Well I have finally gotten around to doing my first woodburning. I burned the fur into a little chipmunk that I did a while back. I put up a couple of pics on the Picturetrail site. This was my first burn and I am eager for any comments and suggestions. This was also my first time using the burning pen, a Detail Master. I sharpened the tips before begining, but when I did two of my three tips broke What went wrong? Are they really that fragile?

[Nancy_G]

First, your chipmunk looks great . I can't wait to see him painted.

About the burning tips......Can I ask why you were sharpening what I'm assuming were new tips? New tips - especially Detail Master - should not need any sharpening or 'touching-up' at all. And they should not break. From your photos it's obvious that you weren't burning too hot or too hard. So I'm going to assume : that you sharpened the tips way too much --- so much you weakened them to the point of wearing them out. How did you sharpen them?

When I feel like a much used tip needs cleaning I swipe it gently across a fine emery board or fine diamond stone .... just enough to remove the 'gunk'. That action will also sharpen the tip a bit.

But - like I said - your chipmunk looks great. Keep going!!!!

[Donna_T]

Good Morning Mr. Munchkin,
I didn't see an address for your picture trail site, so I'll surf for it later. Woodburning can add so much to a carving but it is quite a bit of trial and error to establish you 'style.' I tend to burn really light--others really CHAR the carving. I've found that the light burn adds another dimension without making it difficult to paint over--requiring more layers of paint to cover the blackened wood. (One hint: use a stiff bristle toothbrush or brass bristle brush to brush ((with the flow of your burn)) to clean out the char BEFORE you paint.)

Now for sharpening wood burner tips. When using electronic burner tips, I don't actually sharpen them per se, but rather keep a piece of emory cloth or fine grit 200 or so wet or dry sand paper to strop once or twice on each side every now and then to remove any carbon build up. Some people like to turn the burner up to HIGH for 10 seconds every now and then to clear it, then turn it back down to do their burning and that serves a purpose, too.

I actually sharpened the old fashioned woodburner tip (you know--the kind you can get at WalMart where the tip is very bulky and it gets so hot you can hardly stand to hold it for more than 10-minutes!) But that's a different kind of burner. The electronic ones have very fine wire tips that won't take a lot of pressure or sharpening before they snap. So, a couple of strops on each side at about a 20 degree angle, should keep them clean, smooth, and fine enough to do the detail work you want.

Cheryl Dow had a good article in a recent Chip Chats about varying the direction of fur hair to give it some interest. The thing I've learned is to make flowing/curving lines that are staggered and all different lengths so you don't get a herringbone look--cross some hair over others, make some short, some longer.

Hope your broken tips were the replacable tips//not the fixed tip handle ones--OUCH! Why oh why do we have to learn the hard way??? Anyway, keep trying and you'll find the comfort zone of your burnning style.
Donna T

Nice little chippy, Munchkin! sorry I can't offer any advice onthe tips; I dont use that type of burner YET. so far I've only burned scales on fish with my own tips made from brass or copper rod.

Nancy's and donna's advice is probably best taken heed to. they both do excellent (amazing, actually) work with the pyro pens.

Al

[Bandaid]

Hi Al...I'm curious about your home made burning tips. Did you adapt them to fit an electric burner or do you heat them with another source? Could you give us some tips? Maybe a picture? I for one would be interested in making a couple for myself.

I don't know if I can get picturs that close with this Aiptek, but I can pretty well describe the things. Â*They are for the old style 'dime store hobby shop' pens with 8-32 threaded tips. Â*I have a small UniMat lathe I use to turn the base down to #8 dia ( I think that's 5/32') but with brass you could cut the threads into 3/16' shaft. Â*This is turned to about 1/2' lenght. Â*Then I turn the other end to the diameter of the scale I want to burn. Â*Then I counterbore the outer diameter with a slightly smaller bit, and follow that up with a countersink bit so the edge is sharp alround the whole circumference. Â*Next, I thread the shaft, full length. Â*then taking a file, cut one side of the counterbored/countersunk end just a hair past halfway. This then screws into the burner pen and is used to burn scale shapes into the body.

Sketch is up on Picturetrail under 'Other Stuff' Hope it makes sense, if not, email me at aarchie@myvine.com

Al

Well, perhaps I shouldn't say I was 'sharpening' the tips, maybe honing is a better word. One or two strokes on the extra fine stone and SNAP. Fortunately they were all replacable tips. I did it to get a finer edge. One didn't even make it to the stone, it snapped while I was a sanding a manufacturing imperfection off one of the leads (it wouldn't go into the pen) :. After looking closely at the piece, I think that they have a poor design for the pointed tips. They put a sharp bend in the tip so you get a kink which could turn into a crack. Look at one and you ought to see the problem. Oh well... I'm done ranting now. At least the chipmunk came out nice.

PS: the pics are on the carvers-r-us picturetrail site

[Callynne]

Nice chipmunk, Mr. Munchkin! Sorry to hear about your troubles with the tips. When I got mine they told me to clean the tips by either turning the heat up or lightly drawing it across the 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper. Said to be very careful doing that and not to do it often, as it would thin the tip and it would break. They are very fragile, hard to believe they hold up to the heat and wood, but so far mine have!
Anyhow, congratulations on your chippy, he's looking pretty cute already! Callynne

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I am not an expert woodburner, but I have a small leather strop I clean my tips on, I hate to put an abrasive anything to metal if not necessary because you are loosing metal each time, the leather strop seems to clean them just fine..if they get too bad, I use 2000 grit sandpaper...none of this means I am right...just what I do :

[Bandaid]

Thx. for the reply Al...I'm always interested in homemade tools and jigs. 8)