Oak Wood

[Kevin Clark2227]

Can anyone tell me how oak lasers?
I need to laser some and didn't know if it lasered grayish/black or if it needed to be filled?
I would rather not have to fill.

[Mike Null]

Oak is a poor wood to engrave, red oak in particular. Quarter sawn white oak will give much better results. If you must engrave it select the piece with the very least grain pattern.

[john banks]

It cuts beautifully but there is some waste in preparing the oak thins (we use lots of 0.2" prepared for us by a local furniture maker) as some of it splits.

[Glen Monaghan]

The darker and lighter sections of the grain will engrave very differently (especially with red oak) and generally has low contrast. That being said, try it and show your customer to see what he/she thinks of it. I have a repeating customer who loves the look so, even though I don't care for it, I'm happy :^)

-Glen

[Richard Rumancik]

Sometimes you can get a piece that will be okay for text only (as in a plaque), but oak will not work well for any kind of graphic and certainly not for a photo. If you are doing text I would suggest adding dark color fill so the characters are uniformly colored. You can mask the wood with high-tack masking and laser the text through the masking. Then color fill with the mask in place.

However, the exposed end-grain in the incised text (the pockets) will often tend to suck the color under the mask. Therefore, for best results it is best to seal the text first. You could use a clear polyurethane followed by black, for example. Or you could "prime" it with diluted white glue to seal the pores and then paint. Best to get some scrap and experiment.

[Dick Jordan]

Oak engraves very crisply but with very little contrast. As Richard says, be sure to use a mask and color fill.
I use the least expensive flat black spray paint (Quick Color Spray Enamel) from ACE Hardware and spray a very very light fast coat over the mask. If you use too much, it will bleed into the very open grain of the wood and look terrible.
Practice, practice, practice!

[Joe Pelonio]

It will do beautifully if you sand and paint, then engrave out the background, leaving colored lettering and border. Just engraving does need color fill but will also be grainy.

[Martin Boekers]

You may want to seal it before color filling as it may bleed depending upon you fill material.

[Bill Cunningham]

I just did 50+ 1 liter, white Oak Barrels with the Remymartin logo for a Cognac Festival. It was not sealed, and the wood lasered dark, with a oversmear of the wood oil/vapour/smoke stain above the engraved logo which gave the end of the barrel a 'branded' look.. The customer was very pleased. Sometimes you can make the poor engraving characteristics of the wood work for you!