Stainless Steel

[Keith Outten]

7 oz. Whisky flask blasted with glass beads and engraved.

[Ken Salisbury]

Really neat !!!

Too small for either Bud Light or Fosters

[Aaron Koehl]

Love the mirrored finish around the engraved area--very
classy.

_Aaron_

[Bruce Page]

Originally posted by Aaron Koehl
Love the mirrored finish around the engraved area--very
classy.

_Aaron_

I was thinking the same thing Aaron, the texture and engraving are first rate but how did he get the rest of it so shinny! :D


Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more. -- Mark Twain

[John Miliunas]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bruce Page
[B]I was thinking the same thing Aaron, the texture and engraving are first rate but how did he get the rest of it so shinny! :D

Truly a sharp lookin' piece! Oh, and Bruce, I think he started with the *whole* thing really shiny and masked it all off before blasting it w/glass beads and doing the awesome laser work. Just a guess on my part. Whichever way he did it, though, it shore is mighty perty!:cool:

[Keith Outten]

I should have posted the details earlier but I was in a hurry this afternoon, had to rush down to the HRO office to pick up a new Request for Proposal that was sent to the office.

These flasks were purchsed by a customer and sent to me for engraving. The problem I had with the flasks was not the mirror finish but that they had a coating on the surface which prevents me from using a chemical called Cermark to engrave the stainless.

The answer was to use the Laser to create a mask and blast the surface to remove the coating. Obviously this also removed the mirror finish but it turned out to be a very nice design feature. Once the blasting was complete the flasks were coated with Cermark and placed back in the engraving cabinet on a plywood form which I engraved earlier so that I could re-orient the flasks perfectly for engraving. The pictures I took just don't do the flasks justice as the job turned out pristine...a perfect permanent black marking.

What does this have to do with Laser Woodworking?

What makes woodworking so much fun is that each project presents a thousand ways to build and finish. Using inlay of contrasting wood colors is a technique everyone is aware of and some of you have probably done some inlay work using copper or other metals. Although this is a stainless steel flask my point was to show a technique for engraving stainless steel and add an additional effect with the blasting cabinet. Truthfully a sandblasting cabinet is a very nice tool for any shop, there are a lot of great techniques for using blast materials for finishing wood and adding very nice textures.

Before I go farther into laser engraving wood I wanted to make sure that I presented several pictures that contain other materials that can be combined in woodworking projects that can add contrast and interest to your projects.

[Steve Rozwood]

I like the contrast with the black on the bead blasted area.