Scorch Marker product review – wood burning

In this blog I will be reviewing the Scorch Marker Pro.  This product claims it can be used to create quick and easy images on wood.   I have seen some pyrography channels on YouTube demonstrate this product, and I thought it looked like a waste of money.  For some bizarre reason I bought a marker to test out.   My first impressions of the marker remain the same.  Regardless, I will share with you my tests to see what the marker is capable of.  Those tests include the mountain scene artwork I created with the marker.   Another thing I will share with you is how to make a much cheaper alternative to the marker. 

Click the image to the left to watch a YouTube video review of the marker.

HOW IT WORKS

Here’s a composite image of the marker.   I zoomed in on the label so you could easily read their claims and/or instructions.

One end of the marker is a bullet tip.

It’s great for drawing lines and coloring in shapes.  The nice thing is that you can easily see where you’ve drawn.

The other end is a foam brush.

It’s good for creating wide lines and filling in larger areas.  It also applies a lot more ink to the surface of the wood.  This isn’t necessarily a good thing as there isn’t that much ink in the marker to begin with.

I put a red box around my two ink marks.  The one made with the bullet tip is dried enough that you can’t see the ink lines anymore.  The one made with the foam brush is still visible.

To activate the ink, just heat it up.  I’m using a heat gun for this.

 

Here’s how the lines look after they were darkened up.   If you look closer at the wide line made with the foam brush, you can see that the ink bled along the grain lines. This is another problem with applying a lot of ink.    

HEAT SOURCES

I’ve got a test panel filled with squares.   The upper row of squares will get ink applied to it, and the lower row of squares will remain ink-free.   I’m testing two things:  1) How dark will the heat make the ink?  2) Is the heat source hot enough to darken the wood without ink?

The first heat source I tried was a travel hair dryer.

I let the hot air blow on the test panel for a long time.  There was minimal change to the inked square, and zero color change to the un-inked square.

Next up is an embossing gun.  This gets a lot hotter than a hair dryer does.

It started to darken the ink, but I noticed that it was also darkening the ink from the first square.

I covered the first row with a metal shield to protect it.

 

The embossing gun had no problem darkening up the ink.  It could also turn the un-inked areas of the board a tan color.

Now I’m using a heat gun.  This unit has a dial to control the heat, and that is set on the highest setting.

I learned my lesson from the embossing gun, so I had the shield in place.  The heat gun darkened the ink very quickly.

The heat gun had no problem darkening up the un-inked square.

Last up is a torch.  Of the four heat sources I used, the torch produces the highest heat output.

The ink turned a very dark color almost instantly.

 

 

 

The torch was also able to near instantly darken the un-inked board.

Here’s how the test panel looked after I was done.   As you can see, the hotter the heat is, the darker the ink turns.

STAMPING

I’m applying the marker ink to a rubber stamp.

Pressed the stamp firmly to the board.

The ink transferred, but I can see it wasn’t a perfect replica of the stamp.

Applied heat and it becomes easy to see how poorly this worked out.

I repeated the test, but this time used the brush end of the marker so that there would be a lot of ink on the stamp.

In fact, there was enough ink that I could create several impressions, but each one got progressively worse.

Then I applied heat.

Here’s how the images look.  Nothing great.  For some reason I forgot to activate (heat) one of the stamped impressions.  

I repeated the process using a clear plastic stamp.  I created two stamped images.  One using the bullet tip, and the other using the brush.

Applied heat to activate the ink.

The plastic stamp did terribly.  A yellow arrow is pointing to the upper butterfly that is very difficult to see.  The upper image was done using the bullet tip of the marker.  The purple arrow is pointing lower butterfly that I used the brush on.  Neither image looks like a butterfly!

Lastly, I’m trying a foam stamp.

The great thing with foam stamps is that they can conform to surfaces that aren’t perfectly flat.

Applying heat reveals that the foam stamp produced a pretty good image.  There are signs of seepage along some of the edges, but compared to the other types of stamps this one is clean.

