Branding Irons

[fRED mCnEILL]

I had a branding iron that I broke so want to replace it. The original one was nothing fancy but I'm thinking of a custom one with a little more style. As well the original one(Lee Valley) didn't work as well as I thought it should as it was difficult to get a consistent impression.

For those of you who have them perhaps you can tell how well it works and where you got it. I also noted one company makes them out of brass OR aluminum.If anyone has any expeience there that would be helpful.

Thanks

Fred

[Roger Feeley]

I had to brand 200 items once and bought an iron from BrandNew. I thought the prices were reasonable and they were great to work with. They told me that they make a lot of the irons sold by others. I bought the kind you put in a drill press for that project and then made handle for one-off use.

Working in the drill press, I found that even the slightest deviation in angle would cause the brand to be uneven. So I built a little board that wobbles.

1. I clamped down a board to my drill press table. I used mdf.
2. I put a 1/2" core box bit in the drill press and made a small depression about in the board.
3. I took another piece of mdf and made a similar depression.
4. I put a marble in depression from step 2 and laid the other board on top. The top board will now wobble with the center of the wobble right under the center of the chuck.
5. I mounted the iron.

This simple jig allowed the boards to tilt in whatever direction was needed to give me a nice even brand.
(https://www.brandnew.net/estore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2&cat=Handcrafted+by+Irons)

[Al Launier]

I use this one & am happy with it. https://www.brandnew.net/estore/shopexd.asp?id=48. You can get a sensining of it on post #30 at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?229770-Choice-of-wood-for-a-Cutting-Board&highlight=branding+iron.

I'll usually "block in" the iron using clamped pieces of wood where I want the hot iron so I don't screw it up when I brand the work. Regardless what you use I would suggest a practice pice so you can time how long to heat the iron & how long to hold it in place. Results vary with type of wood.

[Jesse Busenitz]

http://www.branding-irons.biz I got one from here. Been happy with it. Definitely takes some time/practice to get it right.