Conestoga Works

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Purveyor Of Fine Tools For The Woodworker

Conestoga Works LLC is a small manufacturer of the various wood work items offered on this site. Each item is personally crafted by Charles and his granddaughter, Audra, in Edmond Oklahoma using premium quality materials.

Each item is backed by a full guarantee of quality material and craftsmanship.

A wired adapter with a pedal and two testing sticks

About Conestoga Works LLC

Conestoga Works LLC was formed in 2014 by Charles Waggoner, a 28-year US Air Force veteran whose interest in woodworking can be traced back to his junior high school days. Throughout his military career, he was constantly involved in some sort of woodworking project, everything from building toys and furniture to remodeling various homes. Retirement gave him the opportunity to construct his dream shop where he continues to devote an enormous amount of time to various projects. Over the past several years his passion has turned towards making tools and equipment for the woodworking hobbyist. The popularity of these items led to the creation of Conestoga Works LLC as a small manufacturer of the various items offered on this site. Each item is personally crafted by Charles and his granddaughter, Audra, in Edmond Oklahoma using premium quality materials. Each item is backed by a full guarantee of quality material and craftsmanship.

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What Our Customers Say

We bought the second machine so we can both burn at the same time. We have started doing bowls for a local manufacturer who is selling them as art objects & we are having a hard time keeping up. We love the design & safety of your machine. It is dependable & does beautiful burns. This hobby has not only helped keep him busy during the lock down, but given him a way to make art, pocket money, & a great distraction from his depression....

Mike & Linda Wonser

Thank you so much for the wonderful note that you sent. This is actually Dwight’s wife, Debbie here. I ordered this machine for Dwight’s birthday and I know he is going to be thrilled! I will be sure to include this email along with it. It is so informative, and I appreciate the gloves as well. It is a rarity to receive such personal service and I want you to know it is appreciated. I wish you great success with your business and we will be sure to share photos of the wonderful things we will create....

Debbie Moody

We received our unit last week and we absolutely love it. It has by exceeded our expectations so much that we will be ordering another very soon so my wife will leave mine alone lol. Thank you very much for all the great work you do and making the units as safe as possible.

Matthew Cleary

My recent purchase of your figure wood burner was what I needed to "step up my game ", I really enjoy this product and appreciate the good quality and craftsmanship put into it. I’m attaching a couple pictures of my progress .

Dale Anderson

First of all, thank you for such a wonderful machine. I absolutely love it. Here is a couple of projects that I have done so far. The machine itself is very user friendly. I can't wait to do more projects with it.

Glenn Fugere

I’ve attached a few more shots... I’d be honoured if you were to show them anywhere! I sanded all the varnish off the guitar first, maybe a bit aggressively (a big disc sander)... I’ll take a bit more care of I do another one.

Terry Crouch, UK Designation

Just a quick message to show the guitar I ‘fried’ with your machines help in all its glory! https://youtu.be/Ab8WM24bMtg (Guitar features from around 1min 20secs in)

Terry

Thank you so much for the quick shipping and great tool! Most of my work involves resin and this is the perfect addition for uniqueness. Do you have an Instagram account - I like to give credit and tag those that make it possible for me to create the projects that I do.

Brad Simonet

I can't say enough nice things about the product or your prompt service and replies. Very impressed and thrilled. Thank you.

J. Lane McMahon, J.Lane Woodwerks

Just wanted to say I received my order today and received in great condition and looking forward to using it. Also appreciated all the information you provided. Definitely consider this a great purchase.

Randy

Hi Charles, I just wanted to thank you for your great service and dare I say even better machine. I have wanted one for years but was put off by all the horror stories I had heard. Once I saw your machine demonstrated I decided to bite the bullet and get one and, my word, I am so happy I did. So many possibilities, so much fun and I feel perfectly safe using it after reading your simple to understand instructions....

Paul Aston.

I am enjoying the burner. It is amazing. I am sending a picture of a decan's bench that I have used the burner on.

