: This is probably a really dumb question, but here goes. While making a
: Greenland "stick" out of a rather dark cedar 2x4, I had problems
: making visible layout lines without impressing them into the wood to the
: point that they were difficult to remove without taking off a lot of extra
: wood with them. I used the softest pencil I could find in the house, to no
: avail. Are there special layout pencils for this purpose? Markers won't
: work since the cedar would soak up the ink like a sponge. Is there such a
: thing as a fine line chalk pencil?

just guessing but

a white pencil crayon?(hard) charcoal artist pencils?(softer) pastels(real soft)

i've often sprayglued on(very lightly on the paper not the work - if the paper's light and the work curved, it'll conform somewhat - who cares abt some ripping)light tracing paper and mark that up and cut to the lines etc. Then no part of the work is marked. and the paper just peels off. and you can redo it and redo it.

a chalk line and move the work around snapping to the lines?

masking tape wrapped around at intervals along the work and mark that up?

reall thin masking tape and use the thin tape as the drawing - will conform to curves and be pulled tight to be fairly straight.

some ideas

-mick