[JSB]

This is an easy, cheap, and completely customizable way to brand your work. Don't waste your money on a branding iron or stamp! Check out how easy this is. I hope this can be of some use to everyone here.

 

[Trav]

Wow. What a great idea. I will absolutely try this.

 

[knotscott]

That's pretty slick. I wonder if a hobby iron or clothing iron would work too? May have to give that a try.

I've been using a rubber stamp and an ink pad with good results. Works best if I stamp it before applying the finish coat.

 

[rrich]

I've done something similar and used an ordinary clothes iron set on the highest setting.

What I noticed was that the fresher the print the better the quality of the transfer.

If you have an ink jet printer, just take the printout to a copy service (Kinkos) and use the Xerox copy for the transfer. You may have to adjust the contrast up way high to get the most toner onto the paper.

 

[Brian T.]

I carved a brand in the 3/4" head of a 10" nail. RV
Heat that with a torch and really brand my carvings!

Dremel. #402 cutoff disks are more durable than the after market skinny ones.
Need good DC. Carving steel is fun.

 

[JohnnyG73]

I never knew heat could be used to transfer the toner. Thanks for the great video! John Heisz shows a different method of transferring in this video in case you don't have a wood burner or iron...

http://youtu.be/kj3X0vLWtEY

 

[shopman]

Damn. Its 5 minutes to midnight and I just watched this. I am seriously fighting the urge to run out to the shop and try this!

 

[Brian T.]

Yeah, there's a heating wire/element in a B&W laser printer.
I did not know that you could blow off the toner.

Saw another method where the transfer was done with an acetone solvent wash.
Soaked the print into the wood (was a BIG butcherblock meat cutter's board.)

I'll stick to red hot iron. Not fancy but it is unique.
BWT, can't be registered as I am not branding livestock.

 

[USNrider]

Cool trick, either way you do it. I'm considering making a jewelry/lingerie chest for my wife's birthday and I think if it turn out the way I envision I'll add this feature somewhere in it with a personal message to her.

 

[FrankC]

For what it is worth I have a cheap Brother Laser printer, 2270DW, that has the flip horizontal feature, actually the printer cost less than a branding iron.

 

[SeanStuart]

This is really cool. Thanks for the video. My first try was a bit messy, burned a bit, and not super clear, but very cool trick.

 

[Nate Bos]

wow, thanks a lot! that is awesome, definitely going to try it!

 

[whatalesyou1]

I used a similar method for my Christmas presents this year. Instead of releasing the toner with heat, I used laquer thinner.

 

[xmas]

cool DIY tip, thank you!

 

[Maylar]

Sweet. Is there a shelf life to the printed image on paper, or can the labels be made in advance and kept in the shop without degrading?

And do you guys use standard copy paper or something else?

Thanks for posting this.

 

[JohnnyG73]

Sweet. Is there a shelf life to the printed image on paper, or can the labels be made in advance and kept in the shop without degrading?

And do you guys use standard copy paper or something else?

Thanks for posting this.

I personally have had sheets laying around for several months and it still worked but I didn't use the heat transfer method. I hope to try it out soon.

 

[whatalesyou1]

I used standard copy paper and it did not seem to matter how long I waited. Some of mine sat around for a couple of weeks before the transfer. I would recommend a few tests before a trying it on a real project.

 

[xmas]

Just tried this out on a birthday gift. Made an otherwise ok gift much more personalized. Thank you so much for the tip Jay!

 

[Brian T.]

1. With either heat or solvent, how fine can the details be before they smudge together?
2. Is there some practical extension of this for curved surfaces?
Anyone done the experiments, yet?

 

[xmas]

Hey Robson, haven't tried any curved surfaces yet but for my first attempt I used a pretty detailed font. The results were pretty good and I definitely learned a bit that i think would make it even better/easier next time. Here's a photo of my transfer. It seems like the transfer, as long as it's taped down securely will be as detailed as the image. I did make a few copies of the image, one on the darkest contrast setting, and in that one the image it's self got blurry but i think as long as it looks ok on paper it'll look good on wood.