Protecting autographs on a bat

[richpick]

I have a commemerative bat from the Dodgers 1988 World Series victory which has been signed in blue sharpie by seven of the Dodgers. I have heard especially with blue sharpie you must be careful of fading. Somewhere I read that you can laquer the bat and that will protect the signatures has anyone heard the pors and cons of this?

[woodbat]

Hi,
I have never put any kind of coating over an autograph on a bat. It has been my experience that when ever possible, use a black sharpie. I have some bats signed in blue and over time they will tend to "lighten" and take on a blue greenish hue. The less exposure to light will lengthen the life of your blue autograph. If you wish to coat your autograph, why not take a "firewood" bat , put you a blue autograph on it and then do your coating and see what happens. If it works, then you have that variable defined. Good Luck.
Would I ever coat an autograph on a bat?? Nope........
woodbat

[richpick]

Thanks, I actually read somewhere (I can't remember, old age I'm now 40!!) about doing this if I remember I will post. Thanks.

[richpick]

Here it is in signingshotline.com community board.

http://www.signingshotline.com/UBB/UBBcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=21;t=000007

The poly is polyurethane. Anyone ever done this?

[icollectDCsports]

I would not think application of polyurathane would prevent fading caused by exposure to light.

And I would think there's some risk that polyurathane and other clear sealants will interact with the ink to cause fading or discoloration. Not to mention the risk of the sealant itself from discoloring over time (I know some are not supposed to yellow over time, but why take the chance?)

Clear sealants may protect signatures from any damage that may be caused by moisture or oils from hands, but the best thing to do is to control the room humidity and not touch the bats on the autographed portions.

[kylehess10]

I've always had my signed bats in those cheap (usually around $5) bat tubes which are UV protected. I had my Chipper Jones game used bat signed in-person in 2003 and I had it in a bat tube until this year when I moved it into one of my cases. The signature is still perfect and looks as if I just got it signed yesterday.

[MSpecht]

I agree, UV protected tubes help, but the # 1 factor is keeping the signature away from direct exposure to light, the same as with auto'd balls, photos, etc...

Here is a posting on this site that may be useful

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/blog/post.php?topic=147

Good Luck

Mike Jackitout7@aol.com (Jackitout7@aol.com)

[JCC1968]

Hi

With Sharpies i usually will press down on the fine tip and bunt it up some. It works well and you get more ink on the signature of your bat. This works well for silver Sharpies as well.

Thanks
Jason