Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 August 29

= August 29 =

How to read writing on heated wood?
At primary school in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I made a wooden candle holder in woodwork class, and it was later processed by heating it to darken the wood. I still have the candle holder to this day. The problem is, it appears I wrote something on it in pencil back in the day, and can no longer remember what it was. The writing was made partly illegible by the heating. Is there any way I can enhance the legibility of the text to see what I wrote? J I P &#124; Talk 03:12, 29 August 2021 (UTC)


 * You could try taking a digital photo of it and using some type of image editor to manipulate the photo in a way that increases contrast. This might not be easy, though, and it might not work at all. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 05:36, 29 August 2021 (UTC)


 * This is like the problem of reading the Herculaneum papyri, which was done in the end with infrared photography. It's possible to get a result by tinkering with a digital camera to remove the infrared filter and then putting sunglasses against the lens (see article). Edit: I said it was done, but they still have some 500 scrolls unread, and it seems they're using "non-destructive Synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast tomography" now, which I think looks at the microscopic shape of the surface to see where the ink is. Still, infrared might help. Card Zero  (talk) 12:17, 29 August 2021 (UTC)
 * If this involves physically tinkering with my camera by disassembling it to access the internal components I'd rather pass. I don't want to risk breaking a camera that cost me over €300 just to get to read something I wrote in pencil. J I P  &#124; Talk 20:41, 29 August 2021 (UTC)
 * I would start by either photographing or scanning the writing as it is, and then trying to tinker with the image to see if you can bring out the lettering. I would expect scanning to work better, since it will be right on the surface of the scanner. You might also run this by your local photo store and see if they have any ideas. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:37, 29 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Some stubborn candle holders will not lie flat on the bed and may need to get rotated over a range of angles to get an atlas of partially sharp scans. --Lambiam 06:27, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
 * The part of the candle holder where I wrote the text is pretty much flat. It is supposed to be hanged on a wall, and the part with the writing goes against the wall. J I P  &#124; Talk 10:40, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Maybe the writing says "This side toward wall." :) Have you tried scanning it or photographing it? Do you want to upload the image here and let us take a shot at it? Or might it contain personal info? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:02, 30 August 2021 (UTC)
 * you could try changing the angle of lighting. A low angle of light and view might make the pencil appear more glossy. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 01:21, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
 * This would be my approach as well. Try getting a very bright flashlight and taking it into a dark room. Maneuver the light and candleholder around at various angles and see if you can pick anything up. If by chance your eyesight is less than excellent, of course bring someone else along to help look. Retswerb (talk) 08:07, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
 * In detective stories, writing has been recovered by putting thin, stiff paper over the sheet below the removed one written on, and rubbing the paper with a soft lead pencil. In the past, I’ve easily made images with a film camera, a red filter over the lens, and infrared film. The focus had to be adjusted slightly, and old cameras included a red mark for infrared focus next to the black mark for regular focus. I developed the infrared film myself. Lighting from an angle near the horizontal would more clearly define any indentation with regular photography. UV light might illuminate the graphite and charted wood differently. Edison (talk) 20:56, 6 September 2021 (UTC)