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Forum topic by splintergroup | posted 08-29-2016 04:01 PM | 7827 views | 9 times favorited | 25 replies | ![]() |
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08-29-2016 04:01 PM |
Before I say anything, a tip ‘o the hat to Jim Jakosh for presenting this technique to me here on LJs! I read with interest on Jim’s adventures into this “fringe” area of woodworking and potentially re-animating corpses. Being a fan of both wood and electricity (I’m a EE by day-job), I had to give it a go. Step one was to ask the Google what wisdom lies yonder. I learned a few refinements, but not much beyond what Jim presented. These are also known as Lichtenberg Figures as he did much of the early work looking into high voltage discharges. Plenty good though! First things first, burn something! Wisdom seems to agree that the burn path tends to follow grain and plywood with it’s thin veneer and glue layer works well. I have plenty of 1/4” Lauan plywood scraps so that had to be first. Of course I had the grain perpendicular to the intended path of the burn, but hey, it’s just a test! Consider the wisdom of another LJs member. ”Don’t try this at home! Do it over at your neighbors house instead” I drove screws into the wood and connected the power leads to the screws. This was an obvious failure, but I got to see what happens and learn. Several more attempts with the same plywood, different results, but I’m beginning to see what guides the current. Ok, I see now that maybe the grain is too much, I’ll try something with a bit more ‘mellow’ grain Popular worked well, unfortunately I don’t have pictures. I do have pictures of Russian Olive (top) and Apricot (bottom) however: I see the problem with the arc selecting a path and sticking too it. Corrective advice was to use a small spritzer bottle (I use an old lens cleaner spray bottle). This allows one to change the ‘wetness’ of the wood in a semi-controlled manner. For the Apricot (1/4” thick), I used alligator clips. It may be possible that the screws allow the current to start off deeper into the wood (bad) whereas the clips keep it on the surface. Better! The bottom picture (Apricot) looks much better as I was able to cool hot spots and ‘push’ the burn path around. The top picture (Olive) is not any better. I determined that the olive tended to soak up the liquid in the open grain areas. This causes the electric current to concentrate and penetrate down deeper into the wood where the liquid absorbed. Now that I had a basic grasp on the techniques, I brought out some more Apricot scraps and went for it! I think I see some paneled boxes in the future featuring this technique! What I learned on my first afternoon. 1. Jim, you ‘productively wasted’ my Sunday afternoon having me act like a crazy person. Thank you 8^) 2. Wood grain matters. Random burning (my goal) does best with smooth wood, the liquid tends to concentrate in the open/porous grain and messes things up in my opinion. 3. Don’t over-saturate the wood, this lets the current travel deeper and just doesn’t look good. Under wetting just creates a spray of sparks jumping the dry gap, no burning. A spritz of solution cures this.. I think I have enough ‘skill’ now to at least control the burning direction, at least I think I can force which side of center the burn travels on. I can see that this will be a great way to trash all my small scraps and maybe get a gem or two in the process! I think Maple is worth a try. Soft Maple has bland grain (at least lack of porous grain lines) which holds promise. Rock Maple will not allow the solution to penetrate which has potential for better branching. Party on Garth! |