Burning rings on tool handles?

[Keith Heyer]

I know they sell the tool to make the burn the rings on tool handles, but if you were to make your own what kind of wire do you use?

Thanks,

Keith

[Brad Reid]

I have used strips of leather before that comes from a craft store or walmart on a spool.

[Robert Vroman]

I have had good luck with guitar strings.

[Keith Heyer]

I have had good luck with guitar strings.

Any particular size or brand? Should the strings be for an electric guitar or acoustic? Does it matter?


Keith

[Rodney Walker]

I use a piece of stainless wire off a spool my brother gave me. I don't think you need to be real selective. Almost anything will work.
On a safety note: Hold the wire so it's not wrapped around your hand or likely to get tangled in the spinning parts of the lathe. If you're not paying attention you can go from fun to bloody mess pretty quickly.
Rodney

[Richard Jones]

I like wound guitar strings, acoustic or electric, even flat wound jazz strings. The wound G, approx. .022", is about the right size for me. The wound strings seem to last forever, at least for me. I have heard others that use stainless steel fishing leader with good results. Whatever you have on hand.

As Rodney said, don't wrap the string around your fingers. Drill a hole crosswise in a piece of closet rod or similar, tie the string off after threading through the hole. I generally use the tool rest as the fulcrum for one handle while burning, then simply pivot the wire into the wood.

Adequate speed is also required to generate the heat necessary for a good burn. This is a pic of a KC tool, just for technique. Bottom part of wire is in contact with the tool rest, top hand is the burn regulator............

FYI, an .009 high E string will really zip through a piece of wood. While the effect is mesmerizing, the result usually isn't.............

57650.jpg

[Dan Hintz]

Anything handy will work... as others have said, just be sure to make a handle for it, don't try to wrap it around your fingers for simplicity / speed.

[Greg Just]

I use stranded picture hanging wire with a small dowel at each end for a handle.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Piece of Floormica works great. Big box stores have those nice little squares free. Even have a hole to hang them up on a nail.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I bought a roll of stainless steel fishing leader wire. Lifetime supply.

[Dale Miner]

mig welding wire

[Robert Vroman]

Ditto what Richard said. I use either dowel rods, or scrap wood a little bigger than pen blanks for handles.

[Jimmy Edwards]

scrap electrical wire, any gauge you like

[James Combs]

First time a short piece of electric fence wire I had laying around, next time a piece of piano wire left over from a guy that restrung our church piano. No idea of the "note" but it worked great with a couple pieces of wooden dowel as handles. Now hangs next to the lathe.

[Norm Zax]

Any wire, say 16th of an inch or less. Best is to score lightly with a skew (while turning) so wire sits in the groove and doesnt skid. Longer stretch of wire touching the wood is faster to heat. Use close to max speed. Let wire cool 20 seconds before putting down on table or touching it - it can be red hot. Make a set of two or three different wires to get variuos thicknesses of lines.
Enjoy!
(experiment with coloring between lines - paint will stop at burn line, which is kind of neat)