Wire Burning

I have used brass and stainless steel.

Gradually increase pressure until you get the desired result.

Higher speeds = more friction, more heat.

Just don't wrap the wire all the way around! Hold it against the wood so you are covering about 1/4 or 1/3 of the cylinder.

Dan

Also, make some proper handles for the wire -- don't wrap them around your fingers or anything such as that. Wire can 'catch'.

Bill

Dan Boll>> 1. Which is the best type of wire to use?

I don't use copper or brass. Conducts heat better than steel, and you don't want to conduct heat away. Annealed steel picture wire, or home annealed - heat and allow to air cool - wire of larger diameter work ok. Pressure is more important than speed, since friction is a function of pressure and the coefficient of friction. Problem arises when you try to press on a sloped surface, and the wire slides.

Answer is to make a groove in advance to guide the wire. Tip of the skew is the normal recommendation, but I prefer to lay my parting tool on its side and scrape a spot. Much more secure, and you're going to burnish the rough scrapes away anyway. Don't wrap more than halfway, as you can then get caught up. I don't use handles, but I'm using less conductive material, and not wrapping around my fingers, so it matters little. Couple of dowels will suffice. Groove and wrap the wire around them.

You can do the burn with other things too. I use Formica samples, corner and edge to do the job, but they're stinky. They will allow you to make burned rings on flat surfaces, however. Or you may simply do the Boy Scout trick and rub wood against wood. Leaves a possible ember on the rub stick, so I consider it a bit risky around shavings and dust.

Tom Here you go, third tip down.

I use plain old "stove pipe" wire, it conforms to the shape better than stiff wire, hold the pressure end with a pair of pliers and the other end by hand, increase pressure until desired affect is achieved at a moderate/high speed.

Walt Conner

Thank you, As usual you guys jumped in and gave me the answer.

Tom

I agree with most of what was said.

I use whatever wire is handy--several widths. 1 is soft (iron) mechanics wire. two are stiffer model airplane control wires. Always wanted to use some wire violin strings, but never found any when I needed them.

I bought a some 1" wood beads, drilled thru them for handles. I figured they would pull out of my hand if the wire got caught on something.

I found that a light groove, a touch with the corner of a skew or parting tool, lets me start the wire right where I want it, and keeps it from slipping.

I usually sand the wood down to about 240 grit before I burn, then lightly sand the burn with 320 grit.

Speed about medium. Press down on the wire to start it, and heat it up, then press hard for the mark.

Easier done than talked about. Do 5 then you'll be an expert.

Old Guy

Hello Tom,

I demonstrated the use of burning wires at The Woodworking Shows for a several years (in addition to numerous other turning demos). If you want to make your own, the best wire to use is piano wire. It will hold up the best under the high heat and friction caused during the burning.

Check your phone book for piano repair folks and call them about getting some of their broken piano wire. Replacing wires is not uncommon whilst tuning a piano and a length of wire will make several sets of burning wires. With a collection of different sizes collected over time (there are several wire sizes in a piano), you will be well on your way to making a durable set of burning wires.

Several of the other posters gave good safety and application advice as well. The wires are held taught on the wood when burning. Always use the proper grip and use insulating wooden handles to protect your hands. The lathe speed is determined by the project... I burn pens at 3,900 RPM, 10" bowls at 750-850 RPM etc. You can tell quickly if it is turning fast enough to burn, adjust if necessary - if you can do so safely.

When you have completed the burning, a slight fuzzy black zone will be visible next to your jet black burned line. This is because the heat from the burning dissipates to each side of the line, causing a fading out of the burned line.

To remove this, simply resand over the burned area with the last (final) grit you used, before you began burning. A very light resanding will remove the fuzzy black area and leave you with a crisp black line.

An alternate method to prevent the fuzzy black line is to use a product called KT Sanding Sealer. It is brushed on the bare wood before burning and allowed to dry. Then you can burn *most* of the time, without any fuzzy lines. This is one of the products that professional wood burners use on carvings that need to be burned, but can't be sanded afterwards. I have used it for a couple of years and it works great.

Turn a starting grove in the wood before burning to prevent the wire from skating on the surface. This is particularly important when creating complex designs where the burned lines are very close together, say a few millimetres or so.

One last caveat, police up and sawdust and shavings under your bedways before burning. Occasionally, smouldering wood dust from the burning will drop down onto the bedways. As we used to say in the Fire Department, "Better Safe Than Sorry When It Comes To Fire Prevention". If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best wishes to you in all of your woodturning endeavours!