The foam absorbs the ink, so I pressed it to the board a couple more times to see how many could be done from one inking.    The yellow arrow is pointing to the first repeat stamping.  Of the group of repeats, this one produced the cleanest result.

As for how many repeat stampings I could do from one inking;  3.   Each one got progressively harder to see.  

A yellow arrow is pointing at the first repeat stamping; it looks the best of the 3.   The image to the right was done second, and the image to the left was third.  

From one inking you can get 2 good images.  After that they do downhill in quality rather quickly. 

STENCILS

I’m applying ink to an area on the board using the bullet tip end of the marker.

Next, I positioned a stencil over the ink.

Then I used the heat gun to activate the ink.  The goal was to see if the stencil would block areas from the heat and prevent its activation.

I didn’t get a clearly defined image.  There are areas where the ink didn’t turn colors, so the stencil was able to block some of the heat.  

I’m repeating the test, but this time using the brush end of the marker.  This applies a LOT of ink to the board.  Why?  I have no idea because it doesn’t serve any real purpose, but it’s what I did.

I’ve got pliers to hold the stencil firmly to the board.  The heat gun blows out so much air that it can push the stencil up from the board.

Heat gun is blowing hot area onto the area and activating the ink.

The resulting image is better defined than the first one.   If you try this, make sure to use something that is heat safe to firmly push down on the stencil with.

Now I’m using the bullet tip to apply ink over the stencil.   The problem is that the tip is pretty large, so it doesn’t fit in the smaller sections on the stencils.

Here’s the inked image.  I can see some problem areas, but on the whole, it looks decent at this point.

It didn’t take long for the seepage lines to show once the heat was applied.

To me this doesn’t look all that great.  There are too many seepage lines that are very easy to see.

For my last test, I’m applying the ink to a small paintbrush.

Then I used the paintbrush to apply the ink to the stencil design.  This allowed me to get into the smaller aspects on the design.

The heat will reveal if this experiment was successful.

Nope.  Another failed experiment.     

MASKS

I’m using a metal punch to cut or stamp a design into a piece of aluminum tape.   Aluminum tape is used for seal heating and cooling ducts in homes and businesses.   It is super sticky, but it works great with punches.

I’m peeling the protective backer off the tape.

Then I apply the tape to the board, and burnished it to make sure there was a good seal.   I’m using a plastic card folder for this.

Then I applied ink using the bullet tip of the marker.

Because the tape is so sticky, removing it isn’t always the easiest of things to do.  Especially if it has been burnished.

Next heat was applied.

Here’s how the images look.  The heart and lower snowflake aren’t great.  The upper snowflake looks pretty good.

I’m repeating the test on a piece of solid basswood.   The reason is that I kept wondering if the plywood was part of the reason the ink seeps.   Plywood’s surface is not as smooth as a solid wood board.

I used the foam brush to apply a lot of ink along the upper edge of the tape.  I figured this would be an excellent test of the tapes ability to block seepage.

As you can see, once heat was applied there was a lot of seepage.

What is interesting is that the two maple leaves look decent. 

Next up, I’m testing scotch tape.  Something almost every household has on hand.  By the way, it doesn’t need to be the scotch brand of tape; mine isn’t.

I couldn’t punch a design into the tape since it doesn’t have a protective backer covering the adhesive.

I inked along the upper edge, and the lower right.  With the lower right edge I started each marker stroke on the tape, and extended the stroke onto the wood.   I was hoping this technique would help prevent seepage.

I removed the tape, and applied heat.

This technique produced some decent results.  The edge looks pretty clean.

Lastly, I’m going to try using airbrush frisket film.

I punched a design into the film, and the protective backer cut cleanly.

However, the frisket film didn’t.   I ended up with shapes that vaguely resembled maple leaves.

Frisket film is a low tack tape, so I burnished it very thoroughly before applying tape.

