I am using Paw Paw's stainless steel with zinc coated metal plates. I have gone back to using pencil to write the labels. Plastic knives are great but they get targeted by critters who like to pluck and toss them. The thing to watch is that your pencil is actually made of graphite. Some pencils, whatever they are composed of, react with the galvanizing, which was a bit of a shock to me.