Reduce charring question

[Tom Sieczkarek]

Hi everyone!
New to posting here but have been lurking in the background absorbing the great info you have to offer.
I came across some info while researching cutting veneers. In the blog the guy says he uses bottled nitrogen (not nitrex oxide:eek:....BOOM) in his air assist to help reduce charring.
Has anyone here tried it? If yes, please explain.
My thought process is that the laser burns through wood and needs oxygen to do so, so this would hamper cutting in wood. Sounds counter productive. I know there was an earlier post about wood charring and wanted to through this idea out there.

[John Noell]

This has come up before. Main issue seems to be the expense of nitrogen - and the need to be sure you aren't flooding your work area with nitrogen (and potentially not enough O2).

[Mike Null]

Tom

I would suggest a search. There have been several threads on the topic. Here is one.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?70699-Using-various-gases-for-cutting&highlight=nitrogen

[Michael Hunter]

Ideally the laser vapourises the wood rather than burning it, so oxygen is not necessary.
With oxygen present and the wood too thick for the power of the laser to blast straight through, then charring occurs : this is the reason that nitrogen may help.

With thin veneers you should expect some slight browning of the cut edges (from resins in the wood), but no charring.
Best to optimise the settings first before committing to an expensive nitrogen setup and make sure that you can get a refund on the bottle as any you may not see any improvement at all.