TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

• Woodturner unit
• Tips / nibs
• Ruler - for straight lines and measuring
• Compass - circles
• Pencil and sharpener
• Needle nose pliers, to help take nibs off
• Eraser
• Tape

Tracing paper / graphite paper - to transfer your design, use tape to hold your design in place when transferring. Use a red or blue pen to trace with. This way you will know where to start and stop on your transfer. BUT do not push too
hard or you will dent your wood.

WOOD

Try to use light color wood to show off the burning.

• Holly - nice light color wood, easy to burn
• Birch
• Sycamore
• Maple

BURNING UNIT

Research and find a unit that will fit your needs. If you only plan to sign your
work then get a basic model from local craft store.

NIBS / TIPS

Cleaning - sand paper, but use fine and be careful not to over sand.

•  Honing stick or block
•  Emory cloth
•  Steel wool , fine
•  Aluminum oxide
•  Razor blade, to scrape off build up on the nib

PRO ( P ) Con ( C )

Hot wire nibs	Solid point nibs
P - heat fast	P - cheaper cost
P - cools quickly	C - screw in nibs take longer to cool down To switch tips
P - smaller tips	C - takes longer to heat up
P - lighter weight.
P - easy to handle
C - tips can break easily
C - expensive

COLORING
Use color after you burn, the burn lines will act as a border for  the color so it does not bleed.  Go light to dark, You will not be able to lighten any color  once it is absorbed into the wood.

• Alcohol base dye
• Alcohol , use to thin your color
• Brushes
• Paper towels - for blotting brush

SELECTING THE RIGHT NIB

• SKEW: ( looks like razor )
• Use for lines:
•  Fine , crisp lines
•  Good for straight lines, edging
•  Good for cross hatching, for shading
• When using a skew, keep clean and sharp ( Honed ),
• Pull towards you - do not push away from you.
• When turning, you will need to guide your board in the
• Opposite direction you are turning so your nib continues
• to pull toward you.

• WRITER: Like a pencil ( my favorite tip to use )
• Use for signatures, floats like a pencil, travels in any direction.
• Different sizes - fine lines to heavy lines.
• Lines - crosshatching for shading, texture
• Stippling - time consuming, good for shading, texture

.

• SHADER:
• Good for filling in background, blacked areas, gives depth.
• Good for large areas.

• SPOON
  
• Shader is good for soft shading.
• When using a shader, use a sweeping motion, lifting off and upward.

PENS:
They get very hot to hold when you burn at a high temperature.
You can use pen grips to help control the heat. They also give
cushion / comfort when holding the pen. They come in a few styles,
you will have to find the ones that best fit your pen style and your comfort.

WHEN BURNING:
You can use a fan to PULL AWAY the smoke as you burn.
Do not position the fan to blow at the pen, this will cause the smoke to blow on you and cool your tip as you are trying to burn causing it to burn inconsistently.

Choose unfinished wood to burn on. If you burn on finished wood it will cause more smoke and possibly toxic fumes. It also does not burn as easily when there is a finish on it because you are first trying to burn through the finish.

FINISHES:
When you are done burning, you can then choose to color your piece or not,
Then finish it. You may first want to take a light sanding to the piece to
Smooth any roughness before applying your favorite finish you normally use.