Advise on Woodburner for signing bowls

[Michael Mason]

I am wanted to buy a wood burner and pen to sign the bottom's of bowls. I was thinking of getting the Razertip but need advice on which pen is best suited for this task. Any experience or opinions?

Thanks,
Michael

[George Troy Hurlburt]

Razertip is a good brand and they have lots of woodburning tips. Go to their site and you will see their tips. The end will have a small double loop and the end will look like a ball point pen. You could get just a wood writer from Craft Supplies, but that is all it would by good for. Here is a couple of pics on signing bottoms and one of the little plates has a rose burned in. These were also posted on another woodturning site.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I've got a Colwood Detailer (bought used) that I've started using. I got tips from: http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/

I've been using the "MC" writing tip (top row: http://www.texaswoodcarvers.com/Tool..._Burners_3.htm) - but I have trouble writing with that one, so thinking about getting the "Ball 1" style tip (bottom of the page)

[Thom Sturgill]

Just about any burner that uses pens will work. I have the Optima, but Razortip is well though of. I would buy a pen with fixed tips - they hold up longer than ones where you are constantly removing and replacing the tip. Higher initial price since you buy handles with each pen, but lower cost in the long run.

The standard writing tip works fairly well and I sometimes use a curved skew tip. Small ball tips will also work for writing, that's what I started with and later bought a dedicated writing tip which works better for me. In addition to the tips I mentioned, you may want a shader or two (spoon and straight) once you start playing with embellishing your turnings. Often you can get a package deal with the burner and two or three pens.

[Pat Scott]

I have a "Colwood Cub Woodwriter Pyrographic Burner" from Craft Supplies. It's $85 vs $123 for the Razertip, and it comes with a pen that I used for years for signing my name. The pen that it comes with has a loop on the end which works OK, but for some of my turnings I wanted a smaller tip so I bought a ball tip pen as well. You can use any of the Razertip pens with the Cub burner if you buy a male-to-male RCA adapter ($5 from Craft Supplies, or you can get them at Radio Shack and other similar places). I don't do any pyrography at all, I only use the burner for signing my name.

[George Troy Hurlburt]

This my second post in this thread. I would get a regular woodburner that will put out the power. Colwood, Razertip, Optima has been mentioned. You can do a lot of burning on your turned projects to enhance them. I have done a lot of woodburning over the past few years. As with any skill some do more than others. Cynthia Gibson comes to mind on all the boxes and pots she has burned. Showing 2 - 12 Basswood platters I turned. The Dog was for the Grandson and the cat for the Granddaughter. This is work that was done about a year & 1/2 ago. Good thing both animals later died.RexonPlate-r.jpgP1040030RR-cat.jpg

[Michael Mason]

Thank you for the replies.

George, it looks like you have the burning down pretty good. Nice work. I have been thinking about trying some of that in the future as well.