Can someone recommend a wood burner?

[NorthHeart]

I google "wood burner" and fireplaces come up lol.  Im referring to the ones you engrave with.  A friend bought me a cheap one that got me hooked.  I think it was literally just a soldering iron.  My problem with it(at least i think) is that it doesnt get hot enough.  Or rather, when i touch it to the Osage it takes way too long to make the burn as deep as i need it.  I need something i can really rock and roll with.  I notice on Ebay the prices go from the $10-15 cheapies straight to burners in the $250+ range.  Will the expensive ones do what i want?  I hear they are mainly for adjusting temp.  But my issue is(again i think) simply not enough heat, besides i figure i can adjust manually by holding it on the wood for a shorter amount of time once i get a nice hot burner.  Am is missing anything?  Please feel free to explain all i need to know about wood burners, and if someone can recommend one please.  New or used, i just want something that will handle all my bow needs.

[half eye]

Your problem is not the power of the burner (heat) it is the really thick tip. The high end burners are adjustable over a range of temps (makes it easy to shade colors into the carving) and may allow two burner hook up> They are not necessary. What you need is a burner that has "pens" that hook up to it....basically a writing pen with a tiny little "razorblade" edge. These thin wire tips get hot, do it real quick, and can be kept hot while in use. The other thing is the small tips allow you tight turns, positive control, and allow you to do that "fine" work you see in Pyrogrophy portraits. These units are a control box with a rehostat heat switch, a pen "handle" with fine tips ( they make two types of pens) the first type has "replaceable tips" on a fixed body....the other has a "fixed tip" that is part of the pen body. My experience over many years of use is to stick with the fixed tip type. The replacement tip kind will eventually fail at the "push-in" contact at the pen body....the fixed are part of the unit. When you fire these up that tip can get nearly white hot so "extra" connection points are not a real good idea.
      I have a very old unit called "the cub" and is made by a company called "Detailer" that I use with fixed tip pens. At the time it was the cheapest of the so called fancy burners...They still make an entry level burner for about the $50 range. That has been my experience with wood burning, when I was younger the feathers on bird carvings would have as many as 100 burn lines to the inch, heat colored, and the feathers looked absolutely real and soft. That was then and this is now but the point is ya dont need the top dollar ones to do great work. Hope that helps.
rich

[half eye]

here is a quickie pic of my old unit
rich

[Knoll]

That, Rich, seems helpful explanation. Thanks!

[burchett.donald]

 Rich,
         Great info...I am looking at getting a pyrography kit...I have one of the old wood burners from years ago with the thick chisel point...Need to update...
                                                  Don

[half eye]

I bet I know where you could get one at no cost Mr. Burchett
rich

[Aaron curtis]

I bought a mastercarver burnaster Eagle a few years ago and it was not cheap but worth every penny if you plan on doing any amount of wood burning or real detailed work.  I have used a lot of the cheap $15-30 ones that you can get almost anywhere and they work pretty good for the price.  But the difference between the $15 unit and the $200 is night and day.  It all depends on what your needs are and how detailed you want your burning to be. 

[NorthHeart]

Thanks for really elaborating half eye.  Here are a couple pics of what im using.  The handle on the bow i wanted to make diagonal criss cross lines for a grip.  With the rate this is going that would take 3 hours or more i suspect.  For this im ok with a wide line i dont want a super fine line.  You can see in the kit i havent even tried the other tips because i thought you picked the size tip for the size line you want?

Also id be up for purchasing someones old or no longer used unit.  I just want to make sure i understand the theory before buying more stuff which i have done in the past lol.

[half eye]

of the tips you show....look at the brass heads, the one that looks like a cylinder with a guillotine blade would be your best choice for making the semi-broad cross hatch lines you describe wanting for your grip area. If you use a fine file and make the cutting edge of that tip "rounded over" instead of razor sharp. That way the the lines will be wider and also not so deep into the wood.

The reason for my pick of that tip is because it has the big cylinder (to store heat) and the blade shape that is smaller so you wont bleed off all the heat as soon as you touch the wood.....well not as fast anyway. If there is another tip in there that meets the criteria (big heat sink w/ small burning surface) by all means use that one.

rich

[NorthHeart]

of the tips you show....look at the brass heads, the one that looks like a cylinder with a guillotine blade would be your best choice for making the semi-broad cross hatch lines you describe wanting for your grip area. If you use a fine file and make the cutting edge of that tip "rounded over" instead of razor sharp. That way the the lines will be wider and also not so deep into the wood.

The reason for my pick of that tip is because it has the big cylinder (to store heat) and the blade shape that is smaller so you wont bleed off all the heat as soon as you touch the wood.....well not as fast anyway. If there is another tip in there that meets the criteria (big heat sink w/ small burning surface) by all means use that one.

rich

Rich,

Thanks for the tip.  Ill give it a try.  Just to confirm, your referring to the last one down on the second to the last column, right?

[half eye]

I marked your pic with the one I was talking about....I cant see well enough to see the others very well
rich

[Eric Krewson]

I was once a serious duck decoy carver and burned all the feather detail into my ducks before I painted them. If you plan to get serious about wood burning I recommend a burner like my Detail Master, there is none better. There are several used ones on eBay at very good prices.