woodburner question

[jared herbert]

For this question I have turned to the place that seems to have the most informed people reading it. My wife wants to buy me something for Christmas. After long thought I have decided I might like a woodburner to embelish some of my bowls. The research I have done leads me to believe that a Colwood Superpro 2 is the way to go and is kind of a middle of the road outfit for someone to get started with. One place I have found offers this burner along with an assortment of tips etc, what ever you need to start for about $200. Have other people used this burner? Is it a decent one? I know there are probably many opinions on a tool like this, in the search I have done of the forum the colwood name keeps coming up so it must be a decent product. Any advice you can give me [and my wife] would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance Jared

[Scott Hackler]

Jared,

I haven't heard of the burner you've meantioned. The more popular brands seem to be Burnmaster and Optima and Razertip. I bought the Burnmaster Hawk kit after a recommendation from Molly Winton, who if you didn't know is a very famous turner that burns patterns into here pieces. I love my Burnmaster. It works fantastic and the only thing I have had going goofy is the hand piece quit after 1 1/2 years of using it. I guess that isn't too bad. The kit comes with 10-12 tips and you can make your own tips with NiChrome wire. The Hawk kit is about $199. They sell another model called the Eagle and the only difference is the ability to have two hand pieces connected...BUT you cant have them both running at the same time. Molly uses two specific tips for the majority of here work and it's handy for her to not have to keep switching the tips out. I am not doing that much volume of burning/branding, so 20 seconds to switch out a tip is OK with me. The Eagle kit adds another $60.

A lot of people prefer Razertip pens and you can use them on about any burner as well. I own one and find it very nice, but they are specific to the tip and you can't change the tip on those pens.

I suggest looking at the above meantioned brands and buy "name brand". There is a reason the "masters" use a certain brand.

[Bruce Markwardt]

I have a Detail Master Dagger. I've had it for years and it still works, so I can attest to its durability. I haven't tried any of the others so I am not sure how they compare. The downside of Detail Masters is that the pens are expensive. One of the upsides is that they sell the pens at my local Woodcraft.

I have spent a little bit of time lurking on one of the pyrography sites and the Razertip seems to be the system of choice.

My personal experience "decorating" bowls and such is that you don't need a whole lot of different pens. I have 4 I think. The straight pen and small pointed pen are what I use 95% of the time.

Most pen brands are interchangeable, directly or with adaptors.

Here's a good article comparing the different brands. http://www.pyrographyonline.com/feat...ers-guide.html

[Jim Burr]

There are a few brands that have been proven over time Jared, Burnmaster, Optima, Detailmaster and I'm sure a few more. I use and Optima II, I know guys that use Burnmaster and I know guys that use Detailmaster and Optima. The good news is....you get to pick!

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use a Optima II dual pen. I find 90% of the time the tips I have in the two pens do most of the burning.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have the optima with 5 fixed tip pens. It is a single pen unit, but I do not find the time needed to change pens to be too bad. The burner and first pen was $125, other pens have been about $20-25 each. I plan on buying one of the pens that you use nichrome wire to make custom tips.

[Harry Robinette]

I've been using the Detail master Saber for about 5 years and love it. Remember get at lest 50 and 100 watts if you can all it does is the higher the watts the less recovery time to keep burning.

[Jim Underwood]

I just ordered a Patriot Pro 2000 (65 watts, two ports and 6 pens for $199) from that guy in Florida (Everglades Tools). Mike Cruz gave the 500 good reviews.

[Donny Lawson]

There are some great units out there. I have a Burnmaster and its a good unit. I've heard great reviews on the Razertip so the choice is yours. Keep us informed on what you go with.

[Roger Chandler]

I have the Colwood cub writer.......so far it has been fine, but I use it mostly to sign the bottoms of my work.....

[Bill Boehme]

I have the Detail Master Excalibre made by Leisure Time Products and would rate it at the top of the list along with the Burnmaster which I have heard is also very good. However, I feel that the pens that Leisure Time Products offer are a bit better than the others. The good news is that their pens can be used on the Burnmaster and possibly others with the appropriate connectors. If you go with the Detail Master pens, I would highly recommend their vented pens. Even with their standard pens, you can add nitrile O-rings to the barrel of the pen to help with cooling.

The reason that I went with the Detail Master Exalibre is that I took a pyrography class with Andi Wolfe and she indicated that she preferred it for her own work.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I built my own from a AMERICAN WOODWORKER U-Tube video and with plans from AMERICAN WOODWORKER for the handpiece. I used various gauges of nichrome wire..It works great. No cooling of the tips during use. The handpiece is also aircooled. Cost about $150 or so.

[John McCaskill]

You might want to look at the Texaswoodburner site. The kit including the Colwood detailer control unit, handpiece, case, 4 tips and a tip puller is $158.15.

John

[John Sanders]

My Wife uses a Burnmaster that I got from Packard. Thing is FAST!!!!