# Be careful out there... tragic



## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

https://www.13abc.com/content/news/...vjcX15O4BN_fYGk4Tma9-JrJ77Fxikf2Dw9RckPKVK8i0

I don't know from the article if he was using a home built high-voltage Lichtenberg wood burning unit or not, but they have claimed lives before


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Electrocuted while wood burning sounds like it Doug. With a standard hot iron almost all the current is converted to heat by resistance so virtually no chance he could be electrocuted that way. I've read that sticking a knife into an active toaster isn't as dangerous as it is reputed because of that reason.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> .
> I've read that sticking a knife into an active toaster isn't as dangerous as it is reputed because of that reason.


let us know how that works out...


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I’m glad Herb quit doing it . My friend just seen a video of that guy making a coffee table using the microwave transformer to get that burnt look . 
Although it makes for a very interesting effect , I want no part of it , as I’m just to much of a klutz .

What a terrible story for those children .There mother passed away and then the father


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Go to youtube and there are dozens of videos on doing it, and videos on how to make a setup, and likely not a one saying how dangerous they are. Never wanted to try one, I thought the results were ugly long before I found out how dangerous they were. :surprise: :crying:

Youtube does have videos on woodburning with the handheld woodburning tools. Cost is around $10 or so, and while you might burn yourself with one, you won't get electrocuted. I like the results much better, even tho I don't use mine often. You want to burn designs in wood, get one of those. 0


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

How very, very sad.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

A horrible accident and two little girls with no parents. How very sad.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Breaks my heart.
Herb


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Tragic and sad. One organization has banned this process from demonstrations at the club level and symposiums.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Some things work, some don't.


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## radios (Sep 30, 2009)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Electrocuted while wood burning sounds like it Doug. With a standard hot iron almost all the current is converted to heat by resistance so virtually no chance he could be electrocuted that way. I've read that sticking a knife into an active toaster isn't as dangerous as it is reputed because of that reason.


:nono: whoever is posting that misinformation is putting people's lives at risk!. you still have 120 volts at a high current on the hot leg of the appliance, that is NOT converted or used!.. make a good enough connection to that, and ground or the neutral, and you can be killed!. https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/physics/p616/safety/fatal_current.html what they should have mentioned is that High Voltage at a high current is more dangerous, because I=E/R which is the current equals the voltage divided by the resistance, so the more voltage, the more current can flow with a set resistance!. something like a microwave transformer can supply 1 amp, way more than enough to kill you!..


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

Well there ya go,It's the amps that kill,not the volts.True or false? James jj777746.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Mostly true. The electrical signals that regulate the heart are quite small, and can be disrupted bu a relatively weak current. Also important is the path the current takes through the body. Worst case is a path directly across the heart.

Higher voltage can increase the likelihood for that current to flow across a given resistance.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

So sad.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

The main wood turning association banned anything tied to it in their shows, and for good reason.

Some guys brought their beast to a meeting and gave a demo. Having worked both electrical (PSNS, shop 51, electricians) and electronics (Keyport & Bangor, Wash.), it scared the hell out of me. These boys took a lot for granted. My shop has 1" thick rubber mats and I'd have second thoughts with most the systems I've seen. "Maybe" with a 5 foot glass pole. They were doing it on concrete floors and no mats.


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## David Bradford (Sep 12, 2019)

I do all the electrical work around our shop but I would want no part in that process.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

Holy cow, I find it difficult to believe people are that ignorant, but....

That's like saying the knife I stick in an outlet will act like the nichrome wire so all the electric turning it red hot [as the current through it into me] dissipates the dangerous electrons leaving only the good ones so.....




radios said:


> :nono: whoever is posting that misinformation is putting people's lives at risk!. you still have 120 volts at a high current on the hot leg of the appliance, that is NOT converted or used!.. make a good enough connection to that, and ground or the neutral, and you can be killed!. https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/physics/p616/safety/fatal_current.html what they should have mentioned is that High Voltage at a high current is more dangerous, because I=E/R which is the current equals the voltage divided by the resistance, so the more voltage, the more current can flow with a set resistance!. something like a microwave transformer can supply 1 amp, way more than enough to kill you!..


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Very sad to hear...just can't imagine what the kids felt when they found their father...


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Sad story. I was in a gift shop last Friday and there were several pieces by a local person who made several items, advertised as the Lichtenberg process. I cringed and almost said something to the store owner.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Perhaps a double wound isolation transformer would have prevented this tragedy.


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