Wood burning as a way to add artistic flourish to your gun

I was inspired to make a thread about this after seeing the beautiful wahoo that John adorned his new pigsticker with.

See here :

http://spearfishing.world/spearguns/2140-new-gun-debut.html

I have enjoyed wood burning for several years as a hobby since it was introduced to me by my grandfather. to do it, a wood burning iron is required but most any soldering iron will work in a pinch... I actually prefer a Hakko ceramic cored soldering iron as the ""go-to" tool.

it is best to start learning on pine or balsa as they are very soft woods and pencil lines can make great little grooves which are easy to follow with your iron. the most important thing to making the work come out well is to know the heat and shape of your iron so you can have full control.

Here are some burnings i have done

and here is one I am working on slowly

i have done it to mahogany on my old Biller with great results...the burning does cauterize the wood to a degree, but any oil or penetrating epoxy will have no problems...maybe do a coat of penetrating first and then build up the epoxy over it for a super slick finish.

i also used to to burn my name into my old cane poles so the hobos wouldn't steal them and say they were theirs...damn hobos...I would always be leaving them in the water and such an never noticed any different weathering around the burnings

I also apologize for my blatent homer-ism. I like my home teams okay!!