I got a branding iron to brand my cutting board with for Christmas. So far I only plugged it up to see if it worked and got hot and yes it did.

 

So any good tips to pass on before I go home tonight or tomorrow night and start branding cutting boards.

 

How much time do you give it to heat up before trying the first one??

 

 

Definitely try it out on scrap before you hit the actual project.

 

After you hit the first one, you'll need to let it heat back up and "recover".

 

You will also have to put it on for different times on different wood, so if you have 2 different woods it might burn heavy on one type and light on the other.

 

Try to pick a certain side or edge to put it on and do ALL of them the same way.

 

Have a clock or something besides a watch to time it ( you'll need both hands so you really can't look at the watch and keep your arms at the same place and pressure.

 

If you have to, put piece vertical so stamp is straight up/down side/side.  (easier to line up and control.

 

Don't be afraid to make a jig to guide the stamp and line it up.

 

Use the wifes oven thermometer to measure the heat so you know when it's maxed.

I give mine about 10/15 minutes to heat up.

Different species are dense'r than other's, so more burn time is required.

Them branding irons are hard for me to hold perpendicular to the wood, so I kinda rock mine back and forth along the short side.

And it darned sure isn't gonna hurt to practice a few times before you commit.

John,

I have been told that these things can be a real pain to get a consistent appearance.  An old cabinetmaker I knew would make his burns on only one type of wood.  He would then glue this to the inside of his cabinets.  You could use one species of wood to get a consistent appearance and this inlay that piece on the bottom/sides of your cutting boards.

All the above is good advice. I might add that building a simple two sided jig for spacial reference will allow you to go back and re-brand accounting for different grained surfaces. I own a very nice brand -and never use it !

Here's a tip do NOT grab the brand end until you let it cool OVERNIGHT. Don't ask how I know.

    Now that is the best one yet.

And John, if you pick it up it don't take near as long to look at it while it is hot either.

 

John Nebelsiek said:

Here's a tip do NOT grab the brand end until you let it cool OVERNIGHT. Don't ask how I know.

John that is a great idea, Garlic, Bread, Veggies, Meat..... My wife came up with the same thought, Can you interchange the heads to make different lettering? Look forward to some shots.

Anyone know where you can buy sheets of that cutting board material, called EPICUREAN?

No, Greg, the one I got doesn't have the changeable letters. It just has the one brand on it.

 

greg fee said:

John that is a great idea, Garlic, Bread, Veggies, Meat..... My wife came up with the same thought, Can you interchange the heads to make different lettering? Look forward to some shots.

Well guys you all had some great tips and I took them all into account. I even left it along until the next morning when I unplugged it.

 

I did learn that if you plug it up a couple of hours before you are ready to use it, it will be good and hot and it doesn't take long or a lot of pressure to get it to brand. I did a couple of test brands on some odd pieces of cutting boards I had before putting it to one of the boards that was ready for sale.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of what I am putting on my cutting boards. I am putting it on one end.

 

This was the first one and it got a little light near the end but it is acceptable to me.

 

 

This was one of the others.

 

Thanks for all of the input you guys gave. I am going to like this brand.

 

Looks great john, suits it and looks right at home.

Looks great John! Very down home and warm, I like it.

John Morris said:

Looks great John! Very down home and

warm

, I like it.

I get it, WARM. Like the edges of the toast were BURNT because the toaster was warm.