Japanese ink lines, who uses one?

[demographic]

I've used chalklines (think the people from over the pond call em Chalk Boxes?) for years and use my Tajima chalkline a LOT, used in conjunction with a laser level I can ping a line round a room in no time. Great tool for layout.

Recently I've bought a Japanese inkline and have to say its a nice bit of kit. Its self retracting, the line is very thin indeed so marks a good thin line and its handy for marking out plywood sheets.

I've been using the red ink which I might change over to black at some point cos the red is too close some of the board colours but I'm still quite impressed.
So, anyone else use them? There doesn't seem to be much information out there about them compared to chalklines.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I was attracted to ink line because it’s so much finer than chalk but I didn’t use it often enough to keep the ink from drying so...

 

[tjbnwi]

I use red and black. They’re nice for snapping out a floor that will see a lot a foot traffic before walls are up. Saves the step of laquering the chalk lines. They also work well for tile work where you happen to trowel over them and have to scrape back to the line.

As Michael pointed out, they can dry out if not used regularly.

I call the chalk ones chalk lines.

Tom

 

[HarveyWildes]

I've used one in the past, but I didn't use it regularly enough to keep it from drying out.  I like the thin line, but when I'm using a string to snap a line, I usually don't need a line that thin.  Instead, I've switched to a Japanese chalk line that seems to be quite a bit more accurate than the western lines available in NA.

 

[rst]

I've never used the ink line but the tajima chalk line impress' all the trades that have seen mine in use.

 

[demographic]

Coming back to this cos I'm still using it regularly at work.
Its really not rocket science to use, I've only used about a third of the little container of ink and most times can just wet the sponge with water to revitalize the ink.
Every once in a while it gets faint and I use the proper ink.

Great for marking out sheets when doing rough cuts and I don't want to be carting guiderails about.
Mines the Tajima one with the end like a chalkline instead of the pin, for me its more convenient.

I also have a Tajima chalkline which is by far the best chalkline Ive ever used but most of the time I prefer the inkline.
It looks like this.