Burn Baby Burn

-e- this piece turned out great! I like the pattern irregularity that you have done across the whole piece. Since it must get pretty charred by the time you're done burning it, how do you finish it off? Do you do some wirebrushing or what? Also what kind of finish are you using to keep the final piece from rubbing off charred black stuff onto the hands/clothes? Thanks, Jeff

hi jeff:
during the branding process, i use a small brass brush to keep the resins cleaned from the coil. I use this also to remove some of the residue from the initial brand and then may rebrand to get more uniform appearance.

However, the branding usually produces very little carbon, but rather a more oily resin. This is what creates the overall black color. Using shellac, I can set the resin, and then finish with Krylon Matt lacquer. Or, I could remove the resins with alcohol, producing quite a different look.

This process is very interesting because it does not burn the wood as much as almost fry it ... the wood becomes plastic-like and can be moved around with the coil until the ridges line up ... although there is quite a bit of smoke produced, there is very little carbon. So far I've used the process with the same results in almond, black acacia, valley oak, zebra wood, and cherry.

Thanks -e-, I find the effect quite fascinating and will have to give this a try. It sounds like a fun process and the results speak for themselves. I might buy a cheapie woodburning tool to get started...you're probably using one of those fancy "dial-a-heat" gizmos. Thanks for the outline of the process, it was very helpful!!!