Thread: Stamps for marking wood

What about if you used it hot and burnt the mark on instead of whacking it?

It seems that with the first stamp it would pay to develop your technique and follow the instructions. Many other users have reported this fear and got on with using the bigger hammer, some on critical pieces of work such as hand built moulding planes.

Whilst the first may need some practice to master the second looks so much better. I have the heated iron brand but after seeing that second stamp I am reconsidering.

Any idea what metal they are made of, I use something like these for foil stamping.

Ross

I had one of these made in Sydney back in the 80's.
Wacked me monika on the big house stuff in '88.
Don't thing Liz and the Greek noticed when they opened it.
H.

I bought a brass stamp from a chap in Tassie. He lets you design the stamp using whatever font you want as long as you supply the font itself. You can either cold stamp or hot stamp, depending on the timber. He supplies the stamp with a beautiful Apple handle and it's a decent price.



Try: Art, Design, Make by Martin Vinnicombe.

How does the brass cope with the harder woods loke Jarrah Scott?

I like the copy of handwrittin gon that stamp of Derek's

Originally Posted by tea lady

How does the brass cope with the harder woods loke Jarrah Scott?

Yep, does well. You obviously can't 'cold' stamp it but it holds up well and leaves a decent mark when heated. You barely have to apply pressure.

Originally Posted by tea lady

I like the copy of handwrittin gon that stamp of Derek's

I must admit, I'm a bit jealous of the handwriting mark, I might approach Martin to do something similar.

Originally Posted by tea lady

How does the brass cope with the harder woods loke Jarrah Scott?

I like the copy of handwrittin gon that stamp of Derek's

Hard night on the turps last night TL? hehe.

I emailed Martin regards having your stamp made from handwriting and his reply was:

Please have a look at the link below, the short answer is, I have made 100's of them..

these are really good quality, and i guarantee them for 80,000 impressions in steel.

All you need to do is send an accurate image of what you would like, include the height of text you need. I can get down as small as 1mm in height.

Martin

​http://artdesignmake.com/stamps.html

Originally Posted by burraboy

What about if you used it hot and burnt the mark on instead of whacking it?

I'd be a little concerned about affecting the heat treatment of the steel.

In any event I do not want a branding type.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Pac man

It seems that with the first stamp it would pay to develop your technique and follow the instructions. Many other users have reported this fear and got on with using the bigger hammer, some on critical pieces of work such as hand built moulding planes.

I do not own a 3 lb sledge hammer. But that is not the point. I imagine that it will work. I imagine that the technique is likely to be acquired using that particular hammer. I did say so. However I plan to mark face grain as well as end grain, and the force of a 3lb sledge hammer would be "interesting" - to say the least - on some of my smaller pieces. The scripted version ("incuse", as I have recently been informed) requires far less force, is an alternative style, and may be used just as easily on face grain. I was not aware beforehand of the limitation of the "intaglio" (the raised lettering) type of stamp for face grain. The choice is yours. I just wanted to make others aware of this if their intent was the same as mine.

Costs of all stamps depend on several factors: size, complexity, etc. These two cost the same, about $130. The scripted one just required an image of my written name.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Interesting thread. Flattening waste from around your name by hitting a blunt instrument with a three-pound hammer is something most of us would end up pulling our punches or burning the evidence quickly. Would a border around your signature do the trick Derek?

Derek, I'm not surprised at your results. Any reversed out type, that is, letters that are engraved into a solid, will always require a great effort to make an impression.

Generally that kind of stamp will work best if the type takes up about 75% to 80% of the total face plate area, if not the pressure required can often have serious side effects on the material being stamped.

With regard to the stamp that does work as you (presumably) wish, that is more like what is generally supplied for stamping into various soft materials, of which wood is one type.

Once again, overall size does come into play, the bigger the plate size, the harder it becomes to stamp material without excessive force. Excessive force can also destroy the plate.

Your second plate looks like it was etched, going by the smooth shoulders on the type, not spindle engraved. This often means a stronger die as the shoulder is convex whereas many spindle engraving methods are almost straight shouldered with some being convex.

One thing to remember is that the method of printing you are employing is called stamping, therefore quick brute force is a requirement, often governed by the size of the hammer.

Mick.