Ervin Voelk

Hi Charles Well I finally got a project where I could use the Lichtenberg Figure Wood Burner I used the burner on the base it was a straight grain piece of birch the burner added a lot of character I enjoyed using the burner and it is designed well and super safe. here is a couple of pics.

Joe Pershall

Just a quick update and positive review for your product. I have had chance to use this on several projects now with fantastic results. By carefully following your excellent instructions I have found the unit simple and efficient to use. The build quality is excellent and has proved an excellent investment.

Stuart Doe

I received my burner today (ordered Friday). Superior construction, I felt total confidence (after following general safety rules). I grabbed a spare piece of wood and produced a cool design first time out! Thanks for a great well-made machine, made with safety as the number one priority. I look forward to many awesome projects in the future....

Mark Hobson

The burner is terrific and I appreciate the detailed instructions. Thank you.

Tom Martin

First let me introduce myself, I’m Doug Loomis from Carson City Nevada I’m a Journeyman Cabinet maker of 25 plus years , and had never seen this . Upon seeing it I thought it was so cool and hoped if I got the right setup I could be part of this cool treatment of wood. Well let me say , from the order of your machine to the delivery and the performance and results and the ease of use , my expectations were exceeded!...

I ordered your Lichtenberg burner last week, and have accomplished nothing productive since Friday (when I received it). This thing is amazing!! I've dabbled in woodworking for years, and am always looking for new methods and techniques to add my pieces. I have spent at least 8 hours so far burning into different woods (cedar, pine, bloodwood, leopardwood, ash, and walnut), and have found that ash and walnut are my favorites....

Andrew L Kreofsky

First let me say how impressed I am with the expediency of processing of this order and the personal attention to your customers. This has been by far the best online buying experience I have ever had! Now, to your question. I am intending to make my wife a set of wooden chargers for the place settings at our dining room table. I thought I would give them a bit of flare by burning some fractal images into them....

Bryan McCain

I love love love my wood burner. I've played around on a few woods and recently made this. I have much more planned but tried this.

Martha

Received this today. I appreciate your timely delivery. This thing is too fun! Thank you,

Greg

I have had the burner for three days now. Have been making some cool stuff with it and making some of my older pieces even better. The only problem is most of my hair fell out on the second day! Just kidding! Thanks for a great product. I feel sorry for the guys messing around with microwave transformers. You only live once, spend $300 and be safe and have fun!

Scott

When I purchased my wood burner from you several months ago, I remember you had asked to send in some project pics when I got it up and running. I’ll send only a couple now, as I have to send one per email. In two weeks, I’ll have my website up and running and will send you a link to that. Please let me know if you have trouble opening them. The burner has been awesome! It’s gotten a lot of attention...

Ryan Hawkins

After viewing a dozen or so videos on making Lichtenberg figures with a microwave transformer, I decided your product was cheaper than burning down my house.... I'm really impressed with your burner. After losing everything in my divorce, l am slowly rebuilding my wood shop and your device is going to put the finishing touches on a few dormant projects. ....like that corpse in my basement that I never got around to reanimating.......

Forrest

My Burner arrived today, it looks like a very high quality tool. I discovered Lichtenberg figures on YouTube. I have neither the desire nor skill set to make a homemade unit, which strikes me as very dangerous. I found some videos from The Woodshop by Carl Jacobson where I learned about your unit. With a little investigation, I learned about your unit and you, and are highly regarded in the wood working communities such as Sawmill Creek. At $300, it seems to me a bargain for a professionally made tool....

Larry

I must first congratulate you putting out a nice and safe product. I was quite impressed by the thought that was put into your product. I have used it a few time and really enjoy using it. I have made a few pieces but I started experimenting with using the carbon channels and inlaying turquoise in it...

Bryan

We absolutely loved using your Lichtenberg. I am particularly frightened of electricity as I know little to nothing about it other than you can get hurt. You have this so well set up that it takes the fear out of it but allows you to be safe as long as you're conscientious. We followed your instructions with the exception of special gloves and had a safe and fun time. It is clear that there will be many opportunities to create fun patterns for both with turning and woodworking...

