Out of coincidence, this evening I happened to verify what you say about applying the finish over the Sakura pen markings without delay. I'd say it wasn't more than five minutes before I applied the DO, and there was no detectable smearing of the ink. I want the numerals to be small, but the two sizes of Sakura pens I have may be a bit too small for my purposes. I'm planning on ordering some larger sizes right away, and continue the experimenting. The colors I have are sepia and black.....my thought was to use the black for light colored woods, and the sepia on dark woods like Gabon ebony, Bocote, Walnut, etc. The sepia tone doesn't stand out as well as I'd hoped on my test piece of walnut, so am thinking about getting some other color for this application.....(Any suggestions, guys?.....white? tan?)
My only worry at the moment, is whether the ink will withstand the Beale buffing process.....but, my test piece needs to cure a few more days before I can test it. In theory, the DO over the top of the ink may be all that's necessary for the ink to withstand the Beale 3-step buffing... We will find out the answer to that question!
-----odie-----