Note – I burnished ALL of the items I used for masks.

When I inked in the design, I started every single ink mark on the film and then extended the mark onto the wood.

Next, I applied some heat to activate the ink.

This technique seems to produce the cleanest images.

Basically, less ink is better.  

If using a mask, start each line on the mask and extend the line onto the wood.   This helps prevent excess ink from building up along the edges of the mask and seeping under it.

MISCELLANEOUS

Now for some oddball experiments.  First, I tried to scrape away a seepage line.  I didn’t get great results.

Then I tried scraping away some of the darkened ink. 

This worked very well and was easy to do.

Here’s the before and after image.

Next, I used an embossing tool to create some deep divots into the board.

I used a smaller tool and went over each of the divots to make sure they were very deep.

The I drew a simple design using a white charcoal pencil.

I repeated the design with a white colored pencil.

Afterwards I inked over the entire area.  I did not to try avoid the divots or pencil marks.

I let the ink dry, then I did my best to erase the charcoal and colored pencil.  I didn’t videotape this step.

Next, I applied heat.  You can see traces of the charcoal and colored pencil on the board.

As the ink continued to darken, I was rather surprised by the results.

The embossing worked, arrow 1 is pointing to the area.   

The white charcoal turned a grey color.  Arrow 2 marks the spot.  

Most surprising is that the colored pencil remained fairly white.  Arrow 3 is pointing to the colored pencil area.

ART PROJECT 1

With lots of testing under my belt, I decided it was time to create some art.  This mountain scene is my attempt to do that.   

I started out with a pencil sketch to get an idea of what I was going to do.

Then I sketched the same basic design onto the board.

 

It was at this point I realized I hadn’t tested the scorch marker with graphite. 

The upper left shows me inking over a pencil line. 

Then I erase the pencil in the upper right photo.  

The lower photo shows the results. 

There is still a hint of the pencil line, but it’s not too bad.

Now that I knew the pencil wouldn’t pose a problem, so I continued with my artwork creation.   I used an embossing tool to create divots into the sky.  These divots will become distant stars.

Next, I covered the sky with ink.  I did my best to avoid the mountain, the trees, and the moon.   

There are not many positive things I can say about the ink, but one think I do like is that it is easy to see where the ink has been applied.  Eventually it dries, but that takes anywhere from 20-60 seconds.  It depends on how heavy the ink application is. 

After that I applied heat to begin the ink activation.   My goal was to layer the scorch marker like you can watercolors and airbrush.  

For example, with watercolors you can apply a layer of paint to an area.   Then you apply a second layer of paint, but this time you paint beyond the boundaries of the first area you painted.   This results in the first area being slightly darker because it has two thin layers of paint.

With the sky lightly blocked in, I used a colored pencil to draw in the trees where they overlapped onto the sky.   They needed this because my initial efforts to avoid the branches with the marker didn’t go well!  I wasn’t able to get very close to them.

I also colored in the snow highlights on the mountain.  I’m using the Prismacolor brand of colored pencil.  My guess is that any brand will work, but test it first to make sure.

Here’s how the artwork looks at this point.

 

Next I applied ink over the mountains and the portion of the trees that overlapped onto the sky.

I let the ink dry for a few minutes.

Then I erased the graphite and colored pencil.  The reason is the colored pencils contain waxes and oils that will melt and char under higher heat. 

You can still see hints of where the colored pencil was.  I erased very thoroughly and the colored pencil refused to erase completely.   The only thing I can think of is that it must bond a little with the marker ink.

What was very interesting to see is that the ink was turning pink in some areas on the board.   The red circle marks an area where this is happening.   Each of the areas had one layer of ink that I had heated to a light tan color.

I resumed applying heat.  One of my goals was to create gradient color that got lighter in value as I approached the moon.

I had problems creating gradient color.  I would go along heating the ink, and it’s going well. Then all of the sudden some area gets really hot and turns black.   Part of that is the board I’m using.  It was a piece of scrap maple in Todd’s discard box, so this wasn’t a prime board.

