01
Burnt Offerings Questions and Answers
Solid Nib versus Wire Nib
There are 2 kinds of woodburning machines
Solid Point machines are very much the same as soldering irons. Some of them are in fact what we would term as *glorified* soldering irons. These have a heat control and a handful of nib options such as stamps or writing nib. They get their name from the “solid” nibs that they use.
Wire Nib machines are some what different and act more like hot pens. The wires used are specialized for art, the wires get a precise burn more easily, and tend to have a lot more precisemore control over the heat.
You can get a precise burn with a solid point machine……but workings will be much faster with a wire nib burner!
02
Tips or Nibs? Which is the right term to use?
The terms tips, nibs, sharps or points refer to the metal parts that actually touch the wood to allow you to draw the actual burn. And there are a lot of different kinds which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Lots of professional artist's just simply call them nibs.
Whatever term you may hear them called they are all corredt.
We prefer to use the term “nibs” as it is less confusing.
Take a simple everyday sentence in English.
“Here are some woodburning tips!”…The burning question being (pardon the pun ) are you actually giving me advice on this or are you selling me accessories for my machines?
Exactly the same confusion happens when a person calls them woodburning “points".
If we look at other arts such as the ancient art of calligraphy then, ink comes out of a “nib”. It is very much the same on a woodburning tool, the part that actually burns the material and makes the mark is also a “nib”.
So “nib” is our go to term .