Hello all - I'm Amadameus. I'm pretty new to the whole bodymod scene, I don't have any piercings or tattoos. HOWEVER...

I have been planning for almost 9 months now to get a gear branded onto my left chest (upper pectoral, centered between the collarbone and nipple) but I was doing my homework and realized there's a lot of stuff I don't know.

Up until I started looking around online, my plan was "Jake can cut some sheet metal in a gear shape, we heat it up nice and hot, press it on - what could possibly go wrong?"

Ha ha ha, ha ha. Yeah.

Well anyway, I've included a link to the image that is my final version for the gear. I was originally thinking I would make it about 2-3" in diameter, but that is where you guys come in.

I know that scars tend to heal with more width than the original brand, so at what point would I begin to lose detail in the brand? Something like 2" seems to me like it would heal as a blob, and anything larger than 3" seems like it would be difficult to press effectively.

The above thoughts are, of course, for a solid hot brand. Another good option would be an electrocautery tool, but I have not found anyone in the area that offers this. Would it be wise to break the gear up into several smaller strikes?

On another note, Keloiding. I have seen some rather raised and rounded keloids on scars, and want to stay away from that as much as possible. Many scars I've seen (and some that I have myself) have an attractive, fibrous kind of keloiding instead. Does anyone know what conditions produce either kind of scar tissue, and what I can do to ensure I create the latter instead of the former?

I know that I'm kind of small and stupid when it comes to this stuff, but I care very much about the outcome of this brand, and so I want to make sure that it ends up with the most detail and most 'clean' looking scar I can manage.

Here is the link to the image:
http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gearv2cleanxh1.gif

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read!
-Amadameus

   i have been a sheet metal worker for 36 yrs you need some thing heavier then sheet metal it will warp when you put the heat to it.you'll have to use at least 1/4 inch to told it's shape and at that i don't know if it will stay flat enough for the detail you want

If you can make it to a convention next month in Chicago. Shawn O'hare from my shop will be there and could do either electro-cautery or thermal-cautery branding which are both better options then what have been listed in my opinion. I seen that you are located in Beloit, that should only be about 1hr and 48 minutes according to mapquest. 

Edited by BrandonV - September/10/2008 at 5:11pm