On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:56:29 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Thu, 12 Mar 2015 20:26:03 -0500, Terry Coombs wrote:

I want to make a small branding iron to mark my bee hives , and am
looking for suggestions for what /how to do that . I was thinking about
using something like 1/16 x 1/2 inch iron , but am unsure whether to
heat and bend to shape or to weld small strips . There will be at least
one shape that must be bent , the number 2 . I have a logo designed ,
consists of a nested A and W , with a 1 & a 2 in the vees of the W for
"The 12 Acre Wood" . It's been suggested to bend it up from heavy wire ,
but I'm not sure that'll be rigid enough to get a uniform imprint on the
flat wood surfaces . Any alternative suggestions ?

I see nothing wrong with the existing suggestions.

Not knowing any better, I think that your idea of 1/16 by 1/2 is probably
a good one. I think I'd go 1/16" x 1/4" mild steel, bend it cold, braze
or weld it to some sort of backing (a few 1/4" rods or a sheet), then
grind it flat.

I recently bought myself a pair of round-nosed pliers, and man, now I
think that I should have bought a pair 40 years ago (actually, 40 years
ago I was sneaking into my brother's room and stealing his tools -- so I
guess I should let him know that HE should have bought a pair). If you
had a pair of these, sized to make the round part of your "2", and another
pair with flat jaws for all the sharp bends, then you should be able to
make a reasonably small brand, reasonably easily.

I use those round-nosed pliers to make custom cookie-cutters for my
wife at holiday time, using old paint cans for stock. If you do that,
watch out -- my wife thinks I could do a complete scene of Santa and
his reindeer in one cookie.

--
Ed Huntress