Marking on Dark Materials

I often use dark woods like Walnut and Cocobolo. When laying out and marking on dark woods you can sometimes get away with using a pencil. But I often have to go back and find the mark.

What really drove the problem home was trying to mark a pattern on an Ebony fingerboard. Forget it. I had a white grease pencil but it was too soft and wide. My wife is an artist and often works in colored pencil so I tried that. It worked for a little while but that, too was too soft.

While cruising through the art store I found white charcoal pencils.

That did it! The "lead" is harder than colored pencil and holds a point for a lot longer. Mine set me back under $3.00 and included two pencils PLUS a sharpener. One pencil runs about a buck. Solid, fine, white, opaque, and made in the good ol' USA - General's Charcoal White - give it a try.