SimonBrooke
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2005
- Posts
- 1,139
(yes, I've checked the library)
Hypothetically, I am interested in how one brands a human. The area to be branded is fine, delicate skin over muscle, with not a lot of subcutaneous fat. The brand would be contained in an area 50mm by 75mm. Consider that this is research for a story I'm working on, but that nevertheless I want to get the detail right.
I'm talking specifically about strike-branding - that is, branding by the application of an intensely hot (or, possibly, intensely cold) implement to the skin. This form of marking has a drama and theatricality to it which (for example) tattooing simply lacks. And for that reason I'm not interested in branding with a cauterising pencil, or with incense applied to the skin, or any other less dramatic approach. It has to be the dramatic application of hot metal to a bound victim.
Obviously one needs to cause enough injury to cause permanent scarring (that is, second or third degree burn), without causing enough injury to have serious medical side effects. A branding that leads only to a few short-lived blisters would be a severe anti-climax for the person branded, but at the same rime one would not want to cause muscular or organ damage.
Equally obviously, there are three variables which together control the degree of injury:
'Fakir', who appears to be an experienced practitioner quotes branding temperatures which are actually impossible, because they're above the melting point of steel, but in the same sentence talks about 'cherry orange-red', which implies only 7-800 degrees Celsius.
Modern body-mod branders also say that a shaped iron which applies a complete design in one application cannot be used, but museums are full of actual real examples of branding irons which did exactly that (it's likely, though, that modern body-mod branders care a great deal more about the evenness of the final image than people branding slaves and criminals in the past). I think for my purposes I prefer the one strike approach even if the scarring is uneven to the one-segment-at-a-time approach advocated here.
And a lot of people seem to be recounting material from the Gorean books as if they were true accounts. In the books white-hot metal is applied to the skin for a count of five seconds - I am not at all persuaded that this is at all safe (yes, I know branding isn't safe anyway, but there are degrees of unsafe).
I've found one good account of freeze branding which seems to be real experience. It describes a quite chunky iron (so lots of thermal mass), dry ice, and a 60 second application. If I can't find anything better that may have to do, but I'd prefer heat.
So - has anyone actually done branding (or had it done to them)? For how long was the implement in contact with the skin? What colour was the glow of the implement before it contacted the skin, and had the colour changed significantly before it was removed?
How long was the healing period?
Hypothetically, I am interested in how one brands a human. The area to be branded is fine, delicate skin over muscle, with not a lot of subcutaneous fat. The brand would be contained in an area 50mm by 75mm. Consider that this is research for a story I'm working on, but that nevertheless I want to get the detail right.
I'm talking specifically about strike-branding - that is, branding by the application of an intensely hot (or, possibly, intensely cold) implement to the skin. This form of marking has a drama and theatricality to it which (for example) tattooing simply lacks. And for that reason I'm not interested in branding with a cauterising pencil, or with incense applied to the skin, or any other less dramatic approach. It has to be the dramatic application of hot metal to a bound victim.
Obviously one needs to cause enough injury to cause permanent scarring (that is, second or third degree burn), without causing enough injury to have serious medical side effects. A branding that leads only to a few short-lived blisters would be a severe anti-climax for the person branded, but at the same rime one would not want to cause muscular or organ damage.
Equally obviously, there are three variables which together control the degree of injury:
- The heat (or cold) of the implement
- The thermal mass of the implement (how quickly it cools)
- The period for which it's in contact with the skin.
'Fakir', who appears to be an experienced practitioner quotes branding temperatures which are actually impossible, because they're above the melting point of steel, but in the same sentence talks about 'cherry orange-red', which implies only 7-800 degrees Celsius.
Modern body-mod branders also say that a shaped iron which applies a complete design in one application cannot be used, but museums are full of actual real examples of branding irons which did exactly that (it's likely, though, that modern body-mod branders care a great deal more about the evenness of the final image than people branding slaves and criminals in the past). I think for my purposes I prefer the one strike approach even if the scarring is uneven to the one-segment-at-a-time approach advocated here.
And a lot of people seem to be recounting material from the Gorean books as if they were true accounts. In the books white-hot metal is applied to the skin for a count of five seconds - I am not at all persuaded that this is at all safe (yes, I know branding isn't safe anyway, but there are degrees of unsafe).
I've found one good account of freeze branding which seems to be real experience. It describes a quite chunky iron (so lots of thermal mass), dry ice, and a 60 second application. If I can't find anything better that may have to do, but I'd prefer heat.
So - has anyone actually done branding (or had it done to them)? For how long was the implement in contact with the skin? What colour was the glow of the implement before it contacted the skin, and had the colour changed significantly before it was removed?
How long was the healing period?
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