Thread: Tomb stone letters: Dremel tool or woodburning iron

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I made several tombstones several years ago. For the letters, I printed them out on clear stick on printer paper. Then varnished over them.
From a distance it looks ok.
But they are all starting to wear out.
I am going to make a couple of new ones this year and I want to carve the letter.
I have seen two type of methods. One using a wood buring iron and another using a Dremel tool.
Which method works the best?

I can't speak for woodburning, never tried it yet, but I use dremels and exacto knives for all my tombstones/carving foam. I think its just preference as far as what is better. Perhaps woodburning may get you better detail depending on what you are carving.? For all small detail I would highly advise the exacto knife though to get into those tiny crevices, the smallest dremel tip sometimes is still too big,lol You can pick up a fairly cheap woodburning set at walmart or hobby lobby/Michaels, a good dremel set can be a bit costly...just had to replace ours(damn tombstones...lol) because a bit adaptor got jammed inside and when we tried to remove it we shattered the shaft. BUT the new one kicks A$$ It was 80.00 and comes with a ton of attachments & bits...well worth it. Plus you can use a dremel for a ton of other things as far as household stuff. I love my dremel tool

Its hard to get the pink stuff here in Southern California so I have to settle with the white styrofoam which means I use an exacto-knife to cut out the letters. Has anyone tried a Dremmel on the white styrofoam and if so, does it work well?

Thanks baboomgirl
I have a pretty nice Dremmel set. Flex shaft and everything.
I used to try my hand at woodcarving so I think I might be better at it with the Dremmel anyway.

I tested my dremel on the white bead styro, and it works pretty well. Definitely TEST first to get the hang of it.

I use the woodburner and exacto knife for most of my tombstone carving (granted I've not done as much of it as many members here) but I like the speed of the burner.

I print out the letters or decorations I like on regular paper, and use SprayMount (http://www.staples.com/3M-Spray-Moun...product_130831 it's cheaper at other places, but this is an example of what I'm talking about). The SprayMount will eat the foam if you don't let it dry first, but after it's dry it makes the paper sticky but still allows it to be pulled up and repositioned without tearing up the foam. It works great for burning through or for exacto knife/dremel carving.

I also would recommend an exacto knife, it works like a charm for me, but it's a personal choice I guess
Dremel is also extremely useful, it can give you interesting results, I would suggest you to try out what method works best for you

I would recommend a utility knife, also... You can get in there and make it perfect with a simple little tool. If you make a mistake, it's usually very easy to fix!

I really like using an Exacto blade it cuts clean and there's no smell. Just make sure to change your blade often or it drags. The Dremel is messy and the wood burning tool lets off a nasty vapor. I use my wood burner a lot for, well, wood so I don't want to mess up any of my bits for Styro. Since I do most of my work in the basement neither of those options really work at my house.

I have used razor knife and burning and got good results. Just started using a dremel and I like how much easier and cleaner it is, although it is even easier if I burn or cut first then dremel the area after to shape it up.

If you like carsonogenic fumes burn away.. the fumes are poison.. toxic..bad...horrible ..chernobyl .. am I getting my point across?