In blog I’m going to review the ProStormer heat gun.  I have always wanted something that could be used like an airbrush to quickly darken up areas in pyrography.   When I saw Valarie of Drawing with Fire using it on her channel, I knew I had to get one to try. I will share with you what I’ve learned about the machine and the different tests I subjected it to.  Plus, I will do my best to answer the question of whether or not this machine is worth purchasing.

I do have a video version of this product review.  Click on the image to the left to watch the YouTube video.

As I said, I found out about this machine after seeing on Valarie’s YouTube channel.  Here’s a link to her channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ValarieConnellDrawingWithFire

This image is Valarie’s artwork she did using the ProStormer and a torch.  Here’s a link to the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Me8XR3VbM

Here’s a link to the ProStormer on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3uGxrwH

At the time I wrote this blog (Sept 2022), the machine costs under $50 and there was a 10% off coupon available.

Full disclosure.  The provided link is an affiliate link, so if you purchase the machine using the link, I get some small amount of money from the sale.    Please, do not take that as a plea to purchase one!  I just wanted to be fully transparent about the link. 

The last thing I want to mention before I start the review is that some of the photos were taken after I used the machine.  Because of this the metal isn’t as bright and shiny as it was when first taken out of the box.

MACHINE BASICS

The machine is compact measuring 5 1/2” tall x 4 5/8″ wide x 6 3/4” deep.  This does not include the handset cradle on the right.  The cradle adds 2 3/8 inches to the width for a total of 7 inches.  The power cord measure 54” long, and the handset cord is 42” long.

The front of the machine has everything needed to control the machine.

Let’s work from top to bottom.   Arrow 1 points to the temperate led display.  

Arrow 2 is pointing to the 3 programable buttons.  These buttons allow you to set a specific temperature for quick easy recall. 

Arrow 3 marks the dial that controls the fan speed; it has a range of 1-8.  

Arrow 4 points to the buttons that control the heat setting.  The button on the left decreases the heat, and the right one increases the heat.  The range is from 100-500 degrees Celsius (212-932F).

Arrow 5 marks the on/off switch for the machine, and arrow 6 is where the handset plugs into the machine.

The plug in has an 8 metal prong and a threaded coupler.

This photo shows the plug of the handset. 

Line up the notch and pins, then push the plug into the receptor.  Then twist the metal coupler onto the machine to lock the handset in place. 

This is not going to accidently come loose.

The handset measures 9 1/4” long, not counting a metal tip attachment.  The handset at its widest is 1 3/4 inches. 

Here’s how the end of air barrel or handset looks without a nozzle attached to it.  Again, a reminder that I used this before I took pictures.

These are the 4 nozzles that come with the heat gun.  The left one is a large square shape 12mm.  Then there are 3 round nozzles that get progressively smaller in size; 10mm, 8mm, and 5mm.

The ProStormer comes with a set of tweezers.

They aren’t needed for pyrography, but I’m sure they are handling for shrinking wrapping which is what this machine was intended for.

When you turn on the machine, the temperature display initially shows the last temperature it was running at. 

Then it quickly displays 3 lines.  At this point the machine is in standby mode, and it is not heating up.

Lifting the gun from the handset activates the machine, and it begins to warm up.

 

 

 

 

It takes 10 seconds for the machine to reach its maximum heat setting of 500, but it takes another 15-20 seconds before the air is hot enough to burn wood.

Place the gun back down into the handset and the unit starts to cool down until it reaches 100.

 

At which point the display fills with dashes, and the unit can be turned off.  

With the fan set on 4.5, it took 2 minutes and 21 seconds to accomplish this.

Warning! Even though the display says the machine is at 100, that does not mean it is safe to touch the metal!  Afterall, 100 degrees Celsius is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

I measured the heat with a meat thermometer, and 3:15 minutes AFTER I turned the machine off the nozzle registered 146.5 degrees Fahrenheit! (63.6 degrees Celsius)   

To put this in context, at 140-degrees Fahrenheit you can get a 3rd degree burn in 5 seconds. This is per the American Burn Association.  Here’s a link to the article:

https://ameriburn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/scaldinjuryeducatorsguide.pdf

The nozzle measured 185.5 degrees Fahrenheit at the 4:16 mark. (85.3C)

It took 8:44 minutes for the nozzle to cool down to 100F, and 12:26 minutes for the barrel to cool to 104.4F.   (38.0C / 40.2C)

At this point I felt the gun was cool enough to touch.

NOZZLE BASICS

To equip a nozzle, slide it down over the tip of the gun.

