Heat Stippling Gear

I recently posted about heat stippling long guns and a few of my fellow Trigger Jerks expressed interest in seeing the gear that I use to stipple. My intention is not to get to deeply into how to stipple, but rather to show the gear that I use and share how you can make your own.

This stippling was accomplished using a modified wood burning bit.

When I first started stippling, I used a small pointed bit to apply a single dimple at a time. This method yielded decent results but it took a lot of time and I would often accidentally leave small areas untextured. It worked, but I was sure I could figure out a more efficient way of stippling.

This is the type of large diameter bit that can be modified.

The key, for me, was to find a wood burning kit with large diameter bits. These larger diameter bits can be modified into a tool that can lay down several dimples at a time, instead of just one. If you can’t find a kit with larger bits, you can use a brass screw that matches the thread pitch of your wood burning kit.

This is what the bit looks like after being ground down and cut with the cutting wheel.

I grind the bit flat using the sanding wheel on my Dremel rotary tool and then cut checkering in to its face using a Dremel cutting wheel. The brass bits are very soft and cut easily. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes.

The cuts don't have to be precise to give good results.

When you are done, you will have a stippling bit that covers a wider area and lays down several dimples at a time. It works best if you overlap each press and rotate it a quarter turn between presses. The result is very dense and consistent texture that takes a lot less time to apply.

Give it a try.