Since the sky was re-burned and the mountain block in, it was time to prep another area. 

The new area was the trees to the right of the mountain.  I’m coloring them in with a white colored pencil.

Then I applied ink over the trees, and let the ink dry.

 

Erased the colored pencil.

Applied heat to the new area.   Yes, this was a rather time-consuming process.   I’m glad the board isn’t very large! 

Plus, given how little ink there is in the marker, I’m not sure it there would be enough to do a large project.

The process repeats with each new area I work on.

 

 

At this point I decided to color and ink over the rest of the board. 

The layering idea wasn’t working, and I wasn’t thrilled with how things were turning out.  At this point I just wanted to get this over with.

After the ink dried, I erased all of the colored pencil.

Then started the ink activation process by applying heat to the area.

 

I drew in the mountain on the water where I wanted its reflection to be.  Then I carefully darkened the water below that line.

I also used a metal shield to help define the edge along the lake.  I did put some effort into this.  My excessively nitpicky side didn’t let me do anything less.  I honestly tried my best to create decent artwork.

Here’s how the artwork looked once I was done.  

It didn’t turn out close to what I was picturing in my brain.  With practice I’m sure the technique could be mastered or at the very least greatly improved upon.   The real question is whether or not it is worth the time and effort to do so.

ART PROJECT 2

I did decide to try the mountain scene one more time.  Mostly I wanted to try a different product to see if it would work better than colored pencils.

The product is liquid frisket.  This product is often used with watercolor paintings.

I began the artwork in a similar fashion as the first one. 

I sketched a basic scene onto the board, and then inked in the sky.  I didn’t bother with the embossed dots.

Then I lightly blocked in the sky next to the mountain.

Afterwards I applied the liquid frisket to the board using a silicone paintbrush.  I like this type of brush because if the frisket dries on the brush, I can easily peel it off.

Here’s how the mountain looks after the frisket was applied.  The frisket must be completely dry before any sort of liquid is applied over it.

Dried frisket takes on a deeper orange color, so it’s easy to tell when it’s ready.   I always touch it anyway to see if it feels damp.  If it does, then I let it sit for a bit long and finish drying.    

I applied scorch marker ink over the area using the foam brush.

Then I let the ink dry.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes when the ink dries, it’s hard to see.   The foam brush applies so much ink that even after it is dried, you can still see where the ink was applied.  If you compare this photo with the previous one, you can see there is difference in how it looks once it is dry.

Next I used a cement erase to remove the dried frisket.

Here’s how the board looks at this point.

 

Next, I applied heat to activate the ink.  I do like the variety of line widths that the frisket made.  It was possible to create super thin lines, and very thick lines.  I wasn’t able to create as much variety with the colored pencil.  

As I was finishing the mountain, I decided that I didn’t want to waste more time trying to create the entire mountain scene. 

So, I erased the pencil marks and called it done.  

The scorch marker doesn’t contain a lot of ink, and the markers aren’t cheap.  I know I wouldn’t buy another one, so there wasn’t any point in trying to perfect the layer idea I had.  Heck, I’m not sure if it is even possible.

SCORCH MARKER ALTERATIVE

The first thing I tried was lemon juice.  My lemon juice came from a bottle, but it wasn’t concentrated lemon juice.

To use just simply brush on.

Next up is a baking soda solution.

 

 

 

The baking soda tends to settle, so I just remix using a paintbrush I’ll apply it with.

I brush some of the solution close to where the lemon juice was applied.

Then I applied heat.  The lemon juice didn’t do much, but the baking soda quickly turned colors.

 

The heat quickly dried the baking soda solution, and powdered baking soda appeared on the surface of the board.

I could easily wipe it away using my finger.

Both the lemon juice and baking soda give a yellow hue to the board.  

 

 

I applied more heat to see if the solutions would get darker.

