Advice please on burning grooves in turned work

[henton49er]

Some advice please, fellow forum members:-

When turning, the outside of a bowl or a vase for example, I can make V-grooves and then burn them by stretching a piece of wire in the groove and applying pressure such that the friction between the wire and the turning wood develops sufficient heat to scorch the wood in the groove. Easy peasy!! :lol: :lol:

What is the best way to scorch a groove where you cannot do this (e.g. for a groove inside a bowl or on the face of a platter? I have tried pushing the end of a pointed scrap of timber in, and using an old blunted screwdriver "sharpened" to a blunt point, but not much happens in either case. I suspect there is a tried and trusted technique. Any advice would be welcome. :?: :?:

Mike.

 

[Blister]

Mike

A piece of Formica will do the job

 

[henton49er]

Blister,

I thought about using plastics; don't they melt and make an aweful mess? Or does formica have a higher melting point than the combustion temperature of wood?

Mike

 

[Blister]

Blister,

I thought about using plastics; don't they melt and make an aweful mess? Or does formica have a higher melting point than the combustion temperature of wood?

Mike

Not tried plastic but have used Formica without any problems re melting

 

[henton49er]

Blister,

Thanks for the advice; I will give it a try!!

Mike

 

[monkeybiter]

I burned a surface on a turned item by pressing a thin pine off-cut against it until satisfactorily covered. You could maybe try cutting an off-cut to a thin curved edge that will roughly fit the inside of the bowl as if trying to cut it as it turned.

 

[Silverbirch]

If you have trouble laying your hands on Formica, I used credit card-sized free samples of wetwall-type plastic used for lining showers, from my local plumbing supplies centre.

Ian

 

[henton49er]

If you have trouble laying your hands on Formica, I used credit card-sized free samples of wetwall-type plastic used for lining showers, from my local plumbing supplies centre.

Ian

So an out of date credit card (or even the wife's current one :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ) might do the trick as well!!!

Mike

 

[Silverbirch]

That's called having money to burn, I think :lol:

Ian

 

[tekno.mage]

Hi Mike,

I've got some pieces of Formica you can have - you just need to remind me to find them and give them to you!

Kym

 

[henton49er]

Hi Mike,

I've got some pieces of Formica you can have - you just need to remind me to find them and give them to you!

Kym

Hi Kym,

That would be great, thanks. I have tried an old credit card and they just melt away (similar to any account balance when using the card for its original purpose!!).

Mike

 

[AndyT]

Credit cards are made of PVC, with a low melting point. Formica is very different - layers of something (paper?) bonded with an epoxy type resin. (Please excuse absence of scientific terms here.) The crucial difference is that Formica is not deformable by the application of heat.

 

[tekno.mage]

Hi Mike,

I've found the bits of formica and will try and remember to bring them along to the next club meet.

Formica is thermo-setting (like bakelite) - so doesn't soften & melt with heat like most plastics do.

 

[hughie]

A piece of Formica will do the job\

Absolutely and its cheap.