Easy methods to keep your tool tips clean
By Lora S. Irish
As you work with any woodburning tool, carbon deposits will build up on the tip. The hotter the temperature, the quicker the deposits develop. This black buildup can be transferred to your work, causing dark gray or black streaks that cannot be removed. Heavy carbon deposits can also affect the temperature of the tool tip, causing the tip to cool below its normal heat setting. Unevenly burned lines that vary sharply in color or width are most often caused by a dirty tip.
Check your tool tip often and clean it whenever this buildup becomes noticeable. When the tool tip starts to take on a chocolate-brown tone, unplug the tool, and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes. Then, use one of the following three methods to clean your tool tip. Do not attempt to clean hot tips, whether solid brass or wire, because this can damage the metal and the cleaning surface. Once you have cleaned your woodburning tips, get to burning with this trio of bird ornaments!
SandpaperUse fine-grit sandpaper to polish the brass tip of a soldering iron-type pen back to a bright shiny finish. Use either a small sheet of 220- to 240-grit sandpaper or a foam-core emery board for this task. Once you have removed the carbon, add an extra-fine polish to the face of the brass tip using a silicon-carbide cloth (emery cloth), which is available in very fine grits of 400 and higher. This method will not work for wire tips because they are too delicate to withstand sandpaper cleaning. |
Use fine-grade sandpaper or emery cloth to keep a soldering iron-type tool’s solid brass tip bright and clean. The paper used here is 400-grit emery cloth. |
Honing StropUsing a honing strop and aluminum-oxide honing compound is the second way to clean tool tips, and it works for both one-temperature and variable-temperature tips. Place a small amount of the compound on the strop, and then pull the tool tip across the strop’s surface to clear the tip of carbon. This is my favorite cleaning method because it does the least amount of damage to tool tips while restoring them to the bright finish that creates clean burned strokes. |
Use a honing board or leather honing strop with an aluminum-oxide compound to clean variable-temperature wire tips and the solid brass tips of the one-temperature tool. |
Scraping ToolThe third method can be used with variable-temperature tools. Some manufacturers create a scraping tool that they package with their variable-temperature woodburner. This scraping tool has a sharp metal edge that you can drag the wire tip over to clean off the carbon. |
Some variable-temperature tool units include a wire-tip tool scraper for cleaning. |
| About the Author |
| Lora S. Irish is an author, artist, carver, and pattern designer residing in Mount Airy, Md. She has written Landscape Pyrography: Techniques and Projects, Crafting with Gourds, Finishing Techniques for Woodcrafters, and many other Fox Chapel Publishing books. For more of her work, visit lsirish.com. |
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