Then tighten the clamping screw to secure the nozzle.

I do recommend making sure to orient the clamping screw is on the side where your hand isn’t. 

I discovered that this small area where the screw is funnels warm air back towards your hand.  The longer you use it the warmer it feels.  The red arrow is pointing to the clamping screw, and the blue arrow indicates air flow.

Brand new tips emit some rather smelly smoke for a minute or so.  Make sure you are in a well-ventilated room when this happens!   After the initial warm up, it doesn’t happen again.

I’ve got the square tip equipped, and both the heat and fan speed are set on high.

 

What surprised me the most was that the resulting burn is hollow in the center.  A yellow arrow is pointing to the hollow burn result.

I was expecting the gun to be similar to an airbrush.  With an airbrush the center is the darkest and it gets lighter the further from the center you get.

Since I tend to hold the gun at an angle, the left side of the nozzle is closer to the wood and that side darkens up more than the right.   The burn patch below the arrow marked patch is my attempt to create smooth uniform color.  In this very small area, I didn’t do too badly.

Next up was the 10mm round nozzle.  As you can see, it creates a donut shape that has soft edges.

Again, I’m trying to create a patch of smooth shading.  This was harder than it was with the square nozzle.  I think it’s because the air is more concentrated, so it darkens spots quicker.  Other issues are the fact that the heat is too high, and I’m learning how to use it.

Now I have the 8mm round nozzle equipped.  I will have to admit that it is hard to hold the gun perfectly perpendicular to the board.  Another issue is that when it is close to perpendicular, it is hard to see how the burn is progressing.

Lastly, here’s the 5mm round nozzle in action.

The hollow center on the 5mm isn’t as noticeable is it is with the other tips.

FAN IMPACT

The next thing I wanted to test out was what impact does the fan speed have on the tonal output.   I’m going to test this on plywood and basswood.  We’ll start with the plywood.

Birch Plywood

I’m using the small 5mm tip and the heat is set to 400.  With the fan set to 1 I can easily see the results, and it’s easy to achieve smooth burns.  At least it is in this small area.

As I incrementally increase the fan speed to the next whole number, the burn results get darker. 

This photo shows the test grid after I just finished it.  On the far right of each grid, I held the gun in place for a couple of seconds.  I wanted to see how dark of a burn would be produced.  I’m sure the results could be darker; it would just take holding the gun in place longer. 

Here’s the board after I was done with the testing.  Fan speeds 5-7 look almost identical to me, but 8 is a touch darker.  The big difference, which you can see, is how much quicker the board burned as the fan speed increased.

I repeated this test, but this time I had the heat on the highest setting possible: 500.

All of the burn results are very dark.

 

To me once the fan reached 5 or higher, the color was nearly identical.  Plus, it would darken the wood almost instantly.  You can see that there is considerable overburn.

Basswood

Now for the basswood test.

Basswood is softer than plywood, so the heat doesn’t need to be as high to get similar results.  For whatever reason, I left the heat on 500 when I did this test.  I will admit that it was an afterthought to do the test, versus a pre-planned event.  

Finishing up the test.

I really should have turned the heat down because the basswood darkened quickly.    

SOUND

Before we move on with the testing, let’s talk about the fan sound.   I used Todd’s phone (I don’t have one) and placed it next to the machine.  The machine doesn’t produce much if any sound and the decibel reading is 44.

According to this chart, a reading of 44 is fairly quiet to our ears.

When I place the handset near the phone, the meter jumps to 58 decibels with the fan on setting 1.  isn’t very loud, but as the fan speed increases so does the sound.   Fan settings 2-5 resulted in a noise level that was very close to 58.

With a fan speed of 6 the noise has increased to 67 decibels, which is still in the safe noise level for your ears.

The highest meter reading I recorded was 72/73 decibels and that occurred when the fan was turned to the maximum setting of 8.  

Several websites I consulted with all agreed that once a noise reached 85 decibels, it is harmful for your hearing.

Even on the highest setting, the ProStormer didn’t reach a harmful noise level.  

To me it is a touch loud, but tolerable.

HEAT IMPACT

Next up is checking the tonal output when the fan speed constant and the heat is the one changing.  Again, I did a plywood and basswood test.

For the heat test, I equipped the heat gun with the 5mm tip, and adjusted the fan speed to 4.   Then set the heat I began with the heat on 100; the lowest setting.  After going over the grid area for a few minutes I couldn’t detect any color change. 

