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Obviously when using the pen on other materials you want to practice on junk pieces so you can note what temp works best with what and which ones avoid scorching. As a safety reminder, flame ups can happen and you should be prepared to extinguish them as quickly as possible. Usually when working small, a moist towel does the trick.

Also, never attempt to burn anything that has the possibility of exploding, as well as never work near anything that could explode while using your WB pen. If you plan to try burning plastic or polymer clay, always start at the lowest setting and work your way up until the desired affect is achieved.

Plastic of any kind puts off harmful vapors when burned, so use adequate ventilation when doing so. The thing I like best about a wood burning pen is that you can burn lightly to just inscribe some words on a piece or you can dial up the temp and almost carve with them by burning away the material you don't want.

Once I used a small piece of balsa and decided to try and make a miniature relief carving. It went very well, I dialed up the temp when I wanted to burn in deep and dialed back when creating detail. Throughout I used a toothbrush to scrub away the char as best as possible, then when I was finished I gave it a thorough scrubbing to remove all the loose char that I could. Finally, I gave it a light coat of paint to cover the char that wouldn't come off.