The examples in the Gallery are toilet seats made from European Oak.
I purchase these ready-made and I have to strip the sealer of them before I can Pyrograph them. I have Pyrographed quite a number of these seats with pictures of anything from Roses to Spiders!

I have also done several small Oak kegs and assorted antique and new furniture pieces. They are fun, but working with Oak is very time consuming.

Oak timber is very hard grained and it requires a lot of trial and error to successfully Pyrograph it.

I have found that if the Oak is dampened with hot water it Pyrographs a lot easier. This may sound a bit suspect, but the hot water opens the surface grain slightly, allowing the burner tip to "bite"....try it on hard timber...it works for me!

For the Pyrography I use either an IRONCORE T3/54 or an ND1 which are both hot wire burners.