It wasn’t until the heat was increased to 300 that the color was easy to see.  On this setting it was fairly easy to control the output and achieve fairly smooth burn results.

This photo shows that there is a considerable tonal value change when the heat was increased from 300 to 400.  Once the heat was set to 500, the burn results became blotchy.  Plus, it was impossible to stay within the bounds of the grid. 

All of the burns didn’t stay within the grid boundaries, but it was really easy to notice this on the darker results. 

I was surprised that the basswood didn’t have noticeable results on heat setting 100 or 200.  I really was expecting to see some color.

Just like the plywood, 300 was the point where you could easily see burn results.

 

Finishing up the testing.

The basswood burned more evenly than the plywood did.  

I do have to admit that I’m not sure if this is due to the wood or me.  By the time I thought to test basswood, I had already done most of my testing and had used the machine in real applications.  So I had a lot more experience with the machine before I did this test.

NOZZLE IMPACT

Now I’m going to keep both the fan speed and heat setting constant, and check to see what impact the different sized nozzles have on the burn results. 

For this test I went with a high-tech approach; I taped the heat gun to a metal ruler. 

I made sure that the end of the nozzle was aligned with my designated distance.

My metal ruler doesn’t start right at the edge.  Instead, there is a 1/4-inch gap before the ruler markings start.    

While the end of the nozzle is at the 1/2-inch mark (1.3 cm), I have to add the ¼-inch (0.6 cm) to that measurement.  This makes the actual distance from the board  3/4 inch (1.9 cm).

I started out with the 5mm nozzle.  The heat is set on 500 and the fan is on speed 6.   The nozzle is 3/4 inch from the board.  I have a timer next to the board because I only want to burn for 30 seconds.

I put the 8mm nozzle on the gun, and made sure the end of the nozzle was at the 1/2-inch mark.  Then I burned with this one for 30 seconds.   So far, the burns are very dark.

The 10mm nozzle is producing a lighter color burn that is less blotchy. 

The 12mm nozzle produced even uniform color that was lighter than the burns done with the round nozzle.

Here’s how the test burns looked.  The round nozzles produced darker burns.  The smaller the nozzle got, the blotchier the burn results were.  It 8mm (labeled med) looks like it produced the darkest burns.

I repeated the test, but this time I increased the distance from the board to 1 1/4 inches (3.2 cm).  I started out with the 12mm nozzle since it was equipped.   I kept burning until I got some fairly noticeable results.  That took 45 seconds.  During that time I didn’t move the nozzle much.  

Then I worked my way back down the nozzles.

 

The burn results aren’t as blotchy at this distance.

The most surprising burn was with the 5mm nozzle.  I couldn’t get a very noticeable burn result and I kept the burner concentrated in one spot.   I was really expecting this one to be as dark, if not darker, than the 8mm.

Here’s the test results for the second test.  The burn results are more uniform in color at this distance.

Here’s the two test burns together for comparison.

DARKNESS COMPARISON

The next thing I tested was to see just how dark of a burn I could achieve.  For this I had the heat set to 500 and the fan on 8.  As you can see, this combination produced some very dark results. 

I did another burn patch, but this time I held the gun in place.   Why I did this I have no idea.  

As the air heats up the wood, it can darken a considerable area around the point of impact from the nozzle.

I used Colwood’s E shade for the comparison test.  I used the heavy-duty side of the burner, and had the heat set to 5.5.  This produced a nice dark burn result, and you can see a slight wisp of smoke being produced.

Afterwards, I held the pen tip in place for a few seconds.  As you can see, lots of smoke was produced.

Both machines produced dark results.  The heat gun results look more matte and there aren’t sliver lines.   If you look at the Colwood burn results (left), you can see thin pale lines running through the results here and there.  That is something that happens when you burn on plywood.

I angled the board to show how both of the lower burn results marred the board.

The board is angled a bit more, and you can really see the shape of the Colwood pen tip.   The red arrow is pointing to the mar produced by the heat gun.

I do not recommend burning like I did on the lower burns!  I was burning on plywood, and I know I burned through the top layer and got into the glue layer with the Colwood.   I think the marring produced by the heat gun is glue that bubbled up. 

A foul aroma started coming from the board and that is what prompted me to stop the test.

I wiped a clean cotton tip over the Colwood burn to check for carbon.

The cotton tip picked up a little carbon, but not very much.

Repeated this on the heat gun burn.

Got a lot more carbon on the cotton tip.  I wasn’t surprised because the heat gun reminds me of the burn results you get with a torch. 

