Frat boys rejoice! There is now a low-cost way to brand your young pledges this fall!
Wait, wrong blog.
Uhh. Well this will work here, too. Thanks to a tip from a reader, I have found the most clever way to brand your work. It’s a custom-made branding iron that clips onto a Bic Classic lighter. Flick your Bic for 2 minutes and then simply press the iron against your work. A small puff of smoke later, your work (or the backside of a naughty pledge) is branded for life. Here’s some video I shot this evening.
The inexpensive branding iron  – prices start at $22 – is custom made with your logo. To make your own, you simply upload a logo to the Shapeways web site and pay for it. In a couple weeks, they send you an envelope with the doohicky inside. Clip it to your Bic (not included) and you are in the branding business.
To get started at Shapeways, click here.
I was impressed by the detail from such an inexpensive gadget. I have no idea how many uses I’ll be able to squeeze out if it, but the metal is quite stout. I have high hopes.
In fact, I think we might skip implanting the subcutaneous computer tracking chip in our next batch of kitty cats and just go with a simple low-tech brand.
Man, I hope my wife doesn’t read my blog.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. The music in the video can be found here at FreeMusicArchive.org.
Four words: methylacetylene-propadiene propane gas.
What is the name & source of the final music track? – the Schwarz signature tune.
Cassidy Buxom
http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1071
the cat rancher in me doth protest!
If I had any skill at 3D modelling I’d be thinking about making some parts that way for old tools.
Hit ’em up — move ’em out!
Here is Megan’s cat ranching video:
The Shwarz effect is still in full force. The site now advertises the little branding iron for $75.
John,
Click on the price and you’ll see the different metal options — that’s the most expensive one.
Seems like sandpaper sharpening – seems cheap at first until you’ve filled up a garbage basket with Bic lighters!
I just used up the last of the gas in my little red BIC trying to heat treat a little piece of jigsaw blade for the blade in a marking gauge. I think it worked? A file skips off it now.
The instuctions on BIC lighters, last time I actually read one, said not to leave the flame one for over 30 seconds . ..
Will it clip on a Bernz-O-Matic torch? I’m way too impatient to wait on a Bic.
That stuff’s pretty cool! Looking at the Shapeways website, you can do the design work with SketchUp (or other 3D modeling software) and have your object 3D-printed from a variety of materials. If they ever figure out a way to sinter wood chips, we’ll have a new way to make dovetails! But that would be another machine-made joint…