[Colin_Partridge]

I will put in my two cents worth not that its worth much after all the wonderful info that has been made available on this thread. I am not a Pyrographer by any stretch of the imagination infact up until last month I only used my Razertip to sign my carvings nothing else. I have the double pen burner along with 6 pens (Why I had that many I dont know). Now that I am starting to do more burning I must say that I am impressed with my Razertip. I intend to burn and carve with my pens at the same time ( i know thats not what your supposed to do but I do it). My pen take an awful beating and the beauty of it is that I can send them to Razertip and they replace the tip for $5.00. If I ruin one on a burning it is well worth it to me.
Just my take on it
Colin

[dutchmanmk3]

Cam, Great Information ! I've been admiring the Razor tip Fish Scale pens for some weeks now, and It's good to know they are compatible with the units I have.

[Thomp]

Wow Lots here to asorbe. Seams i sturred the bees hive..

Since i started this thread i somehow feel responcable to comment on every post, if im wrong let me know!!. Im learing...

I didn't start this thread to work on anybodys nerves, or make them confess their mistakes! or force them to justify their purchaces.

sorry if it seams that way, it wasn't intended.
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colin,
thanks for the input and your information on how you use your pyrography station, your choice of 6 tips is probally moderiate as to what i will wind up with if this bug hits me any harder. i too intend to carve and burn details with my station. as well to venture into flatboard? scenery work..

again the garentee along with the replacement or repair of the nibs will play a part in decisions.

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A bit of information i did find on the razortip site that i did like was that no matter which station brand name you have they don't care and the nibs are garenteed the same, if you let them know which unit you are using so they can make an effort to provide nibs that match your machienes capabilitys it may increase your nibs usability lifespan.,

from what i understand all nibs are made for 2 through 2.5 volt stations as i see it. but some need to be of heavy duty for bigger/heavier duty stations?
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Nedra,
sorry if i discounted the usefullness of the soldering iron type woodburners to any level of usefullness where below where they belong, im apperently not qualified to make judgment on such items. sorry if i offended...
my experiance with the 25 watt wood burner was painfullly hot as i was using a cheepie..

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Phaeton,
from your information you posted i determined, that a 45 watt unit wouldn't make a nibb white hot, and the nibs you use. are preforming in the mid range of your stations capabilitys.
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my main misunderstanding is if the industry is flaweded about pyrography stations having higher wattage clamed and all the wattage controversay of how its measured.! at the wall.

how else is a person to know wheather to buy a $50.00 unit or a $400.00 unit. other than talking about the differences in them.?
sure the expencive unit will have more whistles and bells .
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wish i would been home today to answer each post individualy, but i had to do the driving. for mrs perrin....

[Thomp]

Thank you Razertip,
for clearing up the mysteries here a little for me and aiding all of us in making an informed decision on what features are most noteworthy when planning to make the decision of which products will be more compatible with which station...
Maybe some have learned something of their stations they didn't know or have forgotten.

we all know that in the advertising world is dog eat dog. about items that are not all that useful. in this case the wattage issue. and folks are known to buy things because of the sexy girl holds their product higher than the competitor..

From my short time doing research on different pyrography stations, the evidence is more clear the razortip is really working harder to clear up the myths.. and provide clear information about their products.

I am a retired folk, lots of time on my hands and ill probaly put a lot of hours on the station i buy.
im first at heart a whittler - carver beginner of sorts.

my current carving tools fail to give me a fine detail, the tight places as my tools are to big for 7 inch carvings and give me fits, I don't think by miniaturizing the tools would make things much better unless the carvings were modified to accommodate cross grain cuts, which then would effect the look of clothing folds, ect;
Talking to other carvers I was instructed to use a wood burner.
to provided the detail so thats what got me looking for one. but i got lost in the advertisement jungle. stuck on wattage.

[brian bailey]

I haven't heard any one plug "Detail Master Burning Systems" sold by Woodcraft yet.

I have the "Excalibre". Which is a 2 pen model. It heats the burning tip from 0-2000* in 7 seconds so they claim. All I knows is that it goes from cold to glowing in about that time and cools down in about that time also.

