Wood burning makers mark

[dbhost]

There will be a question at the bottom under the photos for those that have this type of makers mark / branding iron so keep scrolling!

As you likely know, I got a rubber stamp made, USA made by an Etsy maker in Nebraska I think it was. Nice work, and they did a good job with the Amish Heritage Workshop logo, but it is big, and has a tendency to have the ink smear when I apply a brush on clear. The smear can be mitigated by spray on clear, but it doesnot address the size issue.

I decided I wanted a wood burning makers mark, specifically for my youtube channel, and that goes by another name, and I wanted something that would be legible at a 1x1 inch size I found a makers mark on Amazon for under $30.00 custom made and shipped to my door (from China), They knocked the thing out and got it shipped in what I swear was minutes, tracking showed it in transit for a total of 16 days, most of that slogging over the pacific and going through Customs.

Anyway I oped for a design that is a circle, bottom part mean tto look like tree trings, top part meant to look like a sawblade, and a band in the middle. Text says Handcrafted by Daves Workshop.

It came in today, I assembled it, and got to work. And boy is it tricky.

Do NOT heat up the iron to 5 minutes, no matter how light your touch you WILL burn pitch black and way too deep.



The blade part, and tree rings are too dark, but the handcrafted by Daves Workshop looks reasonable.

I thin let it cool, some, applied pressure to the saw / top part and kind of rolled the thing to the tree ring part and rolled it off. And got this... Aside from me being an idiot and getting a blurry pic because I can't hold the camera steady, it actually came out good.



I let it cool down fully, and then tried again, 3 minutes on the flame, light touch and rolled sawblade to tree rings. Obviously didn't spend enough time at the sawblade.



Long story short, this is gonna take some time to get it right. And I am not super certain how I feel about having to heat it up with my camp stove whenever I want to use it... But it beats $100+ for an electric!



NOW THE QUESTION!

For those of you that have gotten the hang of this type of branding iron. Do you have any recommendations for getting consistent, repeatable, good results from branding? I am pretty sure the tree ring part is dark because the metal is closer together on that end, but, well, I just want some consistency which is why I got the rubber stamp in the first place...

[LCHIEN]

Can you post a quality picture of both the metal brand and the original artwork so we can judge how close is too close?

It would appear that the line density (or maybe it is the line thickness?) being high in one area and low in other areas makes it hard to get a consistent brand across the entire image width.

Maybe that's too fine to do in a 1" diameter brand?

[LCHIEN]

Can you post a quality picture of both the metal brand and the original artwork so we can judge how close is too close?

It would appear that the line density (or maybe it is the line thickness?) being high in one area and low in other areas makes it hard to get a consistent brand across the entire image width.

Maybe that's too fine to do in a 1" diameter brand?

Maybe send these pics to your vendor and complain, esp if he provided the artwork, as being unsuitable for this size or purpose/

[LCHIEN]

Can you post a quality picture of both the metal brand and the original artwork so we can judge how close is too close?

It would appear that the line density (or maybe it is the line thickness?) being high in one area and low in other areas makes it hard to get a consistent brand across the entire image width.

Maybe that's too fine to do in a 1" diameter brand?

Maybe send these pics to your vendor and complain, esp if he provided the artwork, as being unsuitable for this size or purpose/

[dbhost]

Can you post a quality picture of both the metal brand and the original artwork so we can judge how close is too close?

It would appear that the line density (or maybe it is the line thickness?) being high in one area and low in other areas makes it hard to get a consistent brand across the entire image width.

Maybe that's too fine to do in a 1" diameter brand?

Maybe send these pics to your vendor and complain, esp if he provided the artwork, as being unsuitable for this size or purpose/

I actually picked the artwork from the brand makers list of options. I was thinking the tree ring part might just be a wee bit high... It was H002

Will snap a pic of the brand tomorrow.

[LCHIEN]

I think H005 or H009 in retrospect would be better choices because of their similar image density all around.

[LCHIEN]

Just thinking back about my brand, some suggestions...

I find I have to rock the brand slightly in all directions, right and left and then top and bottom to get uniform burn, other wise the sides or top and bottom don't get dark enough, I suspect its because I don't get perfectly flat on the brand face, rocking it gets contact all around, imagine that the face is slightly convex. Just a slight rock. And maintain some firm pressure, not a light touch. This keeps the brand from moving and becoming blurred as you rock.

Finally, if you overburn it or even part of it, sanding will reduce the overburn. So I would think perhaps some selective sanding in the wood rings area might help some.

Practice!

[dbhost]

So I got to looking at it. High spots and low, so I swiped it briefly with some 120 grit and tried again...

2 minutes on the heat, and it wasn't legible at all, way too light.

Another minute, really nice and legible, but still light...

Step away to answer the door, come back and hit it with 3 minutes of flame, dark, but not distorted. And VERY repeatedable.





I think from dead cold, I should go for about 3 minutes maybe 15 seconds over a medium flame, the dark is good, the lines are clear and crisp, just the stuff between is smoked up..

All in all pretty happy with it.

[LCHIEN]

And you could probably make the lines more distinct with a light pass of sandpaper over the rings - it will remove the smoked up part.

[dbhost]

I'll try that.