Burning Help Needed

So, I've begun construction on The Aku Aku Room, officially. I've started with the trim. Some of you may see where I got my inspiration from. And by inspiration, I mean an exact copy. Great artists steal, right? Anyway, it's my first attempt at routing trim. It's been a long time, and as The Aku Aku room progresses, I'll venture off into my own designs, but for now, I've decided to pay homeage to Bosko by turning his 8' pole pattern into 4" trim around the top of the room. There's a seam at 8ft, and I need something good to cover it up.

Now to my question. This is the first time I've done any burning, and it's not coming out properly. That is to say, the routed parts are still white. Am I just not burning things long enough? I'm being gentle with it, and just getting it to a nice patina, as you can see in the photos. I've got some small areas that I let burn longer that started to catch, and immediately blew out. I'm hoping Ben or some of you other experts out there will lend some advice. Oh, and since Redwood is damn near impossible to get locally, it's pine.

Mahalo.

What kind of torch are you using, the wood is untreated right & you have not applied
any thing to the wood yet?

I use a hand torch, I get them at my local Ace or Home Depot for under $20
and a hard wire brush, like the type used to clean a BBQ grill for removing light coats of ash
you should be able to get the routed areas charred the way you want.

You are doing multiple passes of burning, then a light scrapping to get the right look?

You could try a polyurethane coat.
Then a dark glaze that you wipe or brush on,
Then wipe off where you don't want it.
Could call it aging or antiquing.

Thanks Will, going for burnt though.

ATP: Mapp Gas. Hand torch. Stainless steel brush. Should I be brushing immediately after burning?

Experiment on a scrap piece of wood first. Do you want it burnt for the smell? or for the texture? Paint and stain can be use in combination with the flame. If done right you should not be able to tell the difference. I suggest stain/painting first and then burn and brush.

Texture/color.
Think Bosko carvings.

I've never stained then burned. Hmmmmm.

On 2012-10-03 10:33, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
What kind of torch are you using, the wood is untreated right & you have not applied
any thing to the wood yet?

I use a hand torch, I get them at my local Ace or Home Depot for under $20
and a hard wire brush, like the type used to clean a BBQ grill for removing light coats of ash
you should be able to get the routed areas charred the way you want.

You are doing multiple passes of burning, then a light scrapping to get the right look?

Paint/Stain first then burn, VERY BAD IDEA! unless you want a flaming mess.

If you want a "Bosko" finish, you apply a burn coat, then scrape the ash with a wire brush
to remove excess ash,then do this as many times as you like to get the look you want.

If the pine is still "green," that may be why you are having trouble as well.

Next step is a smaller torch and more burning...

On 2012-10-03 10:42, Hale Tiki wrote:
Thanks Will, going for burnt though.

ATP: Mapp Gas. Hand torch. Stainless steel brush. Should I be brushing immediately after burning?

Sorry I forgot to answer your last question, yes you can scrape the wood right after burning, the more times you
repeat this process (Burn & Scrape) the more wood grain becomes prominent for that "Witco" look
since Pine is a lighter wood, you should have a desired look after a few burns.

On 2012-10-04 07:24, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:

On 2012-10-03 10:42, Hale Tiki wrote:
Thanks Will, going for burnt though.

ATP: Mapp Gas. Hand torch. Stainless steel brush. Should I be brushing immediately after burning?

Sorry I forgot to answer your last question, yes you can scrape the wood right after burning, the more times you
repeat this process (Burn & Scrape) the more wood grain becomes prominent for that "Witco" look
since Pine is a lighter wood, you should have a desired look after a few burns.

Hot damn! Thanks ATP!

Well. Here are the results. Thanks for your help. I think I've found my groove.

Here's the first one. I burned too many times, too gently, and didn't carve deep enough:

Here's the second ones, being laid out:

Here's me getting ready to have at it, while wearing my best mustache and Ed Roth Helmet:

Carved:

First burn. Can't be afraid to have at it. And stop if it catches fire. Blow it out. Continue.

After the first burn. Make sure the wood cracks.

Brushed very hard, sideways with the brush, with the grain.

Second burn. After vacuuming. Lost some detail on the thin spots, no biggie.

Final product, brushed gently, vacuumed. Waiting to have a finish applied. I'm not sure if I'm going to spray, or varnish, or what.

Thanks again for your help ATP. More photos to follow.

Looks like you are getting the hang of it & you are welcome!

Note:if you want to keep more detail don't burn so deep
you may need to repeat the burn & scrape a few more times
it all depends on the finish you are going for & the more you do it the better you will get
so keep rocking, it's looking good.

I have some matches....

Very interesting... I think I'll go burn one.

First issue is the routed lines are very small and the torch won't want to burn in there. You will have to burn at an angle, right on the lines to even hope to get it going. Going with the wider lines and a rounded bit helped you out on your next attempt.

Second, After you torch, take a tire brush with semi-soft bristles and work the char into your lines. That is your best chance to get some color in there. Brush it all off, but you also work it in and polish at the same time.

Third, take a rag and wipe it down to get an even smoother look and cleaning/polish it.

Forth, in your second attempt, you over torched it. You really just want to barely blacken the surface, not catch it on fire and burn it away. Use it like a spray painter, turning it brown.

See how much I have torched this piece. Brown, not black. Map gas is good and all, but it is way hotter than propane. That could be an issue here. I use propane. Slower, but I think more control.

Fifth, you'll also notice on your first piece the knots in the wood screwed up your lines and that sap in the knots burns like crazy. Cherry pick your wood stock to have no knots in the carving surface.

Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!

[ Edited by: Swanky 2012-10-12 09:57 ]

Use a small soldering iron unless you can find a wood burning kit at a hobby store!

Different species burn at different rates.

I should be doing more next week, with more patterns. We'll see how those go!

Try some Burning sticks! start your charcoal grill and on top of the coals stick in some hard wood sticks same diameter as your grooves and don't worry about rounding them off yet. When the sticks are red hot pull'em out a bi and start with one stick just rubbing it in the groove until the groove looks burned enough or until the fire goes out of the stick, then back in the grill and re heat it and take another one to use till it cools down,,, you get the idea The system has much better control and a nice consistent color can be had using a fine wire brush preferably brass or stainless. Might take a few grooves to get the hang of it but the fire sticks will do the best in the end

On 2012-12-30 20:01, Benzart wrote:
Try some Burning sticks! start your charcoal grill and on top of the coals stick in some hard wood sticks same diameter as your grooves and don't worry about rounding them off yet. When the sticks are red hot pull'em out a bi and start with one stick just rubbing it in the groove until the groove looks burned enough or until the fire goes out of the stick, then back in the grill and re heat it and take another one to use till it cools down,,, you get the idea The system has much better control and a nice consistent color can be had using a fine wire brush preferably brass or stainless. Might take a few grooves to get the hang of it but the fire sticks will do the best in the end

Neato! Never would have thought of this method!

Well Benzart, looks like I've got a another method to try!
Mahalo!