I like the spear point tip the best, I probably do 99% of my burning and shading with that one tip.

Stay away from the pens with the replaceable tips, they don't work well.

[Pyrographer]

Thomp, believe me you did not offend me in the least. I really was just pointing out that you can do great things with those sinple burners as well...given the chance!

Brian, I'm not sure about those "claims" about 0-2000 poker hot in 7 seconds but I do know the Razertip gets hot in about the same time....hot enough to burn. Frankly I have no idea why anyone would want to ruin their pens by burning at that temperature. I've never owned a Burnmaster but most every class I ever taught there were people that had them (and I got to use them) and every one of them disliked the pens and ended up buying Razertip. I've used them and agreed that the pens get very hot. When he asked me about selling his burners I told him my feelings and he denied a problem with the pens getting hot. Then he suddenly turns around and made vented pens so I guess there was a problem.... I don't know if they are any cooler than the original version but they should be.

I do know that he does not provide any warranty on any of his pens and replacement tips if they are damaged or wear out are almost 3 times the price of the Razertip replacement tips (after warranty). Once the warranty is over on the burner he also charges a non-refundable fee just to look at the burner and then of course you have to pay for the repairs on top of that. I'm not sure about the other companies but I know that Razertip doesn't do that.

Nedra

[Phaeton]

Mine is plenty HOT, I did some burning on white pine and at the 7 setting I would get a spark when it hit a sap pocket and I have smoke at that setting even on basswood, above 7 really blackens the wood and smokes plenty.

I use surgical blades to reach the tight spots and to clean a carving that I've sanded so I won't dull my good knife. The blades break under pressure but they only cost about 8 cents a blade and work great. I use the #11 (pointed blade)
and #12 (hook blade) in my #3 holder and the #22 blade in my #4 holder. I use these to clean up my carvings just before I start the paint.

http://www.demetech.us/online/welcom...OVMTC=standard


Bill

[brian bailey]

Nedra,

I just threw Detail Master into the pot as another option to look at.

After owning and using one for several years I don't have any complaints with it.

[Thomp]

Nedra,
As you were talking on brians burner mnf clames...
I remembered a line i didnt understand why they would promote full power tip cleaning in the product page,..

on woodcarversupply.com site selling the excalibre 130 watt product i dont know if this is a mnf. statement or site managers comment. - information on the product. read for yourself. the line is "quoted" below address here
http://www.woodcarverssupply.com/sto...tem=9&mitem=98

one thing i think i learned was not use your burner hotter than needed becuse it promotes the early death of nibs, and heats up the tool hand piece, but here on this site the ad says....

"If deposits build up on tip simply turn heat to maximum (130 watts) & burn off."

i was supprized to read that the mnf.? might support this idea,

from razortip and other sites, talking about claims of wattage being flawed due to the way its measured,
razortip said some of razortips mnf.'s compeditors have transformers with higher voltage approching 3 vt.
where most all others are using only 2 to 2.5 vts, more accomidating to the construction design of the elements in the razortip nibs.

maybe i didnt use the right words but its all comming togather for me i see the light. FINELY!!!!!!! and now i wait for the new tool allowance to rebuild...

i am thinking along the lines of a single tip lower priced unit, as the thin nibs will accomidate the 10 watt unit, and still be in the usability range of bigger units i just need to find the unit with the best garentee..

Im leaning towards the hawk for the price and garentee.

being that i wont be using it but 30 minuets a month, after the self training and itch of a new tool wears off.
its not benificial at this point to buy the cattlelack for my detailing. but the better understanding of how they work is what helped make that decision....

Only better deal is a good used station someone is tired of looking at collect dust. and want it out of their workshop...

[brian bailey]

Thomp,

I just went and reread the manual and tip care sheet that came with my burner. Nowhere's did I see any mention about turning up the heat to clean the tip of residue.

They do advise to anneal the tip the first time you use it. This is done by turning up the heat to max for one minute. Then turning to off and letting the tip slowly cool.

Some folks are hot burners,others use less heat to get the results they're after. What's nice about the adjustable systems (don't matter what make) is that you have the wide range of temperatures available to you just by turning a dial.