Woodburning Tools

I’m interested too Rob. I’m a fairly good sketch artist and would love to add to some of my pieces.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

Hi Rob and Bob.

I do a fair amount of wood burning on my canoe paddles and as pure art objects. Rob, I also started out with a craft store, soldering iron type burner, and quickly became less than enamored with it. You have very little control as your hand is too far from the tip, and, what I found most frustrating, absolutely no control of the temperature. Molten lava hot at all times. Pretty hard to do any fine shading, or shading at all, with super hot temps all the time.

My recommendation. I am lucky to live a few miles from the home of the Razortip woodburner system. I started using it about 5 years ago and while I haven’t tried the many others on the market, this unit is superb. Adjustable heat setting, a multitude of pens that you can use, and superb warranty and service. Having mentioned lots of pens available, I find that I use 2 pens for about 99% of all my burning. A writing pen for line work and a large shader for the rest. What I like best is that it is just like using a pen or pencil. You have very fine control which is what is needed if you are doing this with ‘art’ in mind.

If you are interested, you can see a few examples of the type of work I have done, and that you can achieve as well with this unit or one similar, by taking a look at my websites, my paddle site and my woodburned art site.

www.screekpaddleco.com – the paddle site (check the gallery page)
www.woodburnedart.com – my woodburning site.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Doug

-- Koopmaun, Canada, www.screekpaddleco.com

Thanks Doug. that Razortip looks nice. Any suggestions for something with less hit to the pocketbook? Anything that would allow for that same pencil feel but not necessarily have the adjustable range.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

that’s the system I’ve seen used at woodshows. I almost bought one but Rick suggested that I wait until I see whether I really enjoy doing pyrography.
So far, my little $10 kit from Walmart is doing the trick.. of course if I ever try “the real thing” there will be no going back!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Like Doug, I do some woodburning.( see my projects). I got my set up at WoodCaft. I believe it’s an Excaliber. I have three tips but usually only use two and then mostly the one which looks like a pointed exacto knife. Part of that is because my style, which is based on my work with pen and ink is mostly lines. After doing illustrations and art for 30 years, i just transferred the style to pyrography. Pyrography is just another media. You still need to be an art student and keep learning. Sharon Becker , who is an accomplished wood burner, works at the WoodCraft in Boise, Idaho. They keep a set of tool out for everyone to try before they buy. Sharon also teaches a class on woodburning. I would asssume that the store in your area does the same. They do have a catalog as well. If not I’ll suggest some books and see if I can help you.
Tom

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Thats where I am too Deb. I’d like to dabble….but that doesn’t justify the investment. I’m hoping to find an inexpensive one that still lets you get the pencil feel.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

If I see the Razertip at the next woodshow I’ll see if I can try it out and let you know if it’s worth the investment for dabbling.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)