Woodburning

Growing up I saw a wood burning tool laying around my parent’s house that belonged to my cousin and never used.  He moved away and left it and it got kicked around and moved around and put into drawers and on shelves as cleaning sprees ensued.  One day I decided to pick it up and grab a piece of wood and see just what it did.  I burned all kinds of wood and ended up absolutely loving everything about it.  I loved how the designs looked, I loved how the designs felt when completed, the wood smoothed over and had ridges and grooves, and I loved probably more than anything how the burning wood smelled during the process, although it made my eyes water.  I already enjoyed drawing with a pencil, and the wood burning was a slower version of that which nobody else really knew about and did not really know how.  I worked at it and it opened my mind up to different designs and I loved how it seemed to just flow.  I started out drawing the designs first with pen or pencil, but I quickly found that I could do a much better job simply putting the burner to the wood and drawing.  Certain types of wood were more difficult than others, I learned how to burn across knots, and incorporate them into designs, how to press harder and linger longer on the hard grains in the wood, and ease into the soft grains and move faster over them.  

I remember seeing wooden ammo boxes become a popular item, made with dovetail interlocking sides and ropes for handles, and all other manner of designs.  I wanted one so bad I could hardly stand it.  I asked and asked and was turned down each time.  Finally, I decided to go to the kindling pile where my dad threw out all the scraps from his building jobs.  I had a small folding hand saw that was absolutely not suited in any way to cut boards and lumber, an old hammer and a hand full of roofing nails.  I cut boards I measured with a tape measure I swiped from my dad’s tools that had so many nicks in it that I probably should have used it as a saw.  I crudely nailed the boards together and found some old hinges to attach the lid, and I used the dark line animal drawings from ammo boxes for reference and burned all kinds of designs on it.  I still use the box for storing most of the small things from my pockets etc in my bedroom.  

From there on I used photos for reference and tried to make things look more realistic.  I learned more and more techniques and grew more comfortable with different designs and through the years I’ve very much enjoyed requests for art work pieces.  I do not claim to be any expert, and I have never had any formal training to do what I do, but hopefully the world enjoys what I crank out. 

Exodus 31:2-5