The metal tip is pointing to a line of lemon juice that darken a little. 

The baking soda did great.

Lemon juice didn’t work, but the baking soda works wonderfully.

Baking soda solution:

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 cup Water

BAKING SODA vs SCORCH MARKER

I added a row of square to my test panel.  This row will check what heat sources will activate the baking soda solution.   I begin by brushing the solution onto the first square.

Then I heated the square used the portable hair dryer.  That produced a similar reaction as the scorch marker; nothing.

Next, solution was painted onto the next square.

 

On this square I used the embossing gun.  It got hot enough to cause the solution to darken up.

Then I tried the heat gun.

Lastly, I used the torch.

 

 

 

Here’s a close up of the baking soda results.

Here’s the complete test board. 

I think that the baking soda created results that are very similar to the scorch marker.   The baking soda costs a fraction of what the scorch marker does!

I was very curious if the scorch marker was acidic in nature, so I bought some pH test strips.

The kit contains a lot of strips and a color chart to compare the results against.

I used the scorch marker and drew a couple of lines on one of the test strips.

Checking it against the color chart revealed it was very acidic.

Then I checked my baking soda solution.

It is a base.

This photo shows the different test strips I did. 

Strip 1 is the baking soda solution after I mixed with the water.  

Strip 2 was the results from dragging the strip through the baking soda that had settled to the bottom of the bowl.  Notice how much darker it is than the first strip.  

Strip 3 was from my tea I tested.  I almost always have a cup of oolong tea sitting nearby, so I couldn’t resist testing it.  😊 

Strip 4 is from the scorch marker.

I want to point out that acid is something known to degrade things like paper and wood.   If you seek out archival art supplies, one of the first characteristic of the supply is that it is acid-free.  Since the scorch marker is extremely acidic, I have to wonder what it will do to the wood over time.   

After testing the pH, I was curious if the wood would still darken if you mixed the scorch marker ink and baking soda together.   To test this idea, I grabbed a piece of scrap wood and applied scorch marker ink to the left grid.

I applied baking soda to the right grid.

The middle grid first got a layer of scorch marker.

 

One the ink dried, I brush the baking soda solution over it.

It is easy to see where the scorch marker has been applied on this angled board.

Next, I applied heat to the test board.

 

Here’s how the board looked once I was done.  It worked.

Now I wanted to check three things.  First, would the scorch marker turn the wood pink without heat activation.   Second, how long does the ink stay active.  Third, does the marker ink react with the two wood finishes I often use; lacquer and polycrylic.

I created two test squares.  One for the scorch marker and the other for the baking soda. 

I create two more test squares to the left of the mountain.   I also drew a line down the middle of the board.  Then I labeled the board to indicate which finish is on what side.  Note that there isn’t finish applied yet.   This board sat for 3 days, and I don’t see a color change.

On day 4 there still wasn’t a color change.  

Apparently the scorch marker ink needs heat activation before it takes on the pink hue.  

Looking at the mountain artwork, I can see some pink hues in areas where the ink wasn’t heated that much.  Basically if the ink isn’t heated to a dark color, it took on a pink hue.

Since I wanted to get this product review done, I applied heat to the grids on the left.  I shielded half of the grids to act as a control.

I did the same with the bottom test grids.

Here’s how the board looked once I was done.  This tells me the following:

• The scorch marker needs heat before it changes color on the board.
• The ink stays active for at least 4 days. Probably longer, but that’s when I ended this experiment.  The baking soda, on the other hand, did not remain active.  The coloration on the board is due to the heat of the gun.   How can I tell a difference?  Compare the edges of the two solutions.  The scorch marker has defined edges where the ink ends, the baking soda doesn’t.
• As for the wood finishes, I will cover that in a separate section.

DEACTIVATING SCORCH MARKER INK

I wanted to see if there was a way to deactivating the scorch marker ink.   Be aware that I did this experiment before I testing out baking soda.

