Choosing the best wood for wood burning art is very important in terms of improving the quality of the result.

Wood burning art is one of the most interesting things you can do it easily. Woodworkers also call it with this name: Pyrography.

Recently, this art has got many fans. The tools of this art are very cheap and simple. For the needed tools, see essential tools for pyrography art.

In general, you need two things for this art, first thin is the wood, and the second is a burning tool.

In this article, we have tried to review the best types of wood for wood burning.  

Types Of Suitable Woods For Wood Burning Art

Having the right wood for burning in this art is very important because the color, texture, and kind of wood play an important role in this art.

Pictures will have a better look on wood that has a brighter color than woods with a darker color. Also, the wood should be as smooth as possible to prevent the slip of tip of burner tool and damaging the image.

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Burning can be performed in most woods, but there are some woods that burn more beautiful than the rest.

Generally, because wood burning creates a brown color spectrum, it is best to choose a wood that brown color looks good on it after burning.

So our focus is on the wood which color is bright. But some woods, such as pine and blackberries, is not suitable for pyrography art, although they have bright colors.

The grains on these woods are harder than the wood texture, which will make it difficult to burn parts of the design on the wood strips.

The color that will be created on the grains will be different which will make you have artwork with a pattern of different colors.

If your design has a lot of details and you want to see the best results, you should use a hardwood (close-grained wood).

Birchwood is a hardwood in bright colors which is the most commonly used one because its soft grains do not disturb and produce the most pleasant areas.

It is imperative that the beginners of this art start with the woods that have a fine texture that make it easier to work, which means that enthusiasts must first fully understand the structure of the wood.

In short, the suitable wood for wood burning art should have two main features:

  • Have a bright color
  • Have a fine and soft grain

Introducing the Best Woods For Wood Burning

Here are some of the best woods for wood burning art and their general characteristics. We’ve made it easy to choose the type of wood for the enthusiasts.

Basswood

Basswood is a great wood for this art. This wood is very soft to burn, and there are no disturbing grains. The color of this wood is clear and bright. It is very beautiful and you can drag the details of your design carefully on it.

Of course, basswood has some disadvantages. You cannot find this wood at any desired size. It’s also an expensive one.

Birch wood

Grains of birch wood is generally straight and has a fine texture.

Birchwood is a hardwood that has a bright color. In the yellow birch wood, there is no color difference between annual growth rings, which gives Birchwood a uniform appearance.

Maple Wood

Maple wood is one of the best woods for burning. This wood is a type of not so tight that it burns hard and not so soft that wood burning pen slips into the wood and creates a dent.

Its color is white-worm and is a great choice for Pyrography Art.

Poplar Wood

Poplar wood is one of the best woods used in wood burning art.

It has a soft texture, bright color, relatively inexpensive and is available at whatever size you want. This wood is very suitable for beginners.

Other Common Woods

There are woods that are not suitable for the wood burning art, but due to availability are being used in this art.

Mahogany Wood

Hard and dark wood, colored reddish-brown, good for signs, but no background color for images. So it’s not so good for a pyrography art.

Oak Wood

Depending on its origin, its color changes considerably. It is not very suitable for pyrography art, because it is very hard.

Hornbeam Wood

It is a Hardwood with grayish grains. It has irregular grains and makes it difficult to create smooth lines while burning.

Cherry Wood

Light brown to pale pink, straight grains, and uniform texture. Moderate hardness and easy to use for wood burning art.

Ash Wood

White, brown, and red, with right grains. Ashwood is not bad for pyrography art.

Pinewood

Light wood, with a good and certain vein, soft and hard intermittent lines make difficult work while burning.

Pear Wood

Pink brown, with fine holes, its grains are straight and the texture is smooth and soft and it is very good for pyrography.

Conclusion

You can try this art with different wood wastes to see which wood is working best for you.

In this article, we tried to introduce the best woods for pyrography and describe the disadvantages of each one so that you can choose the best wood for wood burning art according to your circumstances.

2 Comments

  1. Pingback: Fractal Wood Burning Art | Wood Dad

    • Sorry, Kevin, I didn’t get what you mean by this. Please clarify your question and I’ll answer it ASAP.

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