Preserving Autographs on Skates

[NickofSantaCruz 0]

Autographed schwag -> http://imgur.com/UQI9x7Z

I would like to continue to use these skates for recreation (not hockey), so at a minimum I need to protect the writing from ice/water damage.

The skates are Bauer 170 Supremes. The autographs were written with a metallic silver Sharpie.

I've contacted Bauer, CCM, and a number of chemical sealant companies for advice, and still have not received any conclusive answers.

Do you have any recommendations on what kind of sealant would be the best to preserve these autographs? From my research, I've narrowed it down to Atsko's Sno-Seal, as it is a wax sealant that will hopefully be easy and smudge-free in application and staying power; I will be conducting a test on it this week.

For the curious, I got these signed at a Meet The Sharks event; the skate is signed by Matt Irwin, Matt Nieto, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Tommy Wingels. The Sharks Territory sign is autographed by Doug Wilson.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Sno-Seal won't do it as it will smear.

Sno-Seal is used on figure skates with leather soles. It's still tacky after applied. You'll have messy hands every time when handling it.

[IPv6Freely 2096]

Clear nail polish?

[stevelknievel 51]

Or perhaps some automotive rattle can clear coat

[CathyGo 15]

I'd think any solvent-based clear coat would screw up the autographs while most water-based finishes obviously wouldn't do well with constant water exposure. At the minimum I would make a test piece with some plastic and metallic sharpie so you don't lose the autographs through a mistake.

Have you thought about maybe using some clear tape like stuff or vinyl over it?

[laserrobottime 149]

Clear adhesive vinyl.