Woodburining 101

Woodburning can greatly enhance your carving project. Used to create fine line detailing or sepia tones of shadowing, with just one tool and a few basic strokes this craft will open a new dimension to your finished work. Once you catch the "burning bug" you will soon discover that the complete design can be created using just this tool. Woodburning is a lot more than just dark brown outline on a piece of wood. From pale golden shading to dark textured areas, there is a wide range of coloring that the burner will make. The Mountain Goat portrait, right, has been carved into a 3/4" oval basswood plaque. Once the basic carving was completed each area of the design was carefully smoothed to give a clean and even surface for the burned details. All of the facial hair work and shadowing on this project was done using just the basic tip for the woodburner. Click here for a close-up. There is a nice variety of woodburners available. The basic beginner's tool is a one piece construction with the tip set permanently into the shaft. This tip is a cylinder that has been sliced at an angle on two sides to create a crisp slanted edge, much like a skew chisel. It is an excellent addition to your carving kit. As you progress into this hobby tools are available with interchangeable tips giving you a wider selection of burning strokes. Beyond the basic tip you can now add large and small cones, shading tips, and even preformed specialty tips for cross hatch work. The advanced burner will find woodburning tools with built in thermostats to give greater control to the tip temperature. There are great range of interchangeable tips to these tools including pre-sized fish scales, down feather tips, and specialty textures. I will be using a basic beginner's tool for this tutorial on woodburning. Your burner has an electric cord to provide power to heat the burning tip, a shaft, hand shield, and a brass burning tip.