In this photo I’ve angled the board to show the different the burners effect the wood.   The Colwood seals the wood, giving it a uniform smooth sheen, and the burn marks sunk down into the wood surface a bit.  The heat gun doesn’t alter the wood texture, and most of the burn has a matte finish.

TIMED BURN COMPARISON

For this test I drew a row of squares that were 2 inches in size (5.1 cm).  I started out with the Colwood and timed how long it would take to fill the area with color. 

I rotated the board because this board has a horizontal grain.  It’s easier to burn with the grain than it is burning across it. 

It took 8 minutes and 14 seconds to burn in the square using the Colwood E shader.

Then I switched to the ProStormer.  The heat was set to 400 and the fan was set to 4.   I started out with the 5mm nozzle tip.

It took 4 minutes and 55 seconds to fill the square with color.

The 8mm nozzle was able to fill the square in 4 minutes and 2 seconds.  That’s less than half the time it took me with the Colwood.

I worked my way through the 4 different nozzles, and noticed the time continued to decrease.

Here are the official times:  

• Colwood E 8:14
• 5mm 4:55 (3:19 minutes faster than the Colwood)
• 8mm 4:02 (4:12 minutes faster)
• 10mm 3:49 (4:25 minutes faster)
• 12mm square 3:23 (4:51 minutes fasters)

It’s rather impressive how much quicker the heat gun burns.  Obviously, my heat gun burn results aren’t very uniform, but again I’m still learning how to use it.

This is an angled close-up shot of the Colwood and adjacent ProStormer squares.  The purpose is to show how the wood changes texture.   The Colwood seals the wood giving it a slight sheen.  The ProStormer has a very matte surface.

PAPER & LEATHER

Next up is testing how paper and leather handle the heat gun.  As expected, the paper immediately began to curl.

So, I got a fresh sheet and secured it to a backer board, and started a new test.  The heat is set on 500, and I’m gradually increasing the fan speed setting. 

Even with the edges taped down, that didn’t prevent one edge from buckling when I got too close.

Now I’m trying to create a smooth uniform patch of color.  I will admit I should have turned the heat down. 

The last thing I’m testing out is to see just how dark the burn will go.

 

 

 

The answer is extremely dark.

In fact, the gun got the paper so hot it caught on fire.  The bright pinpoint of light is the moment of combustion.

Here’s how the test on paper looks.  The paper colors very quickly with the gun and it’s a bit easier to get uniform color.  

On a side note, I will point out that the paper is still on fire, but I hadn’t noticed that yet.

I grabbed a piece of leather to test out an idea, and the paper continued to burn.  It was shortly after I grabbed the leather that I realized this.

I used a piece of denim cloth to smother the small fire.   I keep denim cloth nearby to clean pen tips while I’m still burning.

Not only did I burn a hole in the paper, but I damaged the support board. 

Use caution if you burn dark on paper!  

Another important thing to know is that the burn marks are visible on the backside of the paper. 

I was burning on cardstock.  I have no idea the brand or weight.  It was something I got for the nieces to use when we were making inked string art cards.

I grabbed a piece of scrap leather I’ve used for test burning on, and the heat gun quickly darkened and curled the leather.

Then I grabbed a piece of thick leather, and it curled also. 

This composite image shows the leather before I started burning on the far left.  The middle image was taken while I was burning and you can see the leather is starting to curl.   The far right shows how the leather looked once I was done.

This was poorly tanned leather which is why there is waxy bloom appearing around the burn spots.

I do like how dark the leather will burn.  Another benefit of this is that I didn’t get a pen tip all gunked up in the process. 

In this photo I’m heating the backside (flesh side) of the leather to see if that will flatten out the leather.   I’ve got the heat gun further away from the leather because I don’t want to darken it.  This worked; not perfectly, but it took the worst of the curl out of the leather.

Out of curiosity, I did a carbon check on the dark spot.  A little carbon was removed, but not as much as was produced on wood.

SHIELDS, STENCILS, and WHITE CHARCOAL

I wanted to see how the heat gun would do on this artwork.  The water has thin bands of dark color running through it, so I thought it would be a perfect use of the heat gun.

At first, I tried using it freehand style, but that didn’t work well because the air flow isn’t focused enough.   I’m using the 5mm nozzle for this.

I grabbed a metal shield and tried that. 

 

I tried several shields.  I even tried different ways of using them.

I didn’t care for the results I was getting.  I wasn’t able to produce bands of color that were thin enough to be suitable for this application.   

Here’s a composite photo showing the before and after.

