Pictured below are the styles of pen bodies that we sell, (near actual size when viewed at 800 x 600). The top one is the "Heavy Duty Style" pen (Standard Skew shown). Its tip wire is also heavier duty, and can stand up to more stress. Blade or flattened HD tips are about 0.014" to 0.015" thick. I recommend that you also get the new Heavy Duty Super-Flex cord for this pen, as it will give you rock steady tip temperatures.
The bottom pen is our "Original Style" pen, using the smallest tip wire on the market. These tips can do ultra fine detailing, (Small Skew, w/ rounded heel shown), and is not meant for extremely high heat situations. Ultra Fine blade or shader tips are pressed to about 0.009" to 0.010" thick. Both pen body styles are made out of extremely durable composite materials that retard heat conduction, and have a soft foam cushion grip.

Below are shown the Heavy Duty Style version of each tip style, its order number, name, and a short description. The original Standard pen style tips are just slightly smaller than the Heavy duty styled tips. Any one of these tips can be made in an "extended length" version, where the brass carriers coming out of the pen body is about two inches longer. For example, many people like to get the #5 Spear Point or #12 small skew w/rounded heal in extended length, so they can get under wings and such. Most of the pen photos shown are somewhat old, and we do tend to make the tips a little bit long now (see 12S), as that tends to retard the heat flow getting to the handpiece.
| Drawing | Pen Tip # |
Name and description Teal colored name indicates that it is only available in the HD style pens. |
Recommended for Bird Carvers Mammal Carvers Flatwork Gourds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Large Skew. Good for running quill lines, and burning larger feathers (like on life sized geese or eagle feathers). |
Bird carvers doing large birds, like eagles and geese. | |
| 2 | Small Round. Good for concave areas such as under necks. Good for not leaving a depression from the point. Can also be used for "stippling". |
Bird carvers Can also be bent at a 45 and used as a shader for flatwork |
|
| 3 | Large Round. Same as small round, just a bit larger diameter. |
Bird carvers | |
| 4 | Flat Skew. Same as a Medium sized Skew knife, but at a lesser angle. |
Bird carvers, or anyone wanting a lesser angle on a medium blade knife skew. | |
| 5 | Spear Point. Good for getting into tight places like under wings, and for under cutting. Can also be used to make a fuzzy raised hair on flat work or mammal carvings. |
Bird Carvers. Mammal Carvers. Flatwork pyrographers. |
|
| 6 | Chisel Point. Some carvers prefer this for running quill lines. |
Bird Carvers Flatwork pyrographers (Large Calligraphy) |
|
| 7 | Round Skew. A variation of the Medium Skew, tip is rounded at both the point and heel. |
Bird carvers, or anyone wanting a medium skew with a rounded point. | |
| 8 | Burnishing Tip, (Not Sharpened). Just what is says. Works great for doing 1/2" to 1" high calligraphy lettering, as you can do most letters (like an "S") in just one pen stroke. As there is no "choke point" in the tip, it does tend to heat up the pen body more than most pens. Available with two extra foam grips for a $1.00 more. |
Flatwork pyrographers. (does larger calligraphy, similar to using a calligraphy marker). |
|
| No picture, same as above | 8EF | Exactly the same thing as the #8, but with two extra foam grips to keep the heat off of your hands (costs a dollar more - $17.00) | -- |
| 9 | Writing Tip, (Not Sharp). Used for writing your name on your carvings. As there is no "choke point" in the tip, it does tend to heat up the pen body more than most pens. |
Bird Carvers. Mammal Carvers. (used for signing name) |
|
| 9M | Modified Writing Tip (Not Sharp). Very similar to the standard #9, but has the end of the tip ground symmetrically, and the end is perfectly round. This is a good choice when you need it for more than just signing your work like for "Pointillism" or drawing, and the "choke point" created at the end of the tip also keeps the pen body much cooler for much longer than the standard #9 pen does. The end of the tip for the HD pens is about 0.040" in diameter, and about 0.030 diameter for the ultra fine pens. Look at the #19 pens if you want something similar but bigger. |
Flatwork pyrographers. Gourd pyrographers. |
|
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9PP | Pin
Point Tip (Sharp). Another variation of the #9 & 9M, but it has been ground so that it comes to a sharp point. Good for when you need to do very fine dots or fine surface lines. It is sharp, so you may need to sandpaper the tip down a little bit to your liking. |
Flatwork pyrographers. Gourd pyrographers. |
| 10 | Small Skew. Great for the miniature carver or anyone that needs to do small fine detailed work. |
Bird Carvers, or anyone wanting a short knife with a sharp heel. | |
| 11 | Medium Skew. A little smaller than the Standard Skew, has many of the same uses. |
Bird carvers. Medium sized birds. | |
| 12 | Small Rounded Skew. Like the the small skew, but can turn a corner real easily. This is the most popular pen that we sell. Get this one and the #18 when ordering one of the Cheryl Dow books! |
Everybody. A VERY versatile pen tip. | |
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12S |
Available now. An even smaller version of the ever popular number twelve pen tip. Song bird carvers will really like this pen, especially in the ultra fine version (fine pens tend to be even smaller than the HD ones shown) |
Miniature Bird Carvers, or anyone wanting a smaller version of the 12 |
