With this wood burning pen by Scorch Marker you do not need a workshop stuffed with tools to rock your pyrography skills but before I get into that, maybe I should tell you about my previous last wood burning project…
Yep, I have all the tools. Yep, I tried them out. I designed a Halloween sign to burn into a wood plaque for a craft exchange task and it was the most tortuous DIY project I’ve done to date. I hated it. I suffered through hours of pyrographic ‘crafting’ that only felt like I was searing my eyes, and we won’t discuss the cooking of my nostril hairs and frankly, all the effort resulted in a terrible excuse for a “gift.” Anna still has hers on display and I cringe every time I see it – but because she loves me, she appreciates the level of effort I put into it.
So all that to say that wood-burning projects are not high on my list of things to do again BUT – when I saw a scorch marker that didn’t require wood-burning tools, I was certainly intrigued albeit skeptical. It was a pricey “pen,” about $16, but if it worked, I really didn’t care.
I tried out the Scorch Pen on three different wood surfaces and one chipboard, to varying degrees of success. Here are my experiments and my tried and true scorch marker review.
After this limited testing, I’d give the Pen a thumbs up. There were clear pros and cons to it, namely:
Pros of the Scorch Pen:
- SAFE – no hot tips
- Easy-to-use – it’s similar to a paint pen
- Easy to control – it has a chisel tip so if you’re great at lettering (I’m not), this may be the perfect pen for you!
- Cheaper than a wood-burning toolset
- Without effort, you can achieve a watercolor effect
Cons of the Scorch Pen:
- It’s a bit like drawing with invisible ink or embossing ink
- Unlike a “pen” you do have to treat your design with a heat gun or hairdryer
- It takes much longer than you would imagine for the “burn” effect to appear
- It doesn’t “etch” into the surface as wood tools do
- It works marginally well on dyed wood (beads or in my case, eggs) depending on the color of dye you’ve used and the effect you’re looking for
Would I use it again? Yes, I would but I’d plan out my design ahead of time and perhaps use a stencil. The wood-burning appeared much more pronounced on the unfinished block and the chipboard making me think I’d use this to personalize Christmas gift tags or any type of organic wood-burning projects.
What would you use a scorch pen for? Let’s share ideas!
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