Chic or anyone,

Whats a good inleting marker. Ive been useing what I can scrong , like rubbing on pencil lead, black crayon.

What works good that I can scrong easy or just run to a store and buy. What about black lib stick?

No I dont have any black lipstick in my make up kit , just pashion red, Ill have to run over to the store .

You might try Jarrows inletting black from Brownells. It is a black "paint" of sorts. I have used Prussian Blue also,available at automachine shops. Both are vey messy. The old gunsmiths used to use a kerosene lamp and "black" the metal for inletting. It actually does a fairly good job.

Get any of the spray on sight black that is sold to target shooters. It sprays on flat black abd easily wipes off of metal parts. I use my old carbide candle myself. (How many remember the carbide candles for match shooting?)

I have also used a Sharpie brand magic marker. Get it in any color you wish. Works great for either light or dark colored wood. It is not messey and clean up rather easily. Not as easily as inletting black but then again it does not seem to crawl accross your table and migrate black onto things you least expect.

Artists' oil paint. It comes in a tube and will last you years. A tiny dab is pleanty. I keep a rag handy that has WD-40 on it for genral spreading and applying. The WD keeps it smooth and thin. If you want to get fancy buy "prussin" blue. This is the old standby.

Other than that use smoke. Smoke from kerosine or ever better MAP gas. Tape over the air inlet for you torch burner. It will make inky black smoke that clings.

Ive used Jarrows and Prussian blue. I quit using Prussian blue because it doesnt wash out of your clothes or off your hands very easily. Jarrows comes right out. I used an old tube of the Mrs. lipstick for doing ebony forend tip inletting.

just to admit how dumb I am , I am going to admit to using black paste shoe polish. actually works great and easily obtainable. but kinda messy. If you use it, make sure you use very light coats of the stuff.

"I quit using Prussian blue because it doesnt wash out of your clothes or off your hands very easily"

Mechanics' hand cleaner, Go-Jo etc will remove it. I admit it is a mess. I think it is worth the trouble, It is by far the best, I have used. You can read the mark and detemine if you have hard contact or not. Once it is on it can be moved around on the metal to replenish it several times. Trouble with the stuff that has less pigment is just that, less pigment. You have to build a little thickness to get a good mark. After a while you end up with little wads of sawdust and goop all over the place. The oil based prussin blue just need a quick whipe down with the WD40 rag to get it back in shape. You then you again have a super thin coat of pigment to transfer.

For the vehicle, I like plain old vaseline jelly, and for the pigment, just a dab of artists black oil pigment. I mix up a small amount in a 35m film container for each project. I tried Jarrows, but it seems to have too much pigment and everything ended up black.

In contrast to paint, this doesn't dry out and transfers easily to the wood. If it is real cold in the shop, I thin it with a drop of mineral spirits (turps). I apply with a small artists brush.