Tina Minahan

I got the unit the other day and have been rather busy this last week on some shop mobility projects for my shop, so i finally got to play with it a bit tonight. The entire shop smells of burn wood right now, but the unit worked flawlessly! I cannot wait to try it on some bowls and vessels!...

Nathan

I received the wood burner yesterday and am excited to give it a try today! I am impressed with the quality of construction! Thank you for such speedy shipping

Brett

Just received the burner I ordered, so happy I didn't make one! Thanks for making it so safe!!!!! I'm sending you a picture of my first burn!!!!!!

Larry

G’day Charles, I posted my first lot of wood burning on the Lumberjock web site and got quite a bit of interest. www.Lumberjocks.com. Referred to the safety offered by your unit compared to the risks of the do yourself microwave. Let’s hope they will spend a dollar and be safe to enjoy this new adventure. Really enjoying my unit, like the control you have with the burner via the two prongs and the foot control. I’ll put a blog on Lumberjocks showing your unit, the converter and burning in progress....

Bob Collins

"This Lichtenberg unit is impressive from start to finish. It's well built and well designed, and it does a heck of a job creating beautiful dendritic figures on wood. I've always liked the look of Lichtenberg figures, but I've been intimidated by the process of building a unit from scratch. With the device Charles has created, I don't have to worry about making a mistake in the design or construction. From the physical style of the unit to the clarity of the instructions, every detail has been well thought out and perfectly executed...

David, Keller, Enid OK

What's New

Our Customer’s Gallery

Would you like to share your work with us? Please email us at Charles@conestogaworks.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the required input voltage and wattage of Lichtenberg Figure Wood Burner?

The Lichtenberg Figure Wood Burner is available in two voltage configurations. The North American (United States, Canada and Mexico) model operates on 110 volts, 60 Hertz, and 230 watts. It has a standard three prong plug that will fit any modern household receptacle. The overseas model operates on 220 volts, 50 Hertz, and 115 watts. The overseas model has a plug configured for the local country’s normal household electrical receptacle. A stepdown transformer is not required to operate the burner. The burner’s input voltage cannot be switched between 110 volts and 220 volts.

Why doesn’t the burner start burning?

Most likely the wood is too wet or not wet enough. When the wood is too wet, the wood will not burn because the path between the probes is effectively shorted out. To find out if that’s the problem, place the probes on the wood and while activating the foot switch, lift one probe from the surface of the wood. If there is an arc between the probe tip and the wood, the wood is too wet.


If the wood is too dry, the burn path will not start. Wood is a fairly good insulator; thus, it must be moistened with the electrolyte solution to create a path for the electricity to flow between the probes.

Will the burner burn deep channels that can be filled with epoxy?

The Lichtenberg Figure Wood Burner was not designed to do the deep, out of control type burns that you see on YouTube where people are using used microwave transformers that are producing several hundred milliamps. Unfortunately, that’s the level of current that has caused several deaths. Safety of the user was a paramount design factor with the Lichtenberg Figure Wood Burner. It has a current output that is controlled to less than 30 milliamps and is designed to burn fern-like fractal type patterns and not the uncontrollable channels associated with the high amperage devices. You can increase the depth of the burn by continuing to burn for a short period of time once the arc paths connect; however, the paths will not be extremely deep or wide. Many of my customers have burned deep channels where resin has been inserted by using a carving tool or a Dremel tool with a rotary burr to cut a channel where they want the burn to follow. Once a channel is cut, moisten it with the electrolyte solution and burn again. The channel does not have to be very deep for the resin fill. There are a couple of advantages with this technique. First, you control the width and depth of the channel and secondly, you create the pattern you desire. Controlling the pattern painted with the electrolyte also helps in creating the desired burn pattern.

How do I apply the electrolyte solution?

The best way to moisten the wood is to use a foam brush and paint the solution on the surface of the wood. Do not leave any standing solution on the wood. Use a paper towel to tamp up any excess solution. Let the solution soak into the wood for a few minutes until the surface appears to be dry, then apply a light coat of solution again and start the burning.

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