Lesson 1 · Level 1

Getting Started With Your Burner

Learn how heat, pressure, speed and tip selection change a burn.

Recommended wood

Basswood

Basswood is soft, pale and almost grain-free, so beginners see exactly what the tip is doing.

Recommended tip

Universal / standard point

The all-purpose beginner tip: lines, outlines and light shading. In the studio: Medium Tip.

Heat level

Warm to Scorch

Start around 620°F and raise it a notch at a time.

Technique

Heat

Lower heat gives lighter marks, higher heat gives darker marks. Always start low and creep upward — you can darken a burn, but you can't undo one.

Pressure

Light pressure = a light burn. More pressure generally burns darker and deeper. As a beginner, avoid pressing hard; let the heat do the work.

Speed

Move quickly for light marks, slowly for dark marks. Pausing in one spot (dwell) is the fastest way to go very dark.

Tip angle

Rotating the tip changes the shape and width of the mark. The same tip can draw a hairline or a broad stroke depending on the angle.

A tidy grid of marks that gets progressively darker from row to row, with clean starts and stops — no blobs where you began each line.

The practice board loads as a reference overlay on the wood canvas — set the wood, tip and heat above, then burn over the faint guides.

Burn a single band that fades from very light to very dark without changing the design — control darkness with heat, speed and pressure only.