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I was sitting around wondering what kind of trouble I could get myself into when the topic of joining tops came to mind. Now, I do have a 'thing' for HHG because I find it fun to work with. When I'm not using HHG, I've mostly been using Lee Valley Cabinetmakers Glue. It has a lot of things in common with HHG. It has the open time of Titebond and other similar glues, but dries 'glass hard', stays on the surface, and has a very high solids content. The only real issue I had with it is that dries to a light brown color, so Lee Valley says it should not be used on light-color woods. I decided to see exactly what would happen if I tried it to join some tops and a Birdseye Maple back. I was quite surprised by the results. First, I made sure my joints were tight and then went ahead as usual. In Lutz, European, Sitka and Red Spruce, there was no difference compared to Titebond. I did two Engelman tops and one was fine, and one had a slight line down the middle (dirty finger contamination ?). Next was the Maple back. Being Birdseye Maple, the joint is visible ( like Curly Maple always is) but no visible glue line.
Another thing that causes 'choice' words in my shop is marking dark woods. I usually scribe a line and then use chalk dust. I just came across something that works much better, as long as your Ebony, Rosewood or whatever is sanded smooth. Sakura Jelly Roll 05 is an opaque white ink pen. It's available in three ball sizes, 0.8,0.5 and 0.3. I've been using the 0.3 for a week or so and I'm real happy with it so far. A pak of three is around five bucks.

Brent

Were these pens found in a chain art supply, like Michael's or Hobby Lobby?

In your favorite search engine look for: Sakura Gelly Roll pen

Lots of shopping options.

Don't sand too fine before using. On most woods 120 or 180 should be fine. I used my ROS with 220 on a Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard and it wouldn't mark as well because the surface was extremely smooth and hard. I was like trying to write on glass. A quick pass with 120 was enough to give traction to the ball.

Brent, have you used these yet? Do they sand off easily without reappearing (some inks resurface). I'm going to give it a go. I've been using the white or yellow art leads in my Staedler Mars mechanical pencil, sharpened to a fine point for most markings except inlay.

Thanks for the info.

Found them on Amazon. I tried to post a link, but the link isn't working. Just search "Sakura jelly roll .5 white" on Amazon and you'll find them