Wall Lenk L101KB Woodworker-foots 10-in-1 Tool Kit

After just breaking a wood burning tool in the middle of a project, I came here to Amazon for good advice on buying a new/better one. My 'old' one lasted for just a couple of uses, just like the experience of many Amazon reviewers here who complain about tips breaking, threads stripping, etc. That's what happened to me and after some online reading I know why.Friends, please take note, REPLACE TIPS ONLY WHEN THE UNIT IS COLD, or you will strip the threads. I didn't know this, nor was anything provided with my previous wood burning unit that would advise me as such.I just placed my order for one of these 30 watt Wall Lenk units. I based my decision on the expert advice offered at this excellent website (Just updated in January 2013)[...]If you decide to look at the website, don't be deterred by its detail, or that it includes a list of wood burning tools costing over $200. It also includes great information about 'craft-type' solid tip burners like the one I bought just now here at Amazon. Just scroll down and learn why threads are stripped by impatient and previously ignorant crafters like me. (see above) Also learn that just three brands (all American made I think) of these devices have thicker tips that won't break as readily as Chinese made burners like the one I have now, the tips of which began to wobble in the pen before I tried to tighten one and stripped the threads.OK, I know you'd like me to tell you the three brands. You're busy and want to get on with your shopping/life. As one who appreciates the advice of others at Amazon, I'm glad to save you the time it took me to get to feeling comfortable enough to buy something I think will last me for a while. The three are Dremel, Colwood and Wall Lenk.So why did I choose the Wall Lenk over the other two brands? Four reasons.1. Wall Lenk is the manufacturer of all three brands.2. The 30 watt Wall Lenk lists temperatures of 1050º (not on Amazon but on other sites) I know this will give me a little more speed with harder woods3. I wanted to buy on Amazon so I could get the product in a couple of days.4. Colwood is apparently not sold on Amazon and though I could have shopped elsewhere, I really trust Amazon and felt no need to look further.I bought this particular Wall Lenk because of the extra tips. I already have plenty of tips, but some reviewers mentioned that their tips did not fit Wall Lenk made wood burning pens. I'm not sure the tips I have will fit, so I bought the one with the extra tips for just $5 more. I'd rather pay a little more and avoid the potential hassle of coming back next week to buy more tips that will fit. Now I've got plenty to last me for a while.Hope this helps you. Good luck!PS. I've listed this at 5*. If my experience is different from what I anticipate, I'll be back to update. I decided to write the review now since everything is fresh in my mind at this time.

Great price. This is great for cutting deco mesh. The handle does not get hot like so many others. Read many reviews and this one is great.

I saw some really sparkling reviews on this wood burner, and I saw some abysmal ones as well. I am going to say it is somewhere in between great and not so great, which to me makes it worth the purchase, but yet it was a bit disappointing to me as well. The extra 5 watts (30 watts instead of the 25 watts on many other models) makes a difference, but I wish it were 40 or 50 watts instead of just 30..In the first place, in spite of the double heat guards, during periods of long usage the handle can get very hot and uncomfortable to hold. After an hour or so of use, I was forced to hold the handle further back than was ideal to me, because the heat that kept slowly creeping up the handle. But this problem does not seem to be unique to this model or brand. In my experience it seems like all of these hobby style wood burners are the same in that regard, in that the handles always seem to get too hot after awhile . And why this would be the case is a mystery to me. Surely with the technology available these days they could come up with a fairly simple solution to this problem. But such is not the case yet, or not in my experience anyway.Secondly, the tips are of a nice design cosmetically, but the other problem I keep experiencing on these hobby type wood burners is that the tips are made of some sort of a very soft metal. Therefore they soon start to distort or bend under the heat and the pressure of pushing them against the wood surface. The very fine tips bend very easily. And again this seems so unnecessary. I would gladly pay 20 or 25 more dollars for some quality tips and at least 10 extra watts of power, and I bet I am not alone in this sentiment. But "cheap" seems to be the standard with these type hobby burners so is what it is. I would recommend keeping a keep a pair of needle nose pliers handy so you can straighten the tips out as needed during your project.So to sum it up, I think this tool is better than my "Walnut Hollow" burner. It is not a big leap better, but to me it is worth extra few bucks to get the extra 5 watts of burning power.

I had been wanting to get this for my son, so I got it for his birthday and he loves it! He is the type of kid who likes to build things and craft things out of wood and he also loves to draw and sketch so I figured this would be right up his alley. He is twelve now, so he can use it without a lot of supervision, but we have to at least be home or in the general vicinity. He is excited to make some Christmas ornaments with it this year, and has already won a prize at our county fair for a welcome sign he made. The only drawback that I see so far is that in order to switch the tips, you need to wait for it to cool down. Well, he is too impatient so he uses the same tip for everything. I am thinking we might need to buy another one so he could switch more easily.

Promptly received the wood burner, which is way better than trying to create a masterpiece with a soldering iron. The only donwnside (worth one star) is that the set should come with an insulated wrench that allows the removal of the tips while the iron is hot. Gloves or pliers work OK, but it would be nice to have something designed specifically for this. I guess if you were really a woodburning wonk, you'd get one handpiece for each tip, so you could quickly use the various tips without heat-up time. I'm not at that point, however. Tips, when changed, heat up quickly to wood-searing temperature. Call me picky. No, I really mean it; pickly please call me. Wonder if unit could be used for home treatment of skin disorders. I have a basal-cell carcinoma that has resisted two liquid nitrogen treatments at the dermitologist. Maybe a couple of stiff drinks and this unit with the proper tip would take care of the problem with much less cost. (Release of liability - I am not recommending that you do this).