What woodburning tool?

[Dave Lehnert]

I have it narrowed down to what I want but will ask anyway.
What wood burning tool do you recommend.

Do you ever see a sale on wood burners? I have wanted one for some time now and cant ever remember seeing a sale?

[Lloyd Butler]

Have a look around at the wood burners as they seem to be developed for slightly different tasks. The Detail Master has a really good fine low power mode to allow for very light burning, it was developed for carvers. If you want to really scorch the wood, or "brand", then the Burnmaster is a a little more popular as it goes a bit hotter.

There are a few other brands available. Maybe give the guys at Chippingaway (Chippingaway.com) in Kitchener as they may be able to help in the choice.

Once you get the burner, then you have a choice of pens as most of the popular brands provide adaptors to use pretty much any brand pen.

[Thom Sturgill]

I would recommend that you get fixed pens rather than ones with removable tips. Other than the one that allows you to use your own wire that is. Its a little more expense for the handles, but they last longer. Other than that I'm not sure there is that much difference. I have a single pen Optima, they also make a dual pen model, but only one is hot at a time. I do not find changing pens to be that big an issue.

[John Keeton]

Be aware there are 2 volt systems and 3 volt systems. Using 2 volt pens in 3 volt systems may result in a much shorter life for the pen.

[Steve Mawson]

I got mine off E auction site from a guy in Florida. Works fine, came with two pens$100 if I remember right. I have a lot of hours on it with no complaints.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Steve, Everglades woodburner? I have one too. No complaints. Mostly operator errors.

[Dave Lehnert]

Steve, Everglades woodburner? I have one too. No complaints. Mostly operator errors.

Do you know if the Everglades unit will use other brand pens?

[charlie knighton]

i have a burnmaster that I like a lot, won it in a raffle at a club meeting.....at the Virginia woodturning symposium this year Razortip donated a very nice unit with several pens for our raffle prize.......I was impressed with it....I did buy a separate pen that I can change the tip on that was not offered by burnmaster.....I had to change the male end so it would work with my burnmaster

the # 1 thing is to practice the burning at different heat ranges on scrap piece of wood to get the results you want

[Thom Sturgill]

Do you know if the Everglades unit will use other brand pens?

I found a You-Tube review and the pens look to use the standard RCA jack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4iqgY_hokM

Looks like the pens are a Writer, Skew and Shader, which are a good starting set. The reviewer said he paid $159 on the bay, I bought the Optima burner with pens for $125 from a local artist that teaches and sells equipment. Not sure, but I think that was with two pens. I have used pens from at least three different manufacturers on my unit.

[George Troy Hurlburt]

I have the woodburners except for the everglades listed. They all work fine. Might consider a woodwriter tip, you also need a skew tip, spoon, and perhaps a ball tip for embossing a design in your turnings. Showing a couple of small hackberry vases. Burned and colored. HackberryBamboo-burn.jpgHackberryFlies burned.jpg. I used a ball mill from my hi-speed air drill on one.