Brand your props (anti-theft & ID recovery)

[spinachetr]

My first how-to, so be kind.

After we're spent so much time and money making our props wouldn't you want to have a better chance of getting them back if lost (blown away) or stolen. I used branding irons made for steak or chicken cooked on a grill and made a branding iron to mark my styrofoam tombstones. You could paint your name and address on a prop, but if someone stole it to use as their own they could easily paint over your paint. I wanted to etch my contact info INTO the prop but didn't want to take the time to do it with a dremel tool. I think that a thief may (..again MAY) think twice it they see your name embedded in the prop.

I bought 2 Norpro BBQ Brands from amazon.com Amazon.com: Norpro BBQ Branding Iron: Kitchen & Dining@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31KE3e1KjcL.@@AMEPARAM@@31KE3e1KjcL they cost $14.37. They come with a long handled brand with a plate and approx 54 letters and spacers (no numbers). The letters are 3/8" tall. The branding plate has 2 lines and each line holds 9 to 10 letters. It comes with a "U" shaped clip that is supposed to keep the letters in place. Since I was going to keep these as prop brands and since you can't use the clip if you have 10 letters on a line, I modified the branding plate to keep the letters in place.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand001.jpg

After picking what I wanted the brand to say and making sure it fit, I used brackets screwed on to each side to keep the letters in place. The branding plate is aluminum and drilled easily. I used a very small drill bit, drilled the 2 holes on each side then used a 1/8" drill bit and made the holes larger. I attached one bracket then loaded the letters in.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand002.jpg

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand003.jpg

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand004.jpg

Unfortunately there are no numbers in the set, but luckily for me I could use the "I" for 1 and modified the "H" to make a 4 by using a dremel tool and lake a leg off the H.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand006.jpg

[spinachetr]

Use a mirror to check to make sure the letters are in the reverse way.
http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand007.jpg

Then attach the other side bracket so the letter don't fall out.

Apply heat, you could put this in a hot grill like they say to do for use on food, or use a plumbing torch. Normal precautions for working with fire and melting styrofoam apply.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand008.jpg

You can see the several attempts to get it right. Too hot and it melted too much, but you could do several tombstones without having to reheat. Also shows how it did on wood.

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand009.jpg

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand010.jpg

http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx251/spinachetr/brand.jpg

I had to shorten the name of my town so it would fit on the line.

[Front Yard Fright]

This is GREAT! Thanks for sharing!
:).

[steveshauntedyard]

Cool stuff

[spinachetr]

I just branded/marked 25 tombstones in under 10 minutes. I reheated the branding iron after every 7 tombstone or so. In the beginning a quick 1/2 second touch was enough to imprint the brand toward the 7th one a 1 second touch was enough. After I was done I burnt off the foam residue from the branding iron.

It fits perfectly on the bottom of 2" thick foam.

[beelce]

good idea..................

[hpropman]

Interesting concept thanks for sharing

[madmomma]

Great idea. I appreciate your sharing it!