Top and side view |
13S 13M 13L |
Fish Scale or Flat work Shading pen. What originally started out as a Cheryl Dow design for flat carving, was changed slightly via Scott Clinton to become a fish scale pen also. Has advantages over the Pat Kennedy system in that you can make your fish body curved without any troubles. Another advantage is that you need only one tip, not 9 or 15, and it cost the same as our other pens. No price hike here! I recommend getting this one in the Heavy Duty Style, as it will stand up to the rigors of burnishing with a pen of this design. This tip is available in small, medium, or large sizes. The medium size is probably the most versatile for most carvers and flat work pyrographers. |
Flatwork pyrographers. Fish Carvers (free form scaler) |
Top and Side views |
14 | Feather Edgier. This pen design is from Bob Guge. Anyone who has taken a class from him has probably made one. Great for burning in primary's, or anywhere you would otherwise use a pen to burnish or depress wood. Instead of depressing and moving the pen for each area along a line "like you would do with other pens", this pen is designed to act like a ski. Just put it at the start of your feather edge, and follow it. Saves you a lot of time. I recommend getting this one in the Heavy Duty Style, as it will stand up to the rigors of burnishing with a pen of this design. |
Bird Carvers |
Top and Side views |
15 | Feather Edgier. Same as 14, except this one is bent the other way for lefties. Tip
for #14 & #15: This pen is does not have a sharp edge. To
eliminate any metal
that has rolled over the edge from polishing, place the edge perpendicular
to a fine stone
and move over surface once. Remember this pen's edge acts like a ski, and
like a ski, its
edge has to be square in order to work properly. Example: |
Left handed Bird Carvers |
| 16 | Small Chisel or Calligraphy Writing Pen. Basically looks like a small 1/8" chisel tip. Could be used for purposes other than calligraphy. Available in smaller sizes/widths upon request. |
Flatwork pyrographers Gourd pyrographers. Or anyone wanting to do calligraphy. |
|
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17 | Hair Tip This tip is used to make hair on your caricature or mammal carvings, instead of using a tear-drop shaped dremel bit, or micro-V hand gouge. Obviously, you may still need these other tools for wider furrows, but this pen will make short work of the medium to finer sized hairs on your carvings (up to 1mm wide). This tip is only available in heavy duty style, as its design requires a thicker tip wire. It can also be used to do fine hair/feather work, where you can adjust the width and depth of a line by just pressing harder (rather than increasing your heat settings). As this pen tip has a limited "choke point" in it, it may tend to get more heat to the pen body. It is available with two extra foam grips to alleviate this problem, for only $1.00 more. Because this tip relies on the wire diameter used, it is not available in our fine style of pens. |
Mammal carvers. Flatwork pyrographers. Gourd pyrographers. Can also be used for "cross hatching" in flatwork, bowls, or on gourds. Also good for making tree bark, white hairs, and much more. |
Same as above #17 |
17EF |
|
Mammal
carvers. |
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|
18 | Spear Point
Shader This new shader looks a lot like the #5 spear point, but has squared off edges (not sharpened), and it is bent at a 45 degree angle for shading. Great for when you need to shade an area that's in a tight spot. Cheryl Dow now recommends using this pen instead of the old #13 pen for flat work pyrography (I guess that's why she came up with it for us). |
Flatwork pyrographers. Gourd pyrographers. |
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19S 19M 19L 19XL |
Ball
Tip This new pen is something many pyrographers have wanted for a long time. This tip is available in four different ball sizes: 1/16" S, 5/64" M, 1/10" L, & 1/8" XL (1/8" XL shown here). This pen tip can be used to draw lines, shade with, do pointillism, and much more (1/8" could be ground to a shape that suits your needs). Available in HD style pen only. |
Flatwork Pyrographers Gourd Pyrographers Could be used by Mammal or Bird carvers if customized. |
The "Recommended" column is not "set in stone", and should just be used as a quick reference guide. Bird carvers are denoted in red, because many bird carver may opt to get our "Ultra Fine" tipped pens (they have red foam grips), especially if they are working in Tupelo and/or doing miniatures or chickadee's. Mammal carvers, flatwork pyrographers, and gourd pyrographers should typically get our Heavy Duty style pens, as they can better handle the higher temperatures and mechanical pressures that are typical of these types of pyrography.
We do not recommend heating tips way up to "condition" them or burn off carbon, this will only shorten its life span. Nor do we recommend using most types of sandpaper. To keep tips in factory new condition, use a white polishing compound (Aluminum Oxide polishing compound) with either a leather strop or a felt polishing wheel. Actual sharpening of the edge can usually be done every six months to a year, depending on usage. Use a very fine stone to sharpen at a 30 to 35 degree angle, (depends on your preference), then polish.
Ordering Info
Orders & Questions
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The Ultima Combination Burner & Grinder
THE OPTIMA 1 WOODBURNING SYSTEM
Woodburning Books by
843-987-6643
Cheryl Dow and Sue Walters
We Have Tagua Nut Slices!!