[UrchinSushi]

Hi everyone, I've never done any pyrography before, and to tell the truth, had never heard the term until earlier this week. The reason I'm posting is to ask for some advice with a project I've taken on.

I train in traditional Japanese martial arts, and I'm constructing a "Nafudakake". Specifically, that's a board on which hangs nameplates for senior students. The last name of a given student is written on a piece of wood and hung on the board.

My sudden interest in pyrography stems from the fact that I would like to burn the names into the wooden plates, and since I have about a hundred plates to do, I'm wondering what the most efficient way to do that would be, while still maintaining the quality of the work.

I've thought of branding them - would the metal letters usually used for leather stamping and a blowtorch work? Should I use a woodburning pen? Any suggestions on types of wood to use?

As you can tell, I'm a bit lost for what to try. Any help from you would be greatly appreciated.

[AlArchie]

There doesn't seem to be much response here, so I'll take a stab at it.

Doing a hundred individually burned name plates seems like a monumental task for one person. Those leather punch letters would have to be applied individually and some of the cheaper stamps are made from pot metal....fine for stampting wet leather, but they would melt if heated to pyro temps. If you go this route, make sure you get a quality steel set of stamps.

Along these same lines, there are steel letter stamps that you just hammer into the wood. some sets are made especially for use in mild steel and others for use in wood. Check with Lee Valley, Rockler, or any of a bunch of woodcrafter supplies for these.

There are special tips and pens available for burning text, both cursive and caligraphy styles. These would probably be your best bet....they are designed to expedite text burning. Be prepared to spend around 80 to a hundred bucks for a decent pyro station and cursive pen or a pen with changeable tips and about 10 bucks apiece for individual tips.

If you are not committed to the wooden plates, there are those little metal clad cardboard circular tags that you can write names on and hang the tags on the board. Or even chaper, the round "buddy tag" type hanging tags used by the scouts and other formally controlled waterfront supervisors. Check with any office supply for these.

You can also order custom imprinted "wooden nickels" in a couple differentr sizes with your own logo printed on them. The back side could be then burned with individual names. Just "google" wooden nickels, and a dozen or so suppliers will pop up.

My suggestion would be to use the pyro pens designed for writing.....that would speed up the process imensely.

Al

[Pyrographer]

wooohooo I have to agree it sounds like a lot of work and expense. There are tips for writing but wooden plates are going to be expensive and yes it is going to be very time consuming.

A brand wouldn't work unless it's the same name on every plate so you would really have to hand write each plate.

If you are intending on doing just this project you wouldn't want to invest in an expensive burner either so you might want to check out the single temp burners. You can get a flow tip to do the writing. You can get cheapies in most craft stores or check out my site for a bit better quality one.

Nedra

[Thomp]

You didnt mention how much time you have to get er done?

i would suggest avery business cards if its within a week or so, or the clear overhead projector film printed on inkjet lots of names per page then modgepauge or decopauged on wood ..

otherwise you could use baltic birch, nameplate business card size cut outs of a hobby sheet from micheals or hobbie lobby.

hobby lobby has the $14.00 soldering iron wood burners, and some stamps,
if you could find 2 brands a small spearpoint and a large spearpoint shape you could write the names in a oriental style with only the 2 brands,
lots of the brands can be made of thick heavy copper or brass welding rod, it has to be threaded for some wood burning irons to fit the heated head in the tool..

but brass is worked easily with a hammer on a iron plate till flat then filed to size.
or a calagrafy tip started wide then twisted slowly while being drawn through the stroke, but some practice would be necessary

font look like attachment

not responcable for spelling firefox dont have a google taskbar spellchecker... Waah!!!

[UrchinSushi]

Thanks for your advice everyone! Looks like a have quite a job ahead of me. I have a feeling this is going to take a lot longer than I thought - perhaps I'll start out by stenciling the names in place and burning in one at a time - for a LONG time.

[papasar]

Hi and welcome to the board.
Since I do mostly chip carving, when I think nameplates then chip carving is the way to go. Very little outlay to get started. A good knife, sharpening stone and leather strop is all that is needed. Takes alittle practice but you can learn to carve a decent product in a very short time. Also have a Martial Arts background and am kinda familiar with centering and mind clearing meditation. I find chip carving to be a form of meditation except the answers I get to the unasked questions are more meaningful to me and I end up with a carving as a bonus.
Bill K.

[UrchinSushi]

Interesting. What's chip carving? I'd be interested to learn about it and see if I can give it a go.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Papasar....? Mind clearing and meditation? is that when I sit here trying to remember a word or something and my mind goes blank? OK I got it!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by UrchinSushi

Interesting. What's chip carving? I'd be interested to learn about it and see if I can give it a go.

chipcarving is a lot of fun.....if you are detail oriented and like symmetry.....basic tools like papasar said and the hardest part is to get the design down, the actual carving is fun, no brainer, just make your cuts....I said hardest part, that makes it sound very difficult and it isn't. enjoy! Should have mentioned...don't know about your local library, but if you have a good one ...look up chip carving by Wayne Barton....or by Dennis Moor...Dennis is Canadas answer to Wayne Barton lol, both great men and excellent chipcarvers.

[papasar]

Hi Ho,
Yur getting too predictable. As I typed I knew I was setting myself up for yur words of wit.
By the way, most of my custom work is anything but symetric. the plates usually have a theme relevant to th customer. e.g. animals, drama masks, facial profiles etc. True I do a lot of symetric work too, but I try to change before boredom sets in.
Bill K.