In article .com,
Susie wrote:

I need to mark an important wooden piece of personal keepsake. I know
my Dad
used to have a heated tool that "burnishes" letters, numbers, etc. in
wood.

Are you thinking of a woodburner, which looks (in the inexpensive
versions) rather like a cheap pencil-style soldering iron? Simple sets
should be readily available at hobby/toy sorts of shops, among other
places.

--
Andrew Erickson

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot
lose." -- Jim Elliot