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Wood-Burning Basics

Lowe's Editorial Team

By Lowe's Editorial Team
Updated September 25, 2020

Use simple wood-burning tools and easy-to-learn techniques to add distinctive designs to a variety of bare-wood projects.

Wood-Burning Success Tips

  1. Soft woods with minimal grain, such as pine or aspen, are easier to burn than hardwoods.
  2. As you work, use 320-grit sandpaper on a solid block to lightly brush away any residue or buildup from the tip of the wood-burning pen. If you do this while the tip is hot, avoid holding the sandpaper in your hands or touching the paper more than a second.
  3. Use a small pair of pliers to remove hot tips safely and easily. Place hot tips in a small glass or metal dish to cool. Even though cool tips can be handled safely, use pliers to insert them into the barrel of a hot tool.
  4. Let the wood burning pen do the work; don't force it. Too much pressure can bend hot tips.
  5. Try out new steps and techniques on a sample board cut from the same material you're burning. Practice with different tips to see how they burn and what types of lines and patterns they create.
  6. Keep the wood-burning pen out of reach from children and away from flammable materials.

Create Wood-Burning Designs

A woman tracing a pattern onto wood using transfer paper.

To transfer a design, first print and (if necessary) assemble the paper pattern. Place transfer paper between the pattern and the wood, and trace the lines of the pattern with a pencil or ballpoint pen to create the design on the wood.

A woman using a wood-burning tool to burn a design into a wood board.

Use a wood-burning tool to burn the design into the wood with the appropriate tip. To prevent fire or injury, follow all safety instructions that came with the kit.

A woman brushing orange stain onto a board covered with wood-burning designs.

If desired, add color to the design by applying a water-based wood stain. The product we used can be tinted with a variety of colors at the Lowe's paint counter.

Tool Tip Options

A wood-burning tool kit includes a pen-like tool you plug into an electrical outlet, plus several tips that attach to the tool to create different effects. Check out the quick guides to the basic tips below.

A flame-shaped shading tip and the teardrop and shaded designs it creates burned into a board.

Shading Tip

Use it to create a teardrop pattern, or light or dark shading.

A pointed dot tip with examples of the lines and different size holes burned into a board.

Dot Tip

Use light touches for fine dots; press down harder for deep holes.

A wedge-shaped calligraphy tip and examples of lines, x and plus designs burned into wood.

Calligraphy Tip

Create fine lines and letters with this tip shaped like a pen point.

A narrow groove tip and examples of dashed lines of different thicknesses burned into a board.

Groove Tip

Burn grooves into the wood; work slowly for deeper grooves.

A round branding tip and examples of dashed circles surrounding stars burned into a board.

Branding Tip 1

Apply with a vertical stroke. This one makes star-in-circle shapes.

A different type of round branding tip with striped circle designs it creates burned into a board.

Branding Tip 2

Make striped circles with this one. You can turn the tip 90 degrees and reapply for crisscross patterns.

A third round branding tip with diamond designs and circles around squares burned into a board.

Branding Tip 3

Make a square or diamond in a circle. Group the patterns for a lattice look.

An angled, wedge-shaped universal tip and lines of different thicknesses burned into a board.

Universal Tip

Hold at different angles to draw lines of varying thicknesses.

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