Kathy,
I too am pretty new and have been using the blue painter's tape since I started. I tried masking tape but just couldn't see the engraving well enough.

Another tip for doing pens that I read somewhere...find a piece of dowel rod that's the same size and engrave it first...

Mike

Mike:

Both are good ideas. The advantage of the dowel is that it also lets you determine the power you need without blowing through the cap of the pen to the brass. I am the voice of experience.

There was a similar thread about testing engraving on jewelry, that I lost but wanted
to in-put that Quality One Engravers in Rancho Cucamonga has a great product we
use. It is a green translucent tape in 2" width that you can apply to the surface of
items and using a very light pressure, test engrave either burnish or diamond drag
engraving. I think it was around $40. a roll, but lasted us about 2 1/2 years with 2
engravers using it. Sometimes I've reused it if it had some unused areas. We also
use it as a mask or surface guard on metal or plastic plates and always when rotary
engraving on acrylic or any highly polished surface using a nose cone to control depth.
When deep cutting thick brass or engravers brass to depths of up to .05, requiring
multiple passes, we've re-applied new tape after every couple of passes it it does
start to peel. I've never had a failure or nose cone shadow as long as I paid close
attention to it. "Try it, You'll Like it." Ward Stenson : Never too old to learn