Wood Burner

Can any one recomend a good cheap wood burner and where to buy it? I want to use it for putting names and initials on my walking sticks, and for enhancing some of the small patterns that I do in relief carving.

Thanks

[macktruck]

I got mine at wally-world. It was under $20 w/ 4 tips and I got a pack of more tips for $7. It's a cheapie but for marking carvings and stuff. It's good enough. Comes w/ a little wire stand that likes to fall over if your not careful. I took a piece of steel pipe and made another holder.
macktruck

[David_Aaron_Sercel]

I got my first one at Wall-Mart too. It sounds like it is the same one
macktruck is talking about. I eventually bought a more expensive
one that could do finer detail but this one works fine for marking
and writing.

I now use a Colwood Detailer, which is great for the fine burning
needed for doing feathers. It has variable tempreture control
so you can adjust it anyware from being just warm to the touch
all the way up to about 1500 degrees.

David

[jamesfa]

sounds like a lot of people bought burners from W-mart,for general burning,iwent 1 step further and built a reostat out of old electrical parts laying around and used a dimmer switch to control the temp.
the tips are quite thick and i don't think they would all that good for burning feathers.

[Captain_Bandaid]

I cannot see why those fat Wally World tips could not be ground down to a thinner profile. I bought one of those, too, but finally broke down and got a Detail Master IV. That thing will get hot enough to burn rocks!

thanks for all the useful information

Captain
I do not need to burn rocks LOL

If you gort one of those 'Walnut Hollow' burners from WallMart or other craft stores, there is (was) a coupon with it where you could order a tip with your initials on it for a couple bucks. I got this and use it to mark the handles of all my carving tools with my initials. Also brand my sticks, that way.

Al

[Donna_T]

Yep, like many of us, I bought the cheapie from Walmart, too. I did take the tip to a piece of fine emery cloth to grind it down to a finer line. But, the biggest drawback was that it fried my fingers pretty quick every time I used it. I made a homemade reostat from a dimmer switch and it helped. Finally, I bought a Colwood 'CUB' which is slightly cheaper than the Detailer Master and works as well. But I don't use my woodburner on every carving...mostly birds and animals.

You can go direct to Colwood Electronics to get prices and tip details or go to your favorite woodcarving catalogue or store to get one. There are special tips used just for writing.

Donna T

[Kenny_S]

I have several of the Wally World burners and like Donna T have filed down the tips to a finer edge. But My darling little bride bought me a Dial-a-Temp burner for Christmas sveral years ago and I use it to burn with most of the time. I made some tips for it and they work ok. I believe any dial type temps work better as you can regulate the temps and when burning pictures, that is a most. Burned a fireman picture for my son and love the ease of the Dial-a-Temp. Was looking at a Colwood Cub on e-bay but when I got back to it it was sold for $115 with sveral different pens and holders.

LittleShavers (206 763 6774) has the Optima 1 single burner for $81.00 ... I have the dual burner version (not really needed because the pens heat so fast) and it has served me well for five or six years now.