burin consists of a rounded handle shaped like a mushroom, and a tempered steel shaft coming from the handle at an angle and ending in a very sharp cutting face, creating a "V"-shaped groove in a printing plate of soft metal, classically copper.

The most ubiquitous types have a square or lozenge face, but there are many others. A tint burin has a square face with teeth, to create many fine, closely spaced lines. Stipple techniques can be done with many flicks of a conventional