I went back to a previous test patch and applied heat to see if it was still active.   It started to immediately turned colors, so it was active and would work for my test.

I began by misting the area with water.  I found it interesting that the ink began turning pink.

I wiped off the surplus water.

 

Then I misted the area with more water, and wiped away the excess.  Now the upper design has a definite pink hue to it.   I repeated the misting a couple more times and let the board dry.

Here’s how it looked once it was dry.

I did try rubbing an eraser over the area to see if that would remove some of the pink hue.

 

The answer is no.

Next, I applied heat.   Nothing changed, so it worked.

Here’s how it looked once I was done.

AGING

On December 6, 2022, I created the first art project.

Less than a week later the board had taken on a pink hue.  The pink hue is present in all of the areas that I didn’t heat to a dark color.

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

I created the second art project on December 29, 2022.

Again, less than a week later the board was taking on a pink hue.  I shouldn’t say the board, I should say the ink was taking on a pink hue.

Here’s a comparison photo of that second art project.

WOOD FINISH

Now I will be checking to see how the scorch marker handles the two wood finishes I use most often: lacquer and polycrylic.

I’m starting with lacquer. This is Todd’s jar of lacquer solution.  The lacquer has settled to the bottom of the jar and there is a thick layer of lacquer thinner floating on top.

First I have to stir to mix the lacquer and thinner together.

I will be applying the lacquer with my large silicone brush. 

This is not what Todd uses, but for my purposes it will work just fine.

 

I only applied the lacquer to the left side of the board.

I also applied lacquer to the little test board.

Next up is a matte finish polycrylic.

 

 

 

 

For this I’m using regular paint brush because its water based. Plus, I’m not sure my silicone brush would fit in the jar.

I applied the polycrylic to the right side of the project.

The lacquer looks fine, but the polycrylic became milky and took on a green hue.   I will let the board dry overnight to see if there is a change.

The next day I looked at the boards.  The small test board looks fine, but it only has lacquer on it.

With my art project, the left side of my art project looks fine.  That side was coated with lacquer. 

The polycrylic, applied on the right side, lost its milkiness, but the green hue is more pronounced.

I decided to do a test on project 1.  I’m applying a baking soda solution to the left side of the board to see if that will neutralize the ink.

The baking soda left a white powdery residue as it was drying.

The powder is easy to wipe off.

After the board was completely dry, I applied polycrylic to the entire board.

There are some areas that the finish turned milky.  I’ll let this dry overnight and see if that goes away.

Neither side looks that great.  The baking soda give the area a yellow hue.  The polycrylic reacted with the scorch marker and turned a greenish color in some areas.

PROS & CONS

We’ll start with the pros.

PROS

• It’s easy to use
• Remains active for days (4+ days)   
• Easy to see inked areas

CONS

• Small amount of ink – shipping weight is 0.704 ounces, most of the weight is the marker
• Expensive – I paid 14.99 for one marker on Amazon  (for comparison, a 16oz box of baking soda costs $0.99 at my local grocery store)
• Prone to seeping along grain lines and under stencils
• Very acidic – probably won’t age well
• Turns a pink hue if it isn’t heated to a dark color
• Reacts with polycrylic wood finish – turns a green hue

I think that the Scorch Marker Pro is a waste of money, and I wouldn’t recommend buying one. 

There are many look-alike products available online.  While I have not tested any of them, I think they all would work just like the scorch marker.   I wouldn’t recommend buying any of them.

IN CONCLUSION

I do not recommend this product.  I think the marker is expensive; especially considering how little ink is in the marker.  I ran out doing my little bit of testing.    There are other brands on the market, some contain more ink, but I wouldn’t waste money on any of them.  The reason is that I think they will all work like the scorch marker. 

Instead of the scorch marker, I’d recommend using the baking soda alternative.  It’s much cheaper, and performs just as well as the scorch marker in the short term. Plus, it doesn’t react with the either of two finishes I tested.

Brenda

Feb 14, 2023

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