Sharpie Ink: What is It?

[scutterdav]

I just saw a Sharpie commercial and was just wondering what kind of ink it uses. It's virtually permanent on any kind of surface. Is it a pigmented ink or what? Can anyone shed a little light on this for me?

[Chthulhu]

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) says: "Dyes, n-propanol (71-23-8), n-butanol (71-36-3), diacetone alcohol (123-42-2)"

[scutterdav]

MSDS might as well have said "blablub blibbity boo bopity broppy blippy blitle bloo" because I don't know what any of that stuff means. All I'm getting is that it's some sort of alcohol based ink.

[someonesdad]

Those -ol's are just the solvents along with their CAS numbers. They dyes used are the keys. Without some chemical analysis being done, it's unlikely anyone around here knows and I doubt the manufacturer would fess up, citing proprietary information. Which is fine, since I'd bet my last dollar they use commonly-available dyes that probably aren't terribly different than those used in fountain pen inks (excluding the water vs. aromatic hydrocarbon solubility).

[ZeissIkon]

Well, let's see -- n-propanol and n-butanol are specific isomers of the alcohols of propane and butane (both heavier alcohols than the ethanol some of us drink or the methanol commonly used as a solvent or fuel). Diacetone alcohol is a close relative of acetone; those three chemicals together are responsible for the distinctive odor of Sharpy, Magic Marker, and other "permanent marker" inks. The dyes used are most likely selected to be soluble in alcohols and ketones (acetone is the simplest ketone), but insoluble in water; that's what makes the markers "permanent", in this case mostly meaning waterproof. Denatured ethanol, methanol, acetone, and even pure hydrocarbon cleaners like contact cleaner (which in it simplest form is almost pure heptane -- straight-chain seven carbon hydrocarbon, a primary component of gasoline) will take permanent marker ink off any surface, though they'll damage some surfaces (paints, some plastics, and some kinds of dyed leather).

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And it's not really permanent: it is very definitely subject to fading.

[Chthulhu]

"Permanent" is mostly just marketing for "you have to work a little harder to remove it."

[GirchyGirchy]

  Chthulhu said:

"Permanent" is mostly just marketing for "you have to work a little harder to remove it."

Yup. Graffiti remover will take it right off.

[Chthulhu]

I've read that well-dried Sharpie marks can be removed from whiteboards pretty easily. Apparently all that's necessary is to mark over them heavily with a whiteboard marker, then it all just erases off. I haven't had occasion to try this for myself, though. :-)

[PenTieRun]

  Chthulhu said:

I've read that well-dried Sharpie marks can be removed from whiteboards pretty easily. Apparently all that's necessary is to mark over them heavily with a whiteboard marker, then it all just erases off. I haven't had occasion to try this for myself, though. :-)

 

Lighter fluid will take it off a white board rather quickly.

[ZeissIkon]

  PenTieRun said:

  Chthulhu said:

I've read that well-dried Sharpie marks can be removed from whiteboards pretty easily. Apparently all that's necessary is to mark over them heavily with a whiteboard marker, then it all just erases off. I haven't had occasion to try this for myself, though. :-)

 

Lighter fluid will take it off a white board rather quickly.

 

So will whiteboard cleaner, aerosol contact cleaner, or Goof Off. None of these, AFAIK, will damage the whiteboard surface. The advantage of the "mark over with whiteboard marker" method is it comes off with the regular felt eraser after you're done.

[scutterdav]

So would Sharpie ink be a cousin to Superchrome?

[Jimmy James]

It should be noted that Nathan now has a product for refilling markers. It's called Black Mamba:

 

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFro...ount2=563071846

 

I don't know that it's a Swisher exclusive, but that's the only place I have run into it at this point.

[ZeissIkon]

  scutterdav said:

So would Sharpie ink be a cousin to Superchrome?

 

I wouldn't think so. My understanding is that Superchrome was still a water carried ink, even though it was much more alkaline than any current offering. I don't recall any fountain pen ink that had alcohols as its primary solvent (for one thing, some alcohols are bad for acrylic, which is a commonly used plastic in pens), but there were inks sold a while back for refilling glass-body felt markers, and as noted just above, Black Mamba is a Noodler's formula made for refilling permanent markers.

[mstone]

  ZeissIkon said:

  scutterdav said:

So would Sharpie ink be a cousin to Superchrome?

 

I wouldn't think so. My understanding is that Superchrome was still a water carried ink, even though it was much more alkaline than any current offering. I don't recall any fountain pen ink that had alcohols as its primary solvent (for one thing, some alcohols are bad for acrylic, which is a commonly used plastic in pens)

No, superchrome used alcohol as a solvent (part of why it was so fast-drying). The fact that alcohol eats pen components is why they needed to invent a special pen for the ink.

[Kelly G]

  Chthulhu said:

I've read that well-dried Sharpie marks can be removed from whiteboards pretty easily. Apparently all that's necessary is to mark over them heavily with a whiteboard marker, then it all just erases off. I haven't had occasion to try this for myself, though. :-)

 

It works like a charm - it's one of the Meeting Facilitator's tricks of the trade. I've used it more than a few times. Another advantage of using the whiteboard marker is that one is usually available - where the other cleaners sometimes aren't. It's also better if you get to it sooner rather than later.

[ismellarat]

Yup my dad is a teacher and will use a giant metal sharpie to draw a big graph on his whiteboard, minus the data. Then his students can plot things and draw on the board and he can erase the data for the next class, without having to redraw the axes. It is particularly useful for tables on the board and things that need to change color (erase, fill in with different colored expo marker).

 

At the end of the day you just go over it with an expo and wipe it away!