Woodburning tool advice needed

[Richard Madden]

I want to try pyrography on some turnings and I know nothing about it. I do know I really like basket weave patterns for starters. Is there a brand of woodburning pen any of you would recommend? Looking in catalogs, I see brands like Excalibre, Razertip, Colwood, and Burnmaster. I like the idea of being able to create a custom shape wire tip, like the Razortip, but I would like to hear opinions and/or recommendations from those of you who have experience. Thanks

[Steve Vaughan]

Richard, I got the burnmaster with the duel plug connectors (so you have two pens plugged in). I only went with that because the price was right, caught it on sale and I felt it was a lot of burning compared to the others for the money. Been very pleased with it and it seems to have a lot of heat and fast.

Just turned a bowl out of gum, sort of a plain wood, but hard. So I burned a basket weave pattern on the side, about 3/4" wide band, then burned the weave pattern. It's the first time I've done that and had been wanting to for long time. I also bought some of the wire for these things so I could make some for myself at some point. Got that from Amazon - search for Ni-chrome wire, or it might be nickel-chromium wire.

I was inspired by the cover of the Spring 2010 edition of the Packard Woodworks catalog with a piece of work there by Molly Winton. You might could google her name and find some of her turned woodburnings. Really cool.
I'm gonna take my bowl and dye it black, but leave the light colored interior natural for contrast. Will post pics when I get that done...

[Alan Zenreich]

We've got the Burnmaster Eagle and added a couple of specialized Razortip pens to the ones that come with the Burnmaster.



http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=162363&d=1285294912

[Richard Madden]

We've got the Burnmaster Eagle and added a couple of specialized Razortip pens to the ones that come with the Burnmaster.



http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=162363&d=1285294912

Alan, so it appears the Razortip pens are interchangable with the Burnmaster control unit, right? Didn't know that.

[Steve Vaughan]

Richard, as I remember, that was one of the things that drew me to the burnmaster...that you could interchange the other brand pens with it. Pretty slick unit, and the one pictured is the one I have also.

[Greg Just]

I used the Burnmaster while in a class over the summer and really liked it. I plan to buy one when I get the money saved. Richard is correct in that it will accept pens from other manufacturers. The instructor I had made custom tips and it was a lot of fun to use.

[Alan Trout]

I am no expert at pyrography but I got to see Molly Winton do a demo and I surely think she is. Her preference is the Burnmaster. She says it is the best thing going for the money. She also has a neat book she sell for about $5 to show you how to make your own pens and what and where to get the supplies to do it. Google her website which is called Turning Maven. She is a heck of a nice lady as well.

Alan

[Mike Peace]

After getting inspired at a club workshop focused on woodburning, I found this wonderful site with some great information on pyrography:

http://www.nedraspyrography.com/ (http://www.nedraspyrography.com/)

I finally decided to get an Optima 1 dual burner and two heavy duty pens from
http://www.gregdorrance.com/


The Optima is very similar to the Razertip unit which is highly recommended but the Optima costs less.