Breathing Smoke from Pyrography

[Rachel Aberle]

I have been learning so much and am in awe of beyond on the lathe, the detailing that some do. When I’ve played around with pyrography “branding” for texture is endless in creations.

I’ve been using a small fan to pull smoke away and have little smoke I smell once doing that. I’ve seen mention of respirators but my understanding is many are just for dust particles not smoke. What are your thoughts on the smoke factor?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Breathing smoke is harmful. If you are outdoors and using a fan to "blow" the smoke away then that would work. A fan wouldn't be effective in "pulling" if you mean having the fan facing away from you. Regarding air filtration, smoke and dust are both particulate matter. Wood dust is usually larger than 1 micron and smoke is usually smaller. The smaller the particle size, the more harmful it is because our respiratory systems have more difficulty trapping them before they get into our lungs. Once submicron particulate matter gets inside our lungs it will be there forever. There are other options besides using a powered respirator, you could use a mask rated N100, P100, or N95. NOTE: The KN95 COVID masks are not real N95 masks and wouldn't be suitable for protecting your lungs from smoke.

 

[Tom Gall]

Breathing smoke is harmful. If you are outdoors and using a fan to "blow" the smoke away then that would work. A fan wouldn't be effective in "pulling" if you mean having the fan facing away from you. Regarding air filtration, smoke and dust are both particulate matter. Wood dust is usually larger than 1 micron and smoke is usually smaller. The smaller the particle size, the more harmful it is because our respiratory systems have more difficulty trapping them before they get into our lungs. Once submicron particulate matter gets inside our lungs it will be there forever. There are other options besides using a powered respirator, you could use a mask rated N100, P100, or N95. NOTE: The KN95 COVID masks are not real N95 masks and wouldn't be suitable for protecting your lungs from smoke.

All that being true. However, when wood burning (as in Rachel's case) a fan in close proximity will "pull" the smoke away from your face (especially the eyes). A fan at your back won't do that. If somewhere on the side it will usually blow the smoke away from your face, but also can cause cooling of your burning tip especially at lower heat settings (DAMHIKT). In either case, no smoke in your face but it can still build up in your shop. No real winning solution here.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I always do my pyrography outdoors and I don't do any branding. I mainly do fine detail pyrography on my basket illusion pieces at low heat where the wood just gets lightly scorched and there isn't much smoke, but still a little smell of resin cooking. If the wind is blowing that's even better.

 

[Tim Starliper]

Look into soldering fume extractors. The most basic is a small benchtop unit that is essentially a filter and a fan. The fan draws the air in through the filter, removing the particulate matter. Works great. I have a couple for working with electronics.

Edited to add: This is similar to what I have. There are a bunch on the web that all look like this, probably the same factory in China pumping them out Click here please.

 

[robo hippy]

I believe that Molly Winton stopped doing pyrography due to smoke issues. For me, I would have a fan blowing the smoke away from me, not trying to suck it away from me, unless I had a hood I was burning inside of.

robo hippy

 

[RichColvin]

When soldering, I use some computer fans to pull the solder smoke away from me. The steady stream of air from the small, fast fans works well.