Hello,

Not to be evasive in answers to your questions Jay but I look up at the title of the current topic and the vein of the other contributions up till now on this thread and think that might take us a bit far afield. Were you to begin some new line of inquiry, say "How do we know what we know? A carpenters epistemology of methods and techniques." for example, that might be a better virtual space to go into the different segments you mention, and I will join in as I think the points you bring up are interesting even if somewhat ambitious.

That said, the greasy soot ink part does continue on in the spirit of the topic and I can contribute there with this anecdote from a year or so past. I generally tar the exterior of my barn every few years or so with a mixture that I have come up with myself through experimentation. A component of this mix is the addition of a black pigment which seems to give some protection to the base of pine tar, extending its life. But I also do a fair bit of mixing my own paints up and black is one of the handy pigments to have on hand though in talking it over with the pigment supplier last time I found that this soot pigment I was using for the barn is not so suitable for other paints as it will bleed through because of the particular oils it contains which we are all familiar with from looking inside the chimney or from the condensation that occurs inside of the woodfurnace when you start it up in the morning.
So the soot and water mixture would not be incompatible with the oily texture of the ink used that you are familiar with. In fact I understand that green, in the sense of wet, els, I'm trying to think of the English, alder, that's it, is said to give the best marking ink.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff