I am a big fan of permanent markers (PM), particularly the Sharpie brand. I keep them in my office, garage, kitchen, and lab.
I find it handy to write notes directly on objects so I don’t have to look up information. The weight of oil I need for my mower and generators is written on the machine. I have a big arrow pointing to the carb drain screw for a generator and a pressure washer because I can never remember exactly where they are. The dates I refilled my emergency water supply cans are written directly on the can. I find PMs very useful to aid my bad and getting worse memory! Nearly anything that will expire has the purchase date written on it.
I have noticed that PMs aren’t quite permanent. Overtime they fade. In this picture, the original marking of the oil weight is at least 10 years old. The underline is brand new.
I went through my house looking and most of the stuff marked with a PM looks about like the above: faded but still readable. The places where the writing is way worse is anything left out in the sun where UV does its magic. I attempted to write the install dates of the batteries for my weather station on its case, but those dates were completely gone within 2 years.
It came to my attention recently that a Coke bottle I signed with a PM quite a few years ago had almost completely faded. When I looked at it I could only barely make out the signature. I guess the glass surface of the Coke bottle plus UV light from where it had been stored combined to severely fade the ink.
Since it is rather rare that I loose a Coke bet, I wanted to make sure that bottle lived on, if only in infamy. So I did some research on finding something better than a PM.
I honestly don’t know exactly which website I found that discussed the problems with sharpies fading, but this one has the same advice. Namely, an oil-based paint PM would work much better on glass and is less prone to fading.
So I purchased a Sharpie oil-based paint marker like this from Amazon:
They come in different colors. When I received it, the tip was completely white and I was worried at first I had accidentally purchased white. Nope, you have to push down on the tip repeatedly to release the ink into the tip.
With the tip primed, I did a couple of tests and it seemed to work well, so I signed the Coke bottle again. After it dried, the result was much nicer than a normal sharpie – a very solid black line.
Time will tell just how much better this oil-based paint PM works rather than the standard PM. Next spring when I have to go up and replace batteries on my weather station, I’ll mark the date on the outside of the weather station and then see just how long that mark lasts.
The reviews on Amazon complain that the tip is not fine. I found it to be about the same sharpness as my normal fine point sharpie. Definitely nowhere near as sharp as my ultra fine sharpie, though.
I also saw some complaints about it running out of ink quickly. From what I can tell, a fair amount of paint is being released when you use the PM. And, being paint, I suspect once you ‘open’ the pen by pushing on the point, the paint in the is going to start drying slowly. I’ve made a note on the side of the pen (using my ultra-fine sharpie) as to when I opened it. I’ll try to remember to report back just how long the pen lasted.
Big Dan the Blogging Man 