transfer scroll work to wood

[Maineshops]

I am trying to transfer laser printed scroll work  to wood with acetone and having poor results. any ideas on what I might do to improve the clarity of the transfer. 75 yr old eyes need all the help they can get. thanks Dan

[ltdann]

Use a household iron and just iron it on like a decal.  The heat will transfer the ink and not hurt the wood.

[Bill Raby]

   A good way to transfer from computer to wood is with a vinyl cutter. Sort of like a printer, but it cuts the design in a sheet of adhesive vinyl. You can use it as a stencil. These machines are great for all sorts of other things also.

http://www.uscutter.com/Vinyl-Cutters

[Jay Close]

Not all laser printers work for this method. I've read that all HP laser printers work, but the other makes can be variable. I bought the cheapest HP laser printer I could find at Office Depot (about $100) and it has worked fine for transferring designs to metal for engraving. Also, make sure you're using cheap copier paper. The better quality paper doesn't absorb the acetone as well and release the image.

Cheers!

[T*O*F]

Forget all that stuff.  Just get a piece of carbon paper and put it under your design.  Tape in place and trace over the design with a soft pencil.
You can still get transfer papers at most hobby stores.  It comes in red, white, blue, black, and yellow.

[ltdann]

Here's a iron transfer from a laser printer, no acetone, just heat

[petera]

I am as old as the author of this enquiry, and far too old to bother with a laser printer or all of that techno stuff.  I once tried to transfer a design printed on a flat surface to the convex surface of a stock, and it looked terrible.  I use my soft pencil to sketch a design, then the eraser about twice as much to refine a sketch to the final drawing, as described in my book.  All this techno stuff only restricts you to a static design, which, while it might "fit" the original stock, equally, might not "fit" yours.  Regards,   Peter A. Alexander

[Goo]

You could rub the reverse side of the paper with soft graphite pencil, tape in place, apply pressure to lines of the design with a smooth round pointed object ( or a pencil) remove paper and if you did all the lines you will see a copy that you can enhance to work from on the wood.  Or as was previously said stick a piece of carbon paper under it.

[ltdann]

I asked for carbon paper at Office Depot and the employee's gave me the deer in the headlight look.      Go to a music shop and ask for an LP and see what happens, it'll be fun.

Although the laser printer was never intended to be used in gun building, it's characteristic heat and ink transfer system can be easily repurposed to our needs.  It's not like none of us have  EVER taken something laying around the shop and remade it into something we need to build a gun.  These day's a laser printer can be bought for the price of 3 Pfiel chisels.  It's just another tool in the arsenal.

There are graphic artists out in the world that can do amazing things with digital technology, creating true works of art.  These same people probably would have a hard time using a pencil to accomplish the same task.   The internet is absolutely awash with designs, graphics and ideas, all easily adaptable to our needs.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of graphics from the Baroque and Rococo period available, free.

Personally, I view the advent of technology as a good thing for this addiction of ours.  The internet keeps this knowledge alive, and saves it for future generations.  Being able to post pictures of our work, our success's and failures, we are preserving this art and attracting people that wouldn't otherwise even know that you COULD build your own firearm.  Places like this forum are in effect an historical archive.

Those of you that have turned a hobby into a business are reaching out further than you ever have, selling your parts, books and knowledge.  Using technology selectively has taken an arcane, regional hobby and turned it into an internationally recognized art form.

What's wrong with that?

[Dennis Glazener]

I asked for carbon paper at Office Depot and the employee's gave me the deer in the headlight look.

They have it there, I bought a box of it a couple of years ago.
Dennis

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

A pad or box of carbon paper will outlast you!  I brought an open package home from the office in 1972, to do some work for my employer, and neglected to return it - quite nefarious, eh?  I've been using it ever since for transfer work, mostly to transfer a patchbox design to paper from a reference image, or to the brass itself.  But it works on wood just fine too.  I've also used the soft pencil rubbing method described earlier in this thread.