Woods and quality of engraving.

[Clark Pace]

So,

I thought it would be cool if we had thread that had pictures of various engraved woods. As an example. I've never engraved white oak, and would like to know what it looks like engraved.

As soon as I get to my desktop I'll add a few pics of different woods that I have done. Like poplar, alder, pine.

So has anyone here engraved white oak?

[Mike Null]

Clark

Sometimes it's the way wood is cut that matters. Flat sawn red oak and ash can be problems whereas quartersawn woods of those varieties are rarely a problem.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

The challenge with engraving wood is you can engrave the exact same image, with the exact same settings on the same X type of wood. You will get two very different looks if one of those pieces has a finish on it and the other is bare wood. Each type of finish can create a whole different look to engraving.

[Clark Pace]

Good points, but I thought it would nice as a general idea. Like pine is soft, and does have some characteristics, that make it engrave very differently from a harder wood like alder. Some wood engrave darker, and some engrave lighter.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Old oak from VIR...

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[John Pletcher]

If you're looking to engrave pictures onto wood, I would stick with species like cherry, alder, or hard maple. They are great diffuse porous woods to use since the density is fairly consistent across the growth rings. Ring porous woods like the oaks are not good for pictures due to the larger cells in the spring wood portion, which will mask the details in pictures. Similar to ring porous woods, species like southern yellow pine where the density differs greatly across the growth rings will also cause degraded results with pictures.

[Dee Gallo]

Here are some examples of 3 different woods, engraved designs, not photos. Top 2 are cherry, middle is walnut, bottom is bird's eye maple. It helps to do tests with identical art to compare results.

They all have a simple poly finish (several coats, sanded) before engraving. No mask needed. Coat with dish soap, wash off shellac deposits with water in seconds.

Next is my sample/test rosewood piano finish plaque using photos. I recommend doing and keeping tests like this for your future reference, as you WILL forget settings after doing hundreds of jobs. The reason the "ZANE B&W" looks weird is because I put some green paint fill on it and then removed it.

[Steve Busey]

One of my favorite wood to engrave is Sapele, which has an awesome black burn. Here's one that didn't fit in my laser!

[Clark Pace]

Here are 3 examples from me the last image is pine. Had to hit it really heard to get the contrast on pine
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[Kev Williams]

I'll say it: In most cases, oak is horrible to engrave, because of the grain.

I etched a 12 x 18" stainless memorial plaque that turned out beautiful...

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The customer loved it, and wanted one in wood, and brought me this piece of oak...

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The customer love this one too, but I didn't. The different shades of the grain ruined it IMO...

FWIW, I have great luck photo engraving stainless, black anodized aluminum and 2-colored plastics.
Haven't had enough practice on wood, clear plastics and glass. (too busy with paying jobs to experiment!)

[David Somers]

Kev,

Was the SS piece directly etched? Cermarked? I assume with your Triumph 80 Watt?

Dave

[Mark Ward]

I have just done a pine wine box for someone but I'm not sure I'm that happy with the results, it's the first one I've tried.
I didn't think it would be so light and dark throughout the engraving, have I maybe gone too deep or is that about as good as to be expected from it?
This was the source of the box: http://www.wbc.co.uk/wooden-box-1-bottle-sliding-lid-economy-range?sc=64&category=93481

100p 85s on my 80w Speedy 300.
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[Mike Null]

I never volunteer to do images on wood, or even text for that matter. The customer has to twist my arm. If I have to engrave wood my preferences are mahogany and cherry because of the consistency of the wood and more even grain patterns.

Here are two customers pieces, one in red oak made by the judge who was a woodworker and one in cherry for a new retail business. Both color filled.

[Martin James]

Hin Dee, Are the rose wood pictures you posted paint filled? or does that wood turn white? thanks marty

[Dan Hintz]

I didn't think it would be so light and dark throughout the engraving, have I maybe gone too deep or is that about as good as to be expected from it?
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I prefer tight-grained woods for engraving, mainly because open-grained varieties (many pines are an example of such a grain) tend to muddy the final picture.

While a few won't give you a good contrast, if you're seeing major differences, you need to look at your power levels for the wood you're working with. Light woods, such as balsa, will be blown away with high power... good for deep engraving, but not much contrast. If you slow things down and lower the power level, it will give the wood a chance to "cook" and give a darker color. If you want depth and color, you may need to do a high-power run for depth, followed by a second slower, low-power run for color.

[Mike Null]

Some have had success in achieving greater contrast with light woods by engraving out of focus. I tend to use slower speed and higher dpi to increase the burn.

I dislike using maple, alder and birch due to the poor contrast. I refuse to engrave pine due to the great difference in the hardness of the spring and fall growth rings. Old growth yellow pine is an exception. Cedar and redwood are conifers which engrave nicely.

Ash, particularly in baseball bats, is hit or miss. (no pun intended)

[Josh Borlovan]

White oak and red oak can be quite tricky with the "open grain" characteristics. It will always have the harder "strings" throughout making it very tough to engrave. As a previous poster mentioned, it does vary depending on the way it is cut. Maple and cherry and such will certainly produce and much more even engraving and is almost a must when doing photographs on wood.