If you ever find yourself at a market and you are looking at the different wood-burned pieces you may notice that some pieces look more uniform and consistent; like they came out of a factory. Other pieces look more rustic and rough like someone burned them by hand. If you have seen this, your eyes are not deceiving you, the former was probably done with a laser engraver whereas the latter would be done with a hand tool.
Which is better?
Honestly, you’ll hear a lot of opinions from the wood-burning community about laser engravers but, the truth is, the answer is “it depends”. Routers and engravers that can be programmed with software can be very precise giving you a very clean look. The end product is often cheaper given the materials are less expensive, they take less time, and they don’t require someone to be actively working on the product.
Hand-burned, on the other hand, is a lengthier process in which you need to be actively engaged throughout the entire ordeal. If you are working with unfinished wood you need to prep it beforehand, create or find the templates and transfer them, actively burn the piece, and finish it. The end result is much more unique and can include all kinds of interesting shading and textures.
Why do we hand burn?
We like to hand-burn our pieces for a number of reasons.
- The finer details: When creating a hand-burned piece you can add in those textures that you can’t get with a machine. Adding fur to an animal, bark to a tree, or hammered steel. These kinds of effects give a piece character and uniqueness that set it apart from its machine burned counterparts
- The medium: Unless you are working with an industrial engraver you are most likely limited to a very finite set of mediums to work on. Usually, these are sheets of plywood. I use a wide variety of woods ranging in size (length, width, and depth) and type (local, exotic, diverted). This allows me to create pieces that match the design, and fit the aesthetic of the location where they are going to be displayed, and allows me to create any size piece without having to have a warehouse full of tools and safety equipment.
- The meaning behind the piece: Sometimes it is nice to have something that you know someone worked really hard to create. It makes a great conversation piece. All of the little imperfections add to the charm.
Overall I think it is important to embrace all flavors of wood-burning as they all have a place in our industry. If the reasons listed above aren’t important to you then hand-burned is not for you. If they are, then you are our customer and we want to create something beautiful for you. Do you have thoughts on the topic, tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.
