Branding can be done on wood with just about any old bit of hot metal, but if you want to do it well, properly-crafted tooling will go a long way. [Wesley Treat] has built just that with this modular branding iron design.
The branding tooling itself is machined out of brass on an X-Carve CNC router, using [Wesley]’s own logo. The part is sanded after machining to remove tooling marks. A smaller brass slug is then machined with the numerals for various years with which [Wesley] may wish to stamp his projects.
Rather than hacking something sloppy together, the iron itself is assembled with a beautifully wood-turned handle of his own creation and a steel backing plate to hold the tooling. The date is separately removable from the main logo itself for easy changes in future. Naturally, the tool graphics are done in reverse so as to register the right way around when burned onto wood.
The tool is used with a torch to heat the brass up such that it can leave its impression on wooden surfaces. The final results are solid, if not quite perfect; getting the temperature across the tool perfectly matched would be key to getting the cleanest results. An electric heating element running in closed loop could be a way to achieve this.
Fundamentally, it’s a tidy way to mark your wooden projects in a hurry. We’ve seen wood burning reach even greater heights, too, such as with this CNC pyrography machine. Video after the break.
“Naturally, the tool graphics are done in reverse so as to register the right way around when burned onto wood.”
Unless you’re looking at the cover photo for the video :-P
I hadn’t heard of a branding iron being used against wood but this is certainly a much better option than lifestock because that design is needlessly oversized.
wine boxes for example
The resulting letters are less than 1/4″ tall. 👍
Thanks for the great idea I will try this this winter. Merry Christmas!
How long does that take to get hot? Seems extremely thick ? I have a bunch of 1/4 inch brass plate laying around and was going to make one of these though it’s not at the top of project list yet and was wondering the amount of time it would take to heat it up to be able to brand something