Mortality from fractal and Lichtenberg firewood accidents is higher than from lightning strikes
This weekend I came across an amazing opportunity to do a legitimate public service announcement. Are you a fool. This column could easily save a life or two. Journalists sometimes like to panic about dangerous internet-driven epidemics. Usually when you look into these phenomena there isn't much out there. For example, you might recall the wave of fear around 2017 when many people died from consuming pods of laundry detergent. The candy-like appearance of the dangerously concentrated soap was something that needed fixing, but upon inspection, the lethal damage wasto a handful of unlucky children, mostly demented.. Chemicals: Bad things happen.
So it's killing dozens of people when they find out about internet-driven fashion, which is promoted primarily by YouTube. Looking at the press, I felt a rare twitch of conscience about my work. This is commonly called 'fractal' or 'Lichtenberg' woodburning, where a piece of wood is taken, dipped in an electrolyte, and electrodes are attached to both ends. When a high-voltage electricity is passed through the electrodes, it creates an attractive branching pattern that resembles a lightning bolt on the tree. It just looks like lightning.
It would be nearly impossible for a normal amateur hobbyist to generate the voltages needed, but it would be done cheaply by cannibalizing an old microwave oven for an internal high voltage transformer can do. Even removing the transformer from the microwave is a bit dangerous. Because you need to avoid capacitors there. Microwave designers don't make it easy. At least in Ontario, removing a transformer from a microwave oven for other uses is completely illegal under electrical safety regulations. That didn't stop the black market from turning recycled microwave transformers into Lichtenberg burners.
In 2017, the American Woodworkers' Association began receiving reports of casualties associated with Lichtenberg burners. The group's safety committee came together and concluded that the technology was simply too dangerous and new. , banned advertising for Lichtenberg devices in American Woodturner magazine.
They also began counting injuries and fatalities from microwave transformer accidents in local newspapers. Since adopting this policy in 2017, he hasdeclared knowledge of 33 deaths,who conducted a study of injuries from woodstove accidents in 2020. I came to the same conclusion as the human doctor. They were able to record his 24 deaths in four years.
What they did not find was a number of non-fatal accidents, but those who escaped the events of Lichtenberg with disgustingly amputated hands. Mortality from woodworking accidents with microwave transformers is actually believed to be higher than from lightning strikes. Receiving a high-voltage current from the hand across the chest and greeting the heart on the way is far more dangerous than passing it from head to foot.
These accidents fatalities follow a predictable pattern. What was once called a tinkerer is now more commonly called a maker. In other words, enthusiasts who have a store space and a taste for experimentation. ("Matt enjoyed making things with his hands...") The dead are predominantly male, butnot only are male, and are usually middle-aged . Some of them were professionals in woodworking and even qualified to work with high voltage electricity in a professional environment. They never expected to find their spouse dead on Facetime lying on the garage floor with their jewelry melted and their fingers burned to the bone. } My own readership overlaps quite a bit with the demographic group that might find themselves following Internet instructions to pull transformers out of microwave ovens to make attractive clocks and tables. My message to that group is "Don't do this" and add "Don't let your husband do this without life insurance". In June/August, Popular Mechanics published a short guide to achieving Lichtenberg-like effects in wood more safely in an effort to reduce harm. YouTube is trying to curb how-to videos about fractal burning, but YouTube's intermittent censorship also seems to have entrenched videos warning of the dangers. Meanwhile, the net is still flooded with amateur-made Lichtenberg devices, Lichtenberg-based artwork, and news articles about Fellows doing fractal burning for "therapy."
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