Pyrography Branding


Molly Winton explains how you can use pyrography and homemade brands to embellish your projects

Soldering wood detail with a burner tool
Table of Contents

Designs can be imprinted into the surface of the wood by stamping a heated shape into the wood fibres, just as branding is done to mark ownership of cattle. Brands can be made using nichrome wire, copper rivets/nails, copper tubing, and/or brass tubing. When copper and brass are used, ensure they are solid copper or brass, not plated. Copper conducts heat better than brass, although brass does work. Nichrome wire can be bent and configured by hand, or through the use of a variety of pliers or wire-bending tools prior to heating the wire.

Once the wire has been heated (annealed), the metal hardens and will no longer be flexible. Attempting to bend and manipulate annealed wire will result in breakage. This article will explore the use of nichrome wire brands only.

Interchangeable tip pens

In order to be used, the homemade brands must be attached to a power source to heat the tips/brands you intend to use. An interchangeable tip pen that is capable of securing the legs of the tip/brand to the pen body must be used. Pens with set screws are necessary to ensure the electrical current travels up one leg, through the body of the brand, and then back down through the second leg. If electrical conductivity is broken, or not secure, the brand will not heat.

There are numerous machines available. Some are perfect for pyrography – which typically uses low heat – but branding requires a high-heat output using potentially quite thick tips and some units cannot deliver the heat output to brand well. Also, some of the handles can become hot when used with high-heat output, which makes them uncomfortable to use. You also need to find a holder that feels right, does not get hot, can deliver the heat output required and can be used with a variety of wire thicknesses to create the effects you want. The best thing to do is to talk to people already doing this type of work and ask what they are using. Talk to retailers too and it is also worth trying before you buy.

Making the basket-weave brand

Two spools of Nichrome resistance wire.
1. Bare nickle-chromium resistance wire (nichrome) is needed to make the brands. It does not seem to matter whether it is nichrome 60 or 80. Both work fine. Two sizes (22 gauge, and 20 gauge) are commonly used by the author. The higher the number, the finer the wire
Assorted pliers and wire on white background.
2. The equipment you’ll need to make the basket-weave brand: locking vice grips, wire cutters, needle-nose pliers, a mandrel and approximately 130mm length of 20-gauge nichrome wire
Close-up of wire bending tool in use.
3. Use the locking vice grips to anchor the wire, with approximately 25mm of the wire extending along the mandrel base (this is one leg of the brand) next to the base of the round mandrel. The wire needs to be firmly anchored, with no wiggle
Close-up of wire coiling around metal tool
4. Maintaining strong tension on the wire, wrap it snugly against the mandrel with no gaps between the coils
Hand winding wire around screwdriver.
5. Wrap a total of five coils with the wire exiting the brand on the same side of the mandrel that the wire entered the coils
Close-up of fingers holding small metal tool and coil
6. Release the vice grips and slide the brand off the mandrel
Using pliers to coil metal wire tightly.
7. Now grip the coiled end of the basket-weave brand with your pliers
Close-up of hand using pliers on wire coil.
8. Hold the coils between the jaws of the needle-nosed pliers gently but firmly, so they don’t distort, and bend the shorter of the two legs parallel to the other
Close-up of pliers bending wire.
9. Trim the legs to approximately 20mm. Leaving the legs too long will lose stability of the legs when the brand is heated and applied to your project
Hand holding small metal spring coil
10. The completed brand

The basket-weave pattern

Hand weaving decorative pattern on wooden block.
11. To get a nice, even pattern you need to view the work as if the surface is gridded out with squares or rectangles to match the shape and size of your brand. Draw in a grid if you want. Keep your brand in line with the starting position and gently place the brand onto the surface. Maintain an even pressure until you get the shading and depth you want. Now make another brand in the same orientation, next to your previous one. Rotate your brand 90° to the previous ones and create two new brands side by side. Then repeat the process until you have finished

Make your own mandrel

Four drill bits with green handles on surface.
12. Make your own inexpensive mandrels by purchasing hex-ended drill bits and removing the fluted portion of the drill. I found this two-piece set that works great for my standard size, and small size brands – 1.5mm and 2mm

