I've got a small one-time woodburning project for which I need to burn about 20 alphabetic characters onto a chunk of cedar 2x6".
Got a little Weller burning iron. I've been trying to layout the lettering using a pc printout and carbon paper. It doesn't layout well at all.
If I had a solid (i.e. plastic or metal) stencil of the right size, I could probably get it done OK, but I don't.
Anybody know a neat trick for something like this??
Thanks, Will
Print out your pattern. Spray on some 3M glue and fix the pattern onto the wood. Burn your characters and peel (or sand) off the pattern. I use this method all the time with very good results. The spray glue works better than white glue although either will work. I checked, no carbon paper is sold in my town.
Use a graphics program (e.g. Corel Draw) to make up a mirror-reversed image of the lettering. Print it out on a laser printer. Lay the paper onto the wood, printed side down, and iron it. The design will transfer to the wood.
If you don't have a laser printer available, print it on whatever printer you have available, photocopy it, and use the photocopy.
No spray glue. I'm testing with white glue. Takes longer than I thought to set up. I wonder if spray polyurethane would work.
No loss: it doesn't transfer to most woods very well anyway.
Thx, Will
If you want some really tedious chores, print the characters onto a clear sheet of mylar, cut out the characters with a fine Xacto knife, then trace as a stencil. Or, just print the characters onto regular computer paper. Get some graphite (like carbon paper) at a fabric or art store and trace onto the wood.
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