Wood Burning: How to Draw and Burn Wood Drink Coasters and Coffee Table

by cnathan

9.2K1868

Intro: Wood Burning: How to Draw and Burn Wood Drink Coasters and Coffee Table

In this Instructable, I will show you how to transfer an image to a piece of wood and burn the image using a wood burner. I burned the table back in December 2014 and I didn't take any before pics. The wood drink coasters were made within the past week. I cut the trees (maple I think) down last summer, cut into pieces and let dry for a few months. I sanded both sides with a belt sander.

STEP 1: Step 2: Design

I purchased an old image projector from a thrift shop for $5. It uses a 75 watt bulb. The lens on this projector makes a small picture to pretty much any size I want to put on any size piece of wood. To make a clear image small enough for a drink coaster I had to extend the lens using a piece of newspaper rolled up and taped in between lens and projector. The 3rd and 4th pic are without flash on the camera, thus blurry. I started with a ram head since that was my high school mascot. I printed out a few different animal images out on paper to put in projector, adjusted the view to make a clear image on the drink coaster, and used a pencil to outline the ram head. I used an electric wood burner with a fine tip to burn the ram head onto the coaster. It took about an hour (each coaster) to burn the ram head. Using a fine tip, I do not recommend using an electric wood burner. The heat it puts out, to me, is not a consistent temperature.

STEP 2: Bonus Step: Coffee Table

On this coffee table, I didn't have the projector, everything was hand drawn before wood burning. I started with the bear head, then brainstormed a few days to decide how to do the rest of the table. After wood burning, I sanded the table down and used the wood burner again to touch up. I then stained the table with stain. I plan on clear-coating the table soon.

I will be making more wood furniture in the future with the added art of wood burning. I am making porch swings, rocking chairs, step stools, children's furniture, and whatever else I can think of. Keep checking my profile for more creations.

STEP 3: Finished Clear Coating

8 Comments

asandin 9 years ago

whats a wood burner cost?

ArticAkita 8 years ago

well you could just go with a old school single temp woodburner $5.00 or so or go for a Colman double temp woodburner. it will run about $90.00 or less. I got mine through a taxidermy catalog and I love it!

cnathan 9 years ago

I have one I paid $12 for and I have a more detailed one I paid $40 for it.

doo da do 9 years ago

You might try tracing paper, most any art store will have it.

doo da do 9 years ago

I Did the coasters a few years ago and they worked well. I drew just a basic design they came out good.

diamondemb 9 years ago

I like it. It's like a tattoo for your table.