Any woodworkers?

This is my method. Everyone has thier own.

I have 3 different ones.
Make sure mark fits while cold. Make sure my work is secure with no wobble when pushing down with mark.
Lightly wet a paper towel, and lay it down where the mark will go.
Heat mark with plumbers torch to 525-575 by my lazer thermometer. Test mark on scrap of same wood for a count of 5. Check result.

Reheat and burn if I like it, if not adjust time or temp.

Hope it helps.

I would love to hear how others do it.

 

Its quite an art it seems. I'm cooling it down now to check the fit before I try again later.

 

This is helpful. I’ve tried using marks before but with little success. Never thought of the wet paper towel before

 

It seem to help keep the edges of the design more crisp. I don't know who I picked the idea up from. Credit to who ever came up with the idea.

 

Ill try the wet paper towel.

I do a kind of heavy burn in then sand it, also seems to help with discoloration

 

Definitely trying that. Thanks!

 

https://youtu.be/KkNhWgoTtd8

 

I miss Norm.

I learned so much from him.

 

Norm got many people into wood working, I watched his shows every Sunday for years. I actually built his miter saw station but that's in my old house, the ex has it after the divorce. But what norm did for the wood working community was priceless and no one has contributed as much. There have been many skilled craftsman on TV that also contributed but norm was and still is an icon.

 

When my daughter was about 7 years old, she would always refer to him as “Abe Norman”.

 

Whats the instructions say for letting the iron heat up? My opinion, its not getting hot enough. Or you havent pressed on the wood long enough.

 

but first , lets talk about shop safety...

 

I know you guys said to stay away from the crappy sears/craftsman direct drive tablesaw junk but here I am, with two free setups of said junk. I’m not a serious woodworker so I think they will suffice my needs for a while and they were FREE so I couldn’t say no, I like free. I might only keep one though since I don’t have the most space to work with. I’m really interested to see how the dust collection works on the older unit and it’s nice it came all setup as it did albeit being an old ass Duracraft saw and the table being heavy as a MFer(I’m not sure what the tabletop material is). Might try to mount the craftsman in the table setup cause it’s newer but these two saws are kinda identical otherwise so not sure it’s worth it until the motor craps out.

 

Well you can't beat the price! Run em until they crap out and then just pitch em. Your already a winner. Keep the one with the dust collection for sure. If you decide you like this wood working addiction you can always upgrade later.

 

The instructions say wait 10-30 minutes for it to reach the right temp. Then press on the wood for 5 seconds.

I let it go for more than 30 minutes. And I have done a range of time for pressing it on. The water helped some. I think I need to get the fit a little better maybe cause I adjusted it to see how it works and now its a little more Crooked maybe. The ones I did yesterday afternoon did a little better.

 

@Gen1TacoLady id try a little butane torch, hit it maybe 10 seconds on the brand. Then press it flat on the board, at least 8-10 seconds. You should see a little smoke coming off the wood. Press towards and away from you. If that makes sense.


If you arent seeing a little smoke when you press it on the wood its not getting hot enough.

 

I can't imagine holding a torch on that for 30 minutes. That seems crazy. Mine took just a few minutes. I moved it slowly around the face of it then pressed it to the wood until a little smoke came out. Definitely some trial and error involved.

 

Its electric

 

lol. Didn't even see that! Mine is manual - gotta torch it.