Website:

Hi Tom

Tom I have used different wires, not only different metal but also size wise, copper won't stand up it'll break, brass is much better, stainless is much better and just mild steel wire will work fine also.

Cut a starting groove so your wire is not running away from the spot where you started, and keep your wire lined up with the direction of the line on your wood, but on a curved or sloping sides the wire wants to slip down even with a little groove cut.

For the curved sides I have used a sharp bone wedge, very dense wood works also to make burned grooves.

Depending the width of the burn line you want, you need thinner or thicker wire, and I find a thin sharp defined line looks better usually on smaller pieces.

I used to just hold the wire with a pair of vicegrip pliers, but then kept loosing the wires, so I made a Burning tool, one with 2 dowels on the ends, wrapped around the dowel twice, then around itself a couple of times, I used a length of piano wire, you can get that in different sizes, haven't lost it yet, and it works well, it's easy to hold and I don't get hot fingers.

The heat build up while you hold down the wire against the wood, only if it turns, the faster the less time to cool down and the quicker the heat buildup, the longer the contact area the greater the resistance, and in turn the more heat generated.

So the more feet per minute the more heat for the same pressure and the same length of surface contact, you van change these values, but all the pressure with no slippage will generate no heat, a lot of slippage needs only a little pressure for heat generation.

And Yes be careful, the wood will tend to grab the wire the moment the wood surface changes and starts to burn, so no wires around your fingers, also that wire gets VERY hot, don't burn yourself.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Tom, you might like to try turning a tiny groove then burning it in with the sharp edge of a sliver of ebony, padauk etc.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

First tof all, make some simple wooden stick handles to hold the wire without having your fingers anywhere near it!

Soft, non-rusting, heat-resistant and likely to retain all three qualities. I use soft stainless steel lockwire, from an engineering, motor-racing or aircraft supplier. Every toolbox should have a roll of this stuff! Aerospace baler twine.

For thin stuff I use nichrome resistance wire (heater element), although I can snap this by hand if I pull too hard.

Loose, then gradually pulled tight around a small curvature of the wood. Only an inch or so should be tight and burning at a time.

Low, so you can control it. Doesn't take long and it's easy to overdo it.

If you get white lines with black sides, you're pulling too hard (charring the sides, scrubbing through the middle)

All the wire options have been covered. As far as holding the wire, a better alternative to dowels is to pick up a mini hacksaw from the dollar store (a regular hacksaw works if you have an extra one laying around). Remove the blade and replace it with a length of wire. This gives you one-hand operation, good control, and insulates the hand from the heat.

B.

Hi Buddy

Yes Buddy, I've read this before and it is a very neat burning tool, but especially on small turnings, you have only a small contact area, I do like to go around a little ways.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

messagenews:9%mvh.59848$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...

Just would like to add that I use old electric guitar strings (wire) that my son had. Comes in 5 different sizes and have held up very well.

Acoustic ones work as well :-) We blugrass players tend to have too many guitar and banjo strings around. On the other hand my son wants me to refurbish my old electric guitar and build another one. Ok two, he wants another one as well.

Gotta jump in here, softly...

DON'T buy those P.O.S. wire burners with the wood knobs on the end.. they really suck...

I've used just about everything mentions, including a few of the wife's old violin strings..... burn the plastic coating off on a piece of scrap.. DAMHIKT

mac

Hey ol' timer!

I also like to bend the wire a bit... this probably sounds weird, but on pens, I hold the wire either under the pen or on the back side, so I can see the progress of the burn...

It's a real bitch to find out after removing the wire that you either burned too deep, or that the wire made a nice groove but the wood didn't char...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Mac ??? OK where have you been all those years, or is it months ?? seem like it was a long time Mac !! Good to see you are still alive and kicking. I have been wondering how you where doing in your new place, got it all set up the way you want ??, I assume not, seems like those things always take longer than forever ;--))). I've been kind of busy also, helping out both my sons, got 7 grandkids now !!!!! and one more expected later this year, and they are a lot of fun to have around, good reason to turn kid toys also. I am at my youngest son right now, we build a good pick-nick table and are working on a storage place for his garden equipment and other stuff, like snow thrower. We just got back from HD and Busy Bee, with a Delta Midi and Oneway Chuck and a set of turning tools, my son does want to be able to turn some spindle turning stuff, and I can use it also when I'm over here ;-)). Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo