If you find yourself dreading the rapid approach of winter this year, or you are reading this article during the winter, then you must be someone who suffers from the winter blues, since that is what the title of this article is about.
The winter blues can be everything from just a general lack of energy or desire, to full blown depression.
One of the major culprits that cause the winter blues is folks often find themselves stuck inside on the them cold winter days with nothing to do.
First of all, a person with nothing to do, is what I would consider a very lucky person, but that's just me thinking that way.
I often wish there was a lot more hours in the day, to get things done, and so don't most other people, in fact a lot of us don't have time to get the winter blues.
If you want to fight the winter blues, then you need to find a hobby to do during them cold days, when you have nothing to do, and such a hobby is Wood Burning.
Now, before we get started, I want to say that I am not talking about using wood as a source of winter heat, that is another type of wood burning.
The type of wood burning I am talking about is the activity of lightly sketching or drawing a picture on a piece of wood, then by using a hand held tool called a wood burner, you burn or char the image into the woods surface.
A woodburner is a tool that is about the same size and shape as a screwdriver, you plug the tool into an electric outlet and the end or tip of it gets hot enough to burn into a piece of wood.
The longer and harder you hold and press the tip of the wood burner against the wood, the deeper, and more charred it will cause the wood to become.
The tip of the wood burner is removable, and most of the lowest priced wood burners come with different sized tips, for creating different effects.
Once you become accustomed to using a wood burner you can create some beautiful effects into the wood.
Like in any activity or hobby there are possible dangers, the tip of a wood burner does become hot enough to burn a person easily, and it can possibly start a fire if left unattended against an object, so use common sense, like you would when using any power tool like a saw, or some other thing that can cause bodily harm.
When I was around the age of 13, I bought a wood burner, and I loved burning wood with it, and I had no problems, but Parents or Guardians of a child must take responsibility for allowing them to use a wood burner.
There are different types of wood burners available depending upon the amount of money you wish to spend, the basic ones come with 3 or 4 different points for creating different effects, while the more expensive ones come with temperature settings and more safety features, like auto shut off, etc.
You must choose what type of wood you want to burn the image into, some woods are light and they will make your burnt image stand out more, while darker colored wood, will cause just the opposite effect.
Once you have your project burning done, you can stain the wood to give the image any desired color or effects you wish.
This year, during the long, cold days of winter, why not try your hand at wood burning, it's a great hobby to help fight the winter blues.
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