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142 Posts
I just found out that I can get a really fine line by taking a ballpoint pen apart and using the stem(?) to strike a line. What was more amazing was how much easier it was to remove a line made with a ballpoint pen then one made with a pencil or a marking pen. When I thought about the mechanics of those three instruments it all makes sense. A ballpoint pen "rolls" along the surface of the wood and lays down a line of ink. The ink in a ballpoint pen is thick enough that it doesn't soak into the wood, it just "sits" on the surface. A pencil needs enough pressure to break off minute particles of graphite which are imbedded into the wood. Marking pens soak into the wood making removal tricky at times. A lot of you guys already know this but we do get a lot of new guys who might want to try this.