blotched signing a bow and had to sand it out and start over

[DC]

Does "archival" or "India" always mean UV proof or at least resistant? I kind of thought that archival just meant low acid.

[bradsmith2010]

DC,, I don't know for sure,, but archival means it will last a long time ,, or that it is of quality for fine art,, India ink is I think as good as it gets,,, I have used repidograph pens, that have ink for architectural drawing,,but those pens I think are about 20 bucks,,     my dictionary says" (of a material such as paper) of suitable quality to be used in archives. the illustrations are printed with archival inks that will last about 70 years. )"   so if the ink is in fact archival,, it should work ,, I think it would last longer on wood with a finish on it,,

[Badger]

  I wish they had a like button I could use on all the replies. Very good info here. I know you all have helped myself and others here.

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks for posting this Steve. I've tried a lot of different things with a fair bit of success. I used to do some calligraphy writing some time ago. I guess I'll have to drag out my pen set and see what I can come up with.

Patrick

[Mac43560]

Full disclosure,  I saw this on YouTube but on my next bow I am going to add signature and design using a gel medium.  They did it with painters acrylic gel.  But I am confident I can do it with knox or agar gelatin.

[Eric Krewson]

I used paint pens for a few years, I may have some down time between bows and often found my paint pens had dried up. The good ones cost a few bucks and a trip to the craft store. My bottle of ink lasted 15 years and well over 100 bows before the ink in it set up and the bottle needed to be replaced.

[crooketarrow]

  India ink hard to beat simply because Bows I signed over 20 years ago still looks like it was just done. Other than Osage when the wood turns darker with age. Ocorse the freshness leaves, sigh Osage with a sharpy. With in a couple years you can see the fading. India ink Will get darker with the wood but will not fad.

 For years I did the dipping thing.  But about 10 years ago. I started using India ink pens. I can't see any difference.

  You can sign it on just the wood, then stain over. On sign after you sell it with spray Polly, on wood or between coats. I never sigh at the end when finshed. I always seal it one last time after I sigh it.

  I sign quite a few bows on just the wood. But I think it's smooth signing betwen the coat.
  What I like about India ink is you can get different colors. So if I can I'll match with the staining or a coat that pops out to you.

  I hate to sign just black. Except Osage with age all colors either turn dark if you sign on the wood.
 If you sign between the coats with age eventually all turn from dark, dark to black. Unless you use paint. Where with other woods you never have a problem.

 I there's all way better but India ink is TRYED AND TRUE I see no reason to change.

[Ranasp]

Since my day job is framing, I've learned a bit about color permanence.  Sharpies are very unreliable.  Sometimes they last a long time, sometimes they fade within a year.  There's a few things that contribute to how long the color lasts.  Sometimes it simply has a lifespan, the color fades after X amount of time no matter how much you protect it.  Sometimes color will last indefinitely as long as it's protected from the sun, or heat, or moisture.  (all three of those things are the enemy of preservation). 

Some types of paint, like gouache, comes with a permanence rating on the tube so you can tell right away how long it will last.  AA is the best, it takes a lot to make it fade and if you bought a tube of an AA color it would last you forever (unless you decided to take up painting or illustrating manuscripts)  http://www.winsornewton.com/na/discover/resources/composition-permanence explains the different terminology, and

http://www.winsornewton.com/na/discover/resources/composition-permanence/designers-gouache  has a list of different gouache colors with their rankings, as well as their opacity.

Lamp Black for instance has great permanence and is also very opaque, you can't see through it, and also has a lightfastness rating of I, which means it's not prone to fading in light.

On the other hand, if you wanted to see the wood grain through what you've written, Viridian would be a good choice as it has a permanence of AA, a transparent opacity, and a lightfastness rating of I. 

Gouache is interesting in that it can be treated like a paint using a brush, or an ink if you thin it down and use a dipping nib. 

Or you can just keep it simple and use a Micron Pen.