How to keep your woodburning pen tips clean. Those who have the more professional woodburning tips, such as Optima, Razor Tip, Detail Master, Colwood, etc. need a delicate, yet effective way to clean the carbon off the tips. The Walnut Hollow type of woodburning pens need a more robust tip cleaning method that will be covered in another article at a later date. I made a small portable cleaning board that isn't pretty to look at, but works well. I took 3 pieces of leather about 3 inches long, an inch wide, and clipped them to a "wasted" 4" X 4" piece of basswood using standard office type "Binder Clips." The clips were the type that are about 1 1/4 inches wide.

I had a supply of leather, but an old belt can be used. If you don't have one, a trip to the Salvation Army should get you one for about a dollar. The working surface will be the inside rough side.The 3 pieces of leather are used for 1. the cleaning compound, 2. the polishing compound, 3. the final "strop" process.

The first phase of cleaning is done using a small amount of Tripoli ( or green) rouge applied to the first piece of leather. Gently work the tip in a knife sharpening move to clean the carbon from it. Touch the tip to the compound on the leather and move it away from you. Then flip to the other side and move it towards you. Repeat as often as necessary until the dark carbon is removed. Sometimes you might have to move the tip in close short strokes if it is very dirty. The second phase of cleaning is to polish the tip with jewelers rouge on the second piece of leather. Move the tip as in the first step until it has a polished shiny look. The 3rd and last phase is to just wipe the tip clean of any residue compound(s) on the 3rd piece of leather. The 3rd piece of leather can also be used to wipe the tip clean as you are doing your burning. Since the tip will be hot, move it rapidly over the leather with very little pressure.