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.

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.  

Here are a few quick tips to maintaining and using the basic burner.

1.  The temperature of the burning tip will heat to between 600 and 900 degrees.  It will scorch or burn anything that it contacts including your work area and any pattern papers lying near it.  Use a heavy glazed tile or plate for resting the tool when it is not in use.

Click here for a close-up

4.  Although we are working here with a basic beginner's tool, my particular woodburner has interchangeable tips.  I have used electrical tape to secure a photo film canister to the mid-section of my burner's power cord.  I store my extra tips and a small roll of sand paper in this canister ... so when I go looking for the woodburner all of my tips are with the tool.

5.  Basswood is a favorite burning surface in this craft, however, butternut and sugar pine are just a couple of the other excellent woods that can be used.  Because of basswood's pale creamy color the different tones of shading work done with the burner are more obvious.  

6.  Smooth surfaces give you even straight burning strokes.  Rough surfaces can push or drag you tool's edge away from your pattern line.  Take the time to clean up any rough chisel or gouge strokes and, if necessary, sand your carving before you begin work with the burner.

7.  Avoid using an extension cord with your burner, if possible.  If it is necessary use one that is heavy-duty not a light weight cord as you would use to plug in a lamp.  The power supply pulled by the woodburner is significant and needs the extra heavy cord.

8.  Do not change out the tips of your tool until the tip that has been in use is completely cooled.  These tips are made from brass, a very soft metal that becomes softer with the high temperatures used in burning.  The tips are threaded so that they lock into the shaft area and this threading can become damaged when the tip is hot.  Once the threading is bent or warped the tip will not screw down tightly to the shaft causing uneven and uncontrollable lines in your work.  

The burning tip has three main areas for creating the burn stroke, the tip's point, the side, and the blade.

The blade, which is the sharp chisel edge of the tip, is the most used section of the tool.  This area is used to make lines from extremely fine light colored details to those heavy wide and dark strokes. 

The tip's point is fantastic for making dot patterns and textures as wood bark or heavy matted fur as on a Buffalo or Sheep.

The side of the tool is the shading area.  Laid over from the blade edge the side can create wonderful graduated tones in the scorching of the wood.

Woodburning 101
By L. S. Irish
The Basic Woodburning Tool
Basic Woodburning Strokes and Textures
Woodburning Scene Samples
Step by Step Instructions Project
Working With Watercolors
Adding Skin Color to your Portraits
The Color Wheel or Who is Roy G. Biv?
NEW! Wood Burning Sepia Values