removing magic marker?

[shartis]

Is there anyway to remove magic marker writing from the back of rhyolite? I wrote on one of my best finds some years back and the writing ended up to large and ugly and now I wish I hadn't. Thanks

[ksrocks]

Samuel I have used finger nail polish remover to remove permanent marker from chert pieces. Have seen posts on this site that said not to use it. :unsure:  Did not seam to harm  the piece??
Joe.

[11KBP]

ksrocks wrote:

Samuel I have used finger nail polish remover to remove permanent marker from chert pieces. Have seen posts on this site that said not to use it. :unsure:  Did not seam to harm  the piece??
Joe.

  It depends on how porous the stone is whether or not it can all be removed. Acetone will oftentimes work and may take several hard rubbing applications. If the chert is real porous there is the chance of spreading the stain. If you do use acetone be sure to have adequate ventilation as it is highly flammable.
I have never seen acetone affect the surface of an artifact.
11KBP

[Hoss]

I heard acetone will not hurt your points but I would try this first. Take a flake of ryolite and mark it then try and remove the mark from the flake. You will see if it spreads or draws it out. Just an opinion. I did have a link from a museum too but I am unable to search for some reason. My book marks disappeared when I loaded the upgrade for firefox. Gonna have to play with my computer they can't have gone far!  :laugh:

[cgode]

Watch what buttons ya push there Matt!!! .....sorry, couldn't resist

[rmartin]

I agree acetone is the best, I have used it before. But as 11KBP said porous material is tough. I'd give it a try. I once bought a small collection that was found by a young boy and he had signed every piece. Ray

[tomclark]

This is a post I made about ink on shell, which is much more porous than chert......
Removing INK from stinky shells:
I had two shell items that had problems.  One had very little patina and had felt tip ink letters on it and the other had nice patina but had some old shiny coating on it.
I emailed Gomer for advice and he was very helpful.
I first tried dabbing with the tip of a cotton swab some bleach to see if the ink would "disappear",  it lightened a good bit.  Then I swabbed/dabbed with acetone and it came right off.  Perfect.  And this was porous shell.  I made sure I soaked the item in water for a while so any bleach would be diluted/come out.  Dr. Gomer says bleach is very hard to remove once it gets in things and will seep out over time.  And of course bleach would change the color of some kinds of patina. (organic)
The other piece came clean with just acetone wipe, then handled/rubbed with 91% isopropyl alcohol, the orange-brownish patina that one finds on shell artifacts was unaffected.

[CliffJ]

Good advice Tom. Judicious and careful use of the right chemical will usually clean up modern marks, without harming the artifact. Many times, a good soak in water is all that is needed. Also- a little swabbed WD-40 will help on magic marker, and will evaporate.
What NOT to do:
Do Not:
Put acetone in a plastic or styrofoam cup then place it on your wife's g-grandfather's antique desk
Try out your new sandblaster on some pesky ink stains on your arrowheads
Soak most artifacts in strong acid of any kind, or bleach, or acetone, or preparation-h
Try to scrape or sand any stains away
Try to flake away modern marks
Anything involving flame or explosions is usually not a good idea
   There's probably more instances you folks have seen so please add to my list, but seriously the worst problems are created by excess! Use small amounts of acetone on a swab, as acetone will dry out some coarse rocks like those we have in NC.
   Attached files 

[Butch Wilson]

CliffJ wrote:

Good advice Tom. Judicious and careful use of the right chemical will usually clean up modern marks, without harming the artifact. Many times, a good soak in water is all that is needed. Also- a little swabbed WD-40 will help on magic marker, and will evaporate.
What NOT to do:
Do Not:
Put acetone in a plastic or styrofoam cup then place it on your wife's g-grandfather's antique desk
Try out your new sandblaster on some pesky ink stains on your arrowheads
Soak most artifacts in strong acid of any kind, or bleach, or acetone, or preparation-h
Try to scrape or sand any stains away
Try to flake away modern marks
Anything involving flame or explosions is usually not a good idea
   There's probably more instances you folks have seen so please add to my list, but seriously the worst problems are created by excess! Use small amounts of acetone on a swab, as acetone will dry out some coarse rocks like those we have in NC.

  Cliff you made me laugh, sounds like some of the things I may have tried in the past !

[Hoss]

cgode wrote:

Watch what buttons ya push there Matt!!! .....sorry, couldn't resist

  Its OK Chris had it coming  :laugh:  :laugh:

[shartis]

Thanks for the info everyone.

[rmartin]

Let us know how things turn out.