The number of characters in a brand is determined by how you would describe the brand. For example: Bar 7B would be 3 characters, if the characters blend into each other such as the 7 and the B using the same vertical line, that is still considered a 3 character branding iron.
The size of a brand can be determined in one of 2 ways.
For example: Brand design of Bar over 7B
Overall Height - you would describe the brand as 4" overall height, that would then make the characters "7B" 3" tall adding the "bar" to make a total brand height of 4".
So you can see that by this example, if you simply say that you want a 4" brand, you could possibly get either a 4" total height brand or a 5" total height brand.
It is very important to communicate this in the fashion that you would like to have your brand made. If you do not specify either "per character" or "overall", we will default to "per character" and this might not fit your needs. As the type of animal, the age of the animal, the brand location and the brand design have an effect on what size of brand you should choose, please be careful when choosing a size, there is no "normal", "average" or "standard" brand size, all the factors above should be considered. If you would like help to determine the size that will best fit your needs, please contact us with your brand information at sales@lhbrandingirons.com.