Question...

[David Pearson]

I'd like to make a nice crisp black line on a turned bowl. Does anyone have any tips on how to burn a nice crisp black line onto the outside of a bowl?

[Jim Underwood]

Wouldn't the old wire trick work?:confused:

[Toney Robertson]

I have read (but not tried) about using guitar string between two handles but I am sure someone with more experience than me will chime in.

Toney

[Mike Henderson]

You can buy what's called "stringing" which is veneer cut thin (it looks like string). Just cut a groove in the bowl while it's on your lathe and glue the string in.

If you go just a bit bigger than string, you can cut the veneer yourself. For example, it's not hard to cut a "string" yourself thats 1/16" and lay that in.

String is much easier than banding. Banding has a pattern and you have to get the it to match at the joint (where it meets). With banding you cut the groove and trial fit, cutting deeper until the pattern matches. Then turn the outside of the bowl to match the height (or depth) of the banding.

Mike

[David Pearson]

With a wire, do you cut a small groove first, then hold the wire on?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

David...I cut a small groove using my skew and then friction it using as was suggested a piece of guitar string that has wooden handles at each end. Spin your lathe up to a fast speed and just friction the groove.

If you look around, you can often find music stores that will sell you a single guitar string. Here they sell for about $1. I just clip about 20" of guitar string...tie a knot in each end....take a scraps of wood for handles. Works well!

[David Pearson]

Thanks Ken! My bro-in-law plays the guitar. Maybe I can steal one from him when he's not playing!:p

[Mike Peace]

I have had good luck with 14 gage copper wire. I also have some smaller wire. The trick that was pointed out to me is sometimes you need to lower the hand in the back to get more wire touching the work. The more wire touching, the more friction and quicker burning. I have also seen folks use a small piece of oily exotic wood.

[Bernie Weishapl]

David I do the same. I cut a fine line with my skew and then either use a guitar string or stainless steel wire. Make sure you wrap them around wooden dowels at each end. Hate to repeat it but my brother who is a tuner and physical therapist had a guy come in who had wrapped the wire around his fingers to burn a line. Needless to say wasn't pretty.

[Gordon Seto]

This one is free.
Get a piece of counter top Formica sample from the home center. Push the edge hard against the tiny v groove till it smokes.

[David Pearson]

Thanks to all. :D I have some tricks to try now. I have a 7' x 11" box elder log in my garage that I'm going to cut into blanks tomorrow, so I'll have a lot of bowls to practice on.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi David, I use piano wire, I have a couple of different gauges, to make wider or narrower lines.
I use 2 dowels and wrap the wire around the dowel then around itself, mine are about a foot long and like it was mentioned, higher speed and more wire against the wood will work faster, copper wire will fail as soon as it gets hot, so you don't want to use that same with soft alluminium, just steel tying wire will work also, but is usually pretty thick.
If you need to make a burn line on an end face of a turning, a sliver kind of piece of very hard wood will work but it takes much longer and you do need some real high speed, formica works a little better for that, but it will melt.
For a line on the outside of a bowl, nothing works better than a steel wire held a good ways around the bowl, just hang on to the dowels, the wire can suddenly pull so be prepared for that.
I do quite often just hold the wire against the wood without a cut to keep the wire tracking, but a small skew cut line will help to have it not wander all over the bowl :D, HTH

[Bonnie Campbell]

Just a quick tip.... check at music stores for used (broken) guitar strings. I'd bought some when I got to thinking lessons were given in the store and people most likely had strings replaced. Yep, the guy had a sack of varying sized strings he just gave to me :)

[David Pearson]

Thanks everyone. I'll post some pics when I finish my next bowl.

[jason lambert]

laos there is acrilic paint. make a grove paint and then sand or turn around the groov. This is the blackest solution or the inlay. Just another approach.

[scott schmidt grasshopper]

just a note to clarify . I think everyone here is refering to guitar strings means guitar wires. I have a whole set of wires from a guitar and they will do micro small to pretty big lines. I use a pyramid scraper to cut the groove or my skew then burn the line with wire and yes use either wooden handles or I have mine with a loop at the end I can put on my knockout bar.
ps the heavy wire one works great for repoking the ca glue bottle tip too when it clogs. ( hold it with my pliars for that job. I tried electric fence wire made of aluminum and didnt like it . also too wide for my tastes. its a wonderful thing to add burn lines on green finish turned bowls as the lines will accent the warpage.