Making the S spiral bend

Wooden organiser and tools for jewellery making
13. The equipment you’ll need to make the S spiral brand: locking vice grips, needle-nose pliers, dual round cone pliers, something to hold the vice grips (you can use a bench vice) and an approximate 150mm length of 20-gauge nichrome wire. The types of pliers and clamps shown will help make most brands so you are set to go with making many more brands to suit your requirements. All you need in addition is a selection of nichrome wire in various gauges
Holding needle with pliers, close-up view.
14. Lock the wire securely within the jaws of the vice grips, extending the wire approximately 25mm into the jaws
Using pliers to bend jewellery wire close up
15. This 25mm length will be one leg of the brand. Bend the wire extending out of the jaws, so it is perpendicular to the secured leg
Hand holds pliers, bending thin wire.
16. Hold the wire in a relaxed underhand grip with your right hand, and the left hand holding the vice grips
Hand holding pliers bending wire loop
17. Rotate the vice grips to make a tight centre hole of the spiral
Hand holding a spiral silver bookmark
18. Continue to rotate the vice grips, gently feeding the wire into the spiral and leaving a small gap between the wire. After two spirals, stop and secure the vice grip into something that will hold it (I used my tool box; a bench vice is also handy)
Two pliers shaping metal wire spiral
19. Firmly grasp the long end of the wire, close to the spiral, with the round cone pliers
Close-up of pliers holding a metal ring
20. Bend the wire back on itself to create a S-shaped profile. The severity of the profile is up to you, but a gentle curve is what I am aiming for with this brand. This is the beauty of brands; you can create as many variants or styles to suit your requirements and tastes
Pliers bending wire into intricate spiral shape.
21. Bend the long end of the wire backwards, snug against the right side cone
Pliers bending metal wire into loop shape.
22. Remove the brand from the vice grips and continue to grip the cone pliers firmly. Gently move the long end of the wire to the inside of the first leg. There is enough flex in the wire to manage this without distorting the brand
Hand shaping wire spiral with pliers
23. Continue bending the long portion of wire to cross under where the wire enters the cone plier, making a circle
Close-up of a decorative metal spiral design
24. Switch to the needle-nosed pliers, spanning the top circle, and bend the long end of the wire down parallel to the first leg
Close-up of a metal spiral clip
25. Gently tweak the coils of the brand to ensure each coil is on the same plane, so all parts of the brand will make contact with the surface of your project. If a coil sits slightly higher than the one next to it, gently bend them to the same level. Leave a tiny gap between the lower intersection of the single circle. If the wire touches at this intersection, the electrical current will short out at this point and not heat the entire brand. The electrical current needs to flow uninterrupted
Holding a spiral wire nail in fingers
26. The completed brand ready for fixing into your pyrography unit

Applying bands to a project

I will now demonstrate using brands by applying a herringbone pattern to a turned vessel. When turning this project I placed shallow score lines within the area designated for the herringbone pattern, in the hope this would assist with the calculation of the number of lines to be burned and ensure an even layout. As I burned each line it became obvious they were not helping. Since they were shallow, they did not present a problem, because the brand burned them away. To add a little variety to the project I made a second S spiral brand using 22 gauge nichrome wire, to scale the size of the brand down. It was made exactly the same as the larger S spiral, just smaller.

Wood burning detail on carved wooden cylinder.
27. I burned the first line in a vertical orientation to provide a border. For line two I tilted the orientation of brand placement approximately 45° to the right, completed that row, and, for row three, tilted the orientation 45° to the left. Each subsequent line was alternated back and forth to achieve the herringbone pattern
Wooden cylinder with intricate black woven pattern.
28. Prior to the final line of the herringbone pattern I burned the bottom border row of an all-vertical orientation to match the top border. This allowed me to blend the final herringbone line into the border row
Woodburning spiral design on wooden object
29. The S spiral brands were then randomly placed around the base …
Woodburning tool etching spiral designs on wood.
30  … and top of the vessel

Applying finishes

Gilders paste wax tin, Celtic bronze.
31. Gilders Paste is a mineral spirit-based finish with a consistency similar to shoe polish. It comes in 28 colours, 12 of which are metallic. It can be found in some art and craft supply stores, and online
Decorative tall vase with spiral patterns.
32. The finishing technique I decided to apply to my vessel was a combination of black acrylic paint (semi-gloss), followed by Gilders Paste. I painted the entire vessel inside and out with the paint. I applied the paint sparingly to avoid filling the branded portions with the paint. Once dry, I taped off the herringbone portion so as not to accidentally colour it with the paste. Application of the Gilders Paste can be done using a cotton cloth or other applicator, but I prefer using the pad of my index finger. I have better control of where the paste goes, and the quantity applied. Copper in the primary coat and Celtic Bronze was used to highlight the small S brands to provide some visual depth

Further reading

The Discovery of Pyrography

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