I will soon be taking a path to the world of basket illusions and would appreciate your recommendations for bench top smoke evacuators including the types of filters you use. Thank you.
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Recommendations needed for smoke evacuation for pyrography
- Thread starter John Husokowski
- Start date
I don't use any, but then I'm not burning wood, I'm coloring it with heat. At best, I get little whiffs of odor. Basket illusions are meant to be just that, illusions that mimic woven baskets. They don't have dark black lines between the strands of reed used for weaving.
To paraphrase a comment from Bill Boehme, if you are sending out smoke signals, you might want to turn down the heat a little bit.
To paraphrase a comment from Bill Boehme, if you are sending out smoke signals, you might want to turn down the heat a little bit.
Ditto!
I am following this thread, with interest. What do people use to filter smoke when they are using pyrography for other surface enhancements/embellishments, or carving?
To paraphrase Graeme Priddle, if the wood isn't squeaking, you are wasting your time. To get a hard black burned line, you have to make smoke.
I do a fair amount of both basket illusion and pyrography on many of my turnings. Like Tim Connell said, you shouldn't be burning hot enough to create smoke on basket work. I use a burnmaster and the heat setting is between 1 and 2 on a scale of 1-10. If it gets to where it won't burn a line at that setting, it's probably because there's a little carbon building up on the pen tip. There are a lot of way to clean the pen tip. I use a small brass brush and it only takes a couple of strokes and I'm back in business. Different woods carbon up the pen at different rates.
For heavy burning I rarely set the burner above 7. That does create a significant amount of smoke. My wife won't allow me to do either inside the house though. I prefer to burn outside when the weather allows or in my garage when it doesn't. For both I have a cheap box fan about 10' from me to blow the smoke away. It has 3 settings and you can decide how much of a breeze you want blowing past you. Pyrography and branding also create a few cinders that will come off the pen. Get a cheap leather welding apron from harbor freight to prevent holes in your clothes and body parts. Hope that helps.
For heavy burning I rarely set the burner above 7. That does create a significant amount of smoke. My wife won't allow me to do either inside the house though. I prefer to burn outside when the weather allows or in my garage when it doesn't. For both I have a cheap box fan about 10' from me to blow the smoke away. It has 3 settings and you can decide how much of a breeze you want blowing past you. Pyrography and branding also create a few cinders that will come off the pen. Get a cheap leather welding apron from harbor freight to prevent holes in your clothes and body parts. Hope that helps.
Thanks Curt,
I appreciate your feedback as well as all of the other members who have contributed. Upon further research in the forum I noticed that there were comments about this issue on August 2, 2022 entitled:
I appreciate your feedback as well as all of the other members who have contributed. Upon further research in the forum I noticed that there were comments about this issue on August 2, 2022 entitled:
Breathing Smoke from Pyrography
I understand that only low settings are used for basket illusion work, but I guess it’s a matter of degree. If the wood is turning color and there is a perceptible smell I would think some of those gas particles would be entering one’s lungs. If I could minimize this issue with a fume/smoke extractor I probably would feel more comfortable. I do respect everybody’s thoughts on this thread. Thank you.
Roger Wiegand
Beta Tester
A small dust collector blower or other inline blower with a 4" flex pipe that can be positioned near the work and vented outside (use this on a laser cutter I set up), or an enclosed hood with a kitchen hood above, again venting outside. 3-400 cfm should be plenty if the back and sides are enclosed. Use a smoke candle to test whether the flows are sufficient.
Just as I start typing, Roger says it for me!
I was going to suggest a high CFM bath fan, but I like the low cost, basic kitchen hood fan idea even better, higher CFM than bath fans and half (or all) of the enclosure/hood work is already done.
Have the hood assembly built overhead-ish, or stand it vertically on its back side on top your bench, and do your burning work right at the hood. Flex duct it (or hard duct if you choose) to the exterior, even as simple as hanging the duct out the window. About $90 for this Broan 2-speed (190cfm max), with light, kitchen hood at Home Depot. I looked it up at the Broan NuTone website and it attaches to 7" duct.
Sounds impressive, and as long as your burning is within, say, 16-18 inches of the fan (or as close as possible) it should work well. More than that and it won't do what you want it to- catch everything.
If there is no visible smoke, but if you can smell a burning process, there are carcinogens and nasty gasses present that you really don't want to breathe in. Working outside with the wind at your back, or in very close proximity of an exhaust fan moving combustion byproducts away from you, will always be best for the human being doing the work.
Not exactly the same conditions of wood burning, but his will put perspective on what is given off when wood burns-
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I use a small fan to "suck" the smoke and fumes away. Anything that blows directly on what you are burning will cool the tip of the pen and cause problems.
Donna Banfield
TOTW Team
I do plenty of carving and pyro-engraving with high heat woodburning tips. Like Jacques Vesery, Laurent Niclot, Rick Cannon, Graeme Priddle and Molly Winton, to name just a few makers who do this type of work. Molly Winton no longer can do this type of work, as she developed severe respiratory issues. I didn't want to follow in her footsteps, so I invested in a good air filter. I currently use this: Germ Guardian Air Filter/Purifier
It is a floor model room air purifier. The tower stands a bit over two feet high. and has both a HEPA and charcoal filter. I place it right on my carving bench, just inches away, and it pulls all the smoke. However, I only do this work in my studio. I would not recommend doing this type of heavy burning in your home or any space attached to your home. Despite the filters, after an evening of heavy burning, there is still the smell of the smoke in my studio the next morning.
It is a floor model room air purifier. The tower stands a bit over two feet high. and has both a HEPA and charcoal filter. I place it right on my carving bench, just inches away, and it pulls all the smoke. However, I only do this work in my studio. I would not recommend doing this type of heavy burning in your home or any space attached to your home. Despite the filters, after an evening of heavy burning, there is still the smell of the smoke in my studio the next morning.
Air flow is air flow. If sucking or blowing moves the same amount of air over the work it could affect the tip temperature.
Keep in mind, filters that may stop smoke particulates will not stop noxious fumes (gasses). CO, CO2, NO, and a host of other gaseous byproducts will go right through particulate filters unimpeded. You don't want to breathe these things, even in seemingly small amounts they do you and your body (and brain) no good.