On Tue, 7 Apr 2015 22:34:00 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

I finally got the round tuit to work for me yesterday and today . The
result is a branding iron to brand all my bee hive equipment with . I'll
also be using it to create the logo to go on all my labels for honey and
packaging for other products we may sell in the future .
The hot end is made from a piece of salvaged 3/4" wide flat stock that
used to be a scroll on a porch awning support . It consists of an A nested
in the bottom of a W with a 1 and a 2 in the v's of the W , stands for "12
Acre Wood" . I used my vertical mounted portaband to cut the pieces ,
cutting only partway thru where I wanted to fold the strips to form the
letters . Welded it all up with the little MIG machine using a piece of the
strip to attach it all together . I had limited success flattening the face
with the mill , ended up with a light pass on the neighbor's belt sander .
I need to practice how hot and how long to hold it to get a nice
impression without burning the wood in between lines , but I can do that as
I brand the hive bodies . When I get an acceptable impression I'll take a
photo with the new camera to use as a basis for the labels and such .
I saw a guy branding pieces of wood and to get a satisfactory brand
without burning the wood in between. He first soaked the wood. I don't
know for how long, he just had the wood pieces in a bucket full of
water. He had it down to a real production line affair. The iron went
into a furnace that was made from a large coffee can lined with fire
clay or similar that was laying on its side. The burner was in the
rear of the furnace. He would put the brand in the the open ended
furnace while he arranged a few pieces of wood on a bench, pull the
brand out and brand the wood, then put the iron back in the furnace
and start all over.
Eric