 

 

 

Then I decided to try a metal stencil.  The yellow-green circle is the tiny butterfly I will do. 

The stencil is made out of brass.  If you do an internet search for brass stencils, you’ll find all sorts of styles out there.   Most craft stores carry the stencils.  I usually find them in the scrapbooking or card making section.

It can be really difficult to see the wood around the gun.   

Here’s the results.  It’s definitely a butterfly, but it doesn’t have crisp edges. 

There is so much air flow, that it tends to push the stencil up from the wood. 

I do think this would work for distant shapes in the background.

Encouraged by the results, I’m trying a larger stencil.  I’m using some small metal pliers to hold the stencil firmly in place. 

One benefit of the metal pliers is that they act as a heat sink, so the metal stencil doesn’t get super-hot.  

It is still difficult for me to see the wood.  I can’t tell how dark the burn is getting or if I’ve missed a spot. 

Here’s how it looked once I was done.  In a way I like it, but the color isn’t consistent.   The image is definitely crisper and more defined along the left side where pliers held the stencil firmer to the wood.

I decided to try the tiny butterfly again, but this time using the pliers to firmly push the stencil onto the wood.

The butterfly is smaller and a bit more defined.

Here’s all three together. 

 

 

 

Now I’m burning the tiny butterfly on a piece of paper.

I’m also trying the small flower.

By this time the metal stencil had gotten uncomfortable to touch, so I used the pliers to move it out of the way.

 

Here are the results.  I think the heat gun worked better with paper than it did with plywood.

My last test was a freehand closeness capabilities test.     I’ve got a compass I did from a test burn, I’ve angled the tip away from the artwork, and I’m trying to get as close to the compass as I can without over burning onto it. 

During this test it dawned on my that I should check out how white charcoal would work.   I like to use white charcoal to mask areas I don’t want to burn.  It helps me see the area easier to avoid it, and it will resist heat.  The charcoal I’m using is Generals charcoal.

The thicker the white charcoal is, the better it resists the heat.  So, I’m applying a very thick layer of it in the middle of a large burn area.  This area I was trying to create smooth uniform color.

I also applied a thick layer along the edge of the compass.

Then I resumed burning with the heat gun. 

I did try to avoid the charcoal on the compass, but I also made sure to burn right up to the outer edge of it.

I didn’t even try to avoid the 3 lines.

Here’s how it looks after I was done.  Obviously, the charcoal hasn’t been erased yet.

The three lines of charcoal did not want to erase! 

I’m using a Vanish pencil eraser which is a touch more abrasive than most vinyl pencil erasers.  I still couldn’t remove all traces of the white charcoal.

Interestingly, the charcoal removed easily from the compass.  My guess is that was because the wood was already burned over, and the pen tip sealed the wood surface a bit.

Here’s how it looked after I erased the charcoal, or attempted to erase the charcoal.

Here’s a close-up photo of the two areas that had white charcoal on them.  I can conclude from this test that white charcoal is not effective at blocking the heat from the heat gun.

ART PROJECT

Now that I’m a pro with the machine, I thought it was time to do an art project.   For the record, I’m being a smart-aleck.  

If you can’t tell, my pencil sketch is supposed to be two seashells.  I’m intending that the back one will be a scallop.

I used the metal shields to protect the areas I didn’t want to darken. 

This is very similar to how to what airbrushing artist do.  Something I’ve tried, enjoyed, but wasn’t very good at. 

Here’s my finish artwork.  Looking at it I thought I did a pretty decent job considering how little time spent on this.  I will admit that my shielding skills aren’t anything to write home about, but overall I though it turned out fairly well.  

Until I erased the pencil marks.

Then it looked like some sort of abstract blob.

Here’s a comparison photo.  

I showed the final artwork to Todd and asked him what he thought it was. 

He told me that it looked like weird abstract clouds.  Guess I’m not a pro after all.  🙂

EXAMPLES and TIPS

To get a variegated background, move your hand in a sporadically.  Or to put it another way, change directions often or use a circular motion.

Also, change how fast you move your hand, and the distance from the board you are burning.   

This combination produces a burn stroke that vaguely resembles circular motion.

This photo is a barn owl I’m working on.  The background needs to be darkened up in the area with the green frame.  I had already burned a layer of circular motion on the background using the flat of one of my Colwood shader pen tips.  I didn’t want to lose that texture, so I used the variegated burn method. 

I’m using the 5mm nozzle, the heat is set on 400 and the fan is set on 4.  This seems to be a fairly good combination. 

