This is a WARNING, not a suggestion. The popular fad of Lichtenberg or Fractal Burners has made the news repeatedly due to its lethality and resulting numerous deaths of those trying it. It entails using a high voltage transformer plugged into the wall to produce fractal burns in wood. One of the how-to articles I read promoting the "art" had as its 1st step in the procedure...


Written apparently by a lucky survivor of their own ignorance of electricity and its imminent hazards. If anyone asks you about this apparently popular new fad hobby, please advise them accordingly as to its very real hazards.
33 Known Deaths Caused by Fractal / Lichtenberg Burning
Safety: Fractal Burning / Lichtenburg Burning (woodturner.org)

 

I think I will stick to my paint and brushes. It's a bit less self destructive.

 

This is a WARNING, not a suggestion. The popular fad of Lichtenberg or Fractal Burners has made the news repeatedly due to its lethality and resulting numerous deaths of those trying it. It entails using a high voltage transformer plugged into the wall to produce fractal burns in wood. One of the how-to articles I read promoting the "art" had as its 1st step in the procedure...

View attachment 265686
Written apparently by a lucky survivor of their own ignorance of electricity and its imminent hazards. If anyone asks you about this apparently popular new fad hobby, please advise them accordingly as to its very real hazards.
33 Known Deaths Caused by Fractal / Lichtenberg Burning
Safety: Fractal Burning / Lichtenburg Burning (woodturner.org)

Sounds painful.
https://academic.oup.com/jbcr/article/41/Supplement_1/S158/5776139

An otherwise healthy 17-year-old male was admitted to our burn center with injuries sustained while making fractal wood art. The patient improvised a high-voltage transformer from a discarded microwave, generating 2000 volts from household current. While using this device to burn Lichtenberg patterns in wood, he contacted the electrodes and sustained full-thickness electrical burns to the neck, chest, and bilateral upper extremities. Bilateral upper extremity fasciotomies were required on admission. Multiple subsequent operative procedures culminated with autografting to the majority of the wounds and ongoing complex reconstruction of the left thumb.

https://www.gundersonfh.com/obituaries/Vincent-Calabrese?obId=22299057

Vince pursued a career as a tile setter and laying tile was his art. He loved to create things and was very talented at it. His tile projects can be found in several establishments throughout the city and some of his tile work has also been showcased by Floor 360 in Madison. He was a very hard worker, and he put his heart into everything he did. Vince died unexpectedly trying a dangerous woodworking technique called fractal burning or the Lichtenberg method. He was a natural born artist and he died doing what he loved.

 

I kinda lost it when they recommended Welder's Gloves to prevent High Voltage electrocution. That and rubber shoes when they had an illustration of someone wearing tennis shoes... It's no wonder so many folks are getting bit by electrons...

 

Another microwave over transformer deathtrap.
Note how the power cables run through the handle area!!

 

This is a WARNING, not a suggestion. The popular fad of Lichtenberg or Fractal Burners has made the news repeatedly due to its lethality and resulting numerous deaths of those trying it. It entails using a high voltage transformer plugged into the wall to produce fractal burns in wood. One of the how-to articles I read promoting the "art" had as its 1st step in the procedure...

View attachment 265686
Written apparently by a lucky survivor of their own ignorance of electricity and its imminent hazards. If anyone asks you about this apparently popular new fad hobby, please advise them accordingly as to its very real hazards.
33 Known Deaths Caused by Fractal / Lichtenberg Burning
Safety: Fractal Burning / Lichtenburg Burning (woodturner.org)

My son and I were shopping in the electrical aisle at Home Depot. We were in the midst of a rehabilitation project for a house we are putting on the market so we looked like "tradespeople" in the Carhart coats and work boots. A young women approached us and asked about whether a particular switch would be suitable for "wood burning".

To make a lot story shorter, it evolved she was using a microwave oven transformer to do Lichtenberg burning and also wanted to know if she could "turn down the voltage". I am happy to report that although she averred she was aware of the dangers initially, by the end of our conversation she had decided to abandon the idea entirely because she didn't realize just how dangerous it was.

That was gratifying and I hope she stuck to it.

 

 

 

We made a hot-dog electrocutor in wood shop when I was a kid in middle-school with barbed wire staples, a thin wooden board and a electrical 'death' cord.

 

We made a hot-dog electrocutor in wood shop when I was a kid in middle-school with barbed wire staples, a thin wooden board and a electrical 'death' cord.

Back in my day we didn't have seat belts and I am not dead. So much unnecessary safety equipment today. We never wore eye or ear protection and I am just fine. We never had respirators, and here I am healthy.

I mean, that's a good argument against "best practices", isn't it?

 

Back in my day we didn't have seat belts and I am not dead. So much unnecessary safety equipment today. We never wore eye or ear protection and I am just fine. We never had respirators, and here I am healthy.

I mean, that's a good argument against "best practices", isn't it?

What did you say? Come a little closer so I can see you with my one 'good' eye.
Danger was everywhere.
http://www.lazerhorse.org/2016/06/12/gory-retro-health-safety-poster-russia/

 

Well I do have to wear corrective glasses and now start the day sticking my wife's hearing aids in my ears. Breathed welding fumes for a couple of years working my way through school and on emphysema so I guess I survived that one. Most folks do not understand that surviving high voltage electrocution is more than just surviving the initial shock. Especially at RF and higher as the internal damage is significant and not all will heal.

 

Well I do have to wear corrective glasses and now start the day sticking my wife's hearing aids in my ears. Breathed welding fumes for a couple of years working my way through school and on emphysema so I guess I survived that one. Most folks do not understand that surviving high voltage electrocution is more than just surviving the initial shock. Especially at RF and higher as the internal damage is significant and not all will heal.

...or being hit by lightning.

 

I didn’t wear hearing protection and I am now deaf.
What does that say about best practices?

 

I didn’t wear hearing protection and I am now deaf.
What does that say about best practices?

That you didn’t do (or perhaps know) about them?

 

For me it was all the gross boxes of M-80s, 2-3 boxes of 12ga shells on Saturdays, and God only knows how many boxes of pistol and rifle cartridges. That and industrial noise without protection.