Who makes the best paint pen for marking pipe?

Jamie,

My favorite marker is the UNI Valve-Action Paint Marker. It's an oil-based paint that dries quickly on pretty much any surface. I use it a lot on rebar.

Dave

I'll try and not be too flippant but I know many surveyors who prefer to use invisible and fast fading ink. It's gone after a month or so.

But for normal marking on stakes I go with the rather pricey brand of "Redi Mark" black markers. Works good, soaks into the wood, and doesn't fade. Paint wise I go to Home Depot and get a case of florescent orange Rust O'leum (can't see pink due to geezer color blindness), which seems to hold up well in most weather on concrete & ashphalt, and desert sun (for a couple years anyway). I've got some good blue paint too. After it fades, not my problem.

Instead of paint to mark pipes why not consider some buried plastic flagging or metal markers above grade? Better yet, a record document that somebody can pick up and put in their hands and follow what is what?

$0.02

Wayne - Paint PEN, not spray paint.

> Wayne - Paint PEN, not spray paint.

Never had a PEN that painted, never even heard of such an invention. Not sure I want one either. It would likely soil my shirt and pocket protector, or worse yet my orange vest as I bent over to check out a monument or pick things off my boots. I hate it when my paint can goes off in my pocket.

All I said was my $0.02 and I've been through about a gazillion cans of paint in my life. Markers too. Just never merged them.

Great, more friggin' technology I've got to consider. Good idea, but bad timing....;-)

Go to Napa auto parts and pick up a paint pen. They are the types used for marking auto parts, so not great for most survey uses, but can't be beat for marking raw or painted metal.

I've been using these lately on a project that requires marking PVC pipe with something more durable than a Sharpie:

Thanks Dave!

Paint pens I've used don't leak, they have a spring loaded tip, which you depress to wet the tip.

They are good for writing on steel. I have used them in the past to mark depth indicators on steel piling.

They are handy in the automotive shop as well.

Same here. I have some Aervoe brand, and Umark brand. They both work pretty good.

I used them everyday when I was marking offset lines, 5' above FF, etc. at the hospital a few years ago. They made a good mark, and we would paint over them with clear coat and they lasted a long time.

I use them now for marking chisel marks in concrete curbs. I take my cordless skillsaw, and cut a arrow head (crow's foot) in the curb, or an "X", and then I will use the paint pen to fill it in with paint to make it "pop".

They also work good for a small traverse point on a concrete surface when it is a temporary point and you don't want to drive a nail. I also use them for writing a very small point number on a manhole lid or inlet grate when shooting topo. When we come back to measure inverts, it makes it much easier to makes sure we are labeling the invert sheet with the correct point number for the correct structure. It is not noticeable to the layperson. Much more professional, in my opinion, than the huge painted numbers I have seen in the past by dozens of manholes and inlets on streets and commercial sites.

I was going to suggest a similar one to that. They carry them at the big hardware stores. It's more like a grease pencil than a paint pen I suppose. Works well and lasts a while. Also, it can still write when the tip gets all dirty which was the problem I had with the paint pens. The tips would get worn out before they ran out of paint.

We typically use C.H. Hanson valve tip paint markers or UMark industrial paint markers to write on rail, spikes, tie plates, switches, signal boxes, etc... I also use them with some spray clear coat on concrete. We also use a Markal B Paintstik, it is similar to the one Jim posted but it's more like a crayon. It stays for awhile.