A—THE ETCHING TOOL
B—COMPLETE WITH HANDLE
Fig. 26. the tool used for pyrography
—Get a piece of copper rod ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and 3 inches long; file one end down to a point to the shape shown at A and B in Fig. 26 and put a file handle on the other end.
—The etching tool must be heated in either an alcohol or a Bunsen flame. You can make an alcohol lamp of an ink bottle that will serve the purpose very well. Make a hole in the cork about ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and make a tin tube 1 inch long that will fit it snugly. Braid a wick of string and put it through the tin-tube; fill the bottle with alcohol and your lamp is done. If you can get gas you can use a Bunsen burner[16] which makes a hotter flame and is less trouble.
[16] Can be bought of the L. E. Knott Apparatus Company, Boston, Mass.
—A good outfit which has a platinum pointed tool and burns alcohol vapor, see C, can be bought for $3.00 and more.[17] If you have gas in your house you can buy a tool which uses it for 50 cents or less.
[17] Everything needed for pyrography can be had of the Frost and Adams Co., Cornhill, Boston.
C—AN OUTFIT THAT BURNS ALCOHOL VAPOR
Fig. 26c. an outfit that burns benzine vapor
—If you are good at drawing you can make your own designs, but if not you can buy them ready to use. Draw your designs on soft white pine or basswood with a soft lead pencil having a blunt point. Photo frames, plaques, tie racks, collar boxes and things which you can saw out on your scroll saw are greatly improved by burning.
—Heat the tool until it is red-hot, or if it is platinum until it is white hot as shown at D. Hold the tool as shown at E and without using too much pressure draw and push the point along the lines until they are burnt in evenly.
When you have burnt in the design burn in the background by making a lot of closely spaced lines; then burn in more parallel lines across the first set. This produces a cross-hatched effect which at a distance makes the design stand out in bold relief.
| E |
Fig. 26d. how the tool is heated
Fig. 26e. burning in the design
When you have become a little expert you can shade the design but don’t try it until you can burn the lines in evenly.
—Stains and dyes of all colors can be bought of the Devoe and Reynolds Company, 101 Fulton Street, New York.
—Brush the wood with a saturated solution of ferrous-sulphate and it will make it inky black. When used on white holly, or any other close grained wood, it gives it a real ebony look. Put the solution on with a soft brush. After the ebony stain has been used the wood should be polished with wax to give it a dull finish.
—Oak can be colored a beautiful brown by putting it in a box with a tight fitting lid in which is a saucer of ammonia; paste up the cracks around the lid tight and leave it for a couple of days when it will take on a brown color which is known by the trade name of fumed oak.