You can see it darkened the corner.  It did this in under 5 minutes! That is a LOT faster than I could burn in the area using pyrography pen tips.

Here’s a composite photo so you can easily see the color change.

For uniform color, move your hand in a sweeping motion over the board.

I generally move in a back and forth or left and right direction, but you can also burn vertically.

The most important part is to keep your hand speed and distance from the board constant.

I’m using the uniform color method to darken up the water on the hooded merganser duck artwork.

I use metal shields to protect the duck when I’m working close to it.

Here’s how the duck looked before I started.  I lost some of the contrast in the water, but I can easily reburn that. 

Using the heat gun to darken the water saved me a lot of burn time.

PROS & CONS

PROS

• Board grain direction doesn’t matter. If I’m using a pyrography pen tip it’s easier to get consistent results if I burn with the grain.  With the heat gun it doesn’t matter how the wood grain is oriented.
• Great substitute for open flame torches. You don’t have to deal with fuel and it’s safer; at least it is for me. I state this because I caught my wooden easel on fire doing torch work.
• Filling in backgrounds is much faster than it is using pyrography pen tip.
• It doesn’t gouge or otherwise alter the wood surface. Ok, it does if you hold the gun in place for too long, but most people wouldn’t use it that way.
• Provides better coverage on plywood. When I’m burning on plywood, I’ve noticed that there are tiny thin white lines that appear.  It’s like there are missing slivers of wood and the pen tip can reach the bottom.   The heat gun can reach the bottom of the slivers, so you don’t get the white lines.
• Great for out-of-focus objects in the background
• Can get very dark burn results on all mediums; wood, leather, and paper.
• Can use metal shields and stencils to create quick designs.

CONS

• Not precise. I couldn’t get crisp lines on anything even when I used a stencil or shield.
• Center of the burn is hollow. This is really hard for me to get used to.
• It quickly curls paper and leather.
• It dries out wood, so thin wood is likely to warp and bow. My test board got a noticeable bow, and I didn’t burn for long periods at a time.  Plus, my testing was done over the course of several weeks.
• Takes a long time for the machine to cool down.
• Boards stays warm for a lot longer time than it would if burned with pyrography pen tips.
• The warm air produced by the machine can warm up a room. I don’t use the machine on hot days.
• It can be hard to get uniform smooth color.
• On the higher fan settings, the machine is a bit noisy.

SHOULD YOU GET ONE?

The question of whether or not I think you should get a heat gun for your pyrography artwork is a tough one to answer. 

Don’t waste your money if:

• you don’t include backgrounds in your artwork
• your backgrounds are detailed or precision is needed

It might be worthwhile if:

• You want to darken areas quickly
• Need soft edges or out-of-focus shapes in the background

Definitely buy it if you like using a torch on your artwork.

• Easier to get different tonal values with the heat gun
• There isn’t an open flame
• Don’t have to deal fuel
• Doesn’t produce carbon residue on the wood as much as a torch does

I think the heat gun has potential to create some interesting background using stencils.  For example, you could quickly add subtle butterflies, leaves, snowflakes, etc.   The limitation is what sort of metal stencil you can find or make.

I will admit that I doubt I would have bought one if it cost much more than it does.

The machine costs under $50, and when I wrote this blog there was a 10% off coupon available.

So far, I’ve used the machine on two art projects, and it has saved me a number of burn hours.   For me the $50 investment has been worthwhile. 

Here’s an affiliate link to Amazon if you’re interested: https://amzn.to/3QZq0KE

As I mentioned before, this link is an affiliate link.  That means if you buy the machine using this link, I receive some minute amount of money from the sale.   Again, don’t take that as a request to buy one.  I’m just being full transparent about the link.

IN CONCLUSION

Overall, I like the ProStormer heat gun.  It is probably as close to an airbrush for pyrography as I will ever get.  I like it a lot more than I have ever liked using a torch!   For one thing I always had problems getting lighter tonal values using a torch.  Once I caught my wooden easel on fire using a torch, and I have avoided it ever since.   The heat gun allows me to have something that I think works just as well, but is safer to use than a torch.

I wouldn’t use it for things I need precision on, but it’s great for background work and out-of-focus objects.  Like all tools, it takes a little time to get proficient with it.  Like all tools, the more you use it the more you discover what it can do.   I’m sure that with continued use I will discover better ways of using the gun.  And if I don’t, I’m positive one of you will!

That’s it for this blog.  I hope you found the review thorough and informative.

Until the next blog,

Brenda

Oct 11, 2022

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