Looking for a Coaster Supplier

[David James]

I am looking for a supplier for table coasters, wood, glass, sandstone, and mirror, in both round and square. I have looked high and low; my purchase quantities would be kind of low, maybe 75-125 month. Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks so much, bye for now.

PS Just a Note: I have tried the marble coasters from laserbits, and I thought they turned out nicely.

[John Keeton]

David

Have you ever considered a rosette bit to cut your own coasters from wood, etc. See http://www.amanatool.com/boring/rosette.html It looks like you could get the blank bit and grind your own edge, etc. This may or may not be of help.

Most of the coasters one sees are the resin castings with a design cast into the piece. Does anyone know if the resin will engrave well? Maybe blank resin castings could be obtained from a source?

[Todd Schwartz]

David,

It may be worth your time to take a walk through your local Lowes or Home Depot tile department. Although will not meet all of your needs, I have found some glass and "field stone" tiles that have worked great.

Todd

[Sandra Force]

I would be using my laser to cut wood ones. I have had excellent luck with most hardwood at 1/8" to 1/4" cutting for them and then setting them in jigs to engrave. Did 800 maple last summer for a motor coach rally.

[Darren Null]

I do my own wood ones. For glass ones, my local glazier does it...they have a rotating cutter thingy (that's the technical term). So it's worth trying local places and asking. I get mine for 5 euros per 6. Make sure that bevelling the edges is included in the price though (our local guys do it by holding an angle grinder over the cut disc while the rotating cutter thingy is rotating.

And it's so much easier to wander down town and place an order for the next day, as opposed to messing around with paypal and postage and such.

EDIT: OR, you can substitute acrylic (mirrored or clear) for the glass and cut it yourself (and then you're not just stuck with 'round or square' as options).
Also, my local marble chap has a rotating cutter thingy that works on stone, but it's a lot more intimidating than the glass one.

[Tracey Bakewell]

I was looking for that recently too, more in the granite and marble world, here are a few URLs I came across...

www.hindostone.com (http://www.hindostone.com)
www.stoneycreekus.com (http://www.stoneycreekus.com)
www.visionsmfg.com (http://www.visionsmfg.com)
www.mds123.com (http://www.mds123.com)
www.webbcompany.com (http://www.webbcompany.com)

These are all through my promotional channel databases but it may help?
Tracey

[Nancy Laird]

David, wouldn't you know that within a few days of my tossing my info, someone would ask??????

Universal was engraving wood coasters at AWFS this summer. They are about 4-1/4" square, 1/4" thick with rounded edges, maple (may have been alder), with little vinyl "feet" on the bottom. I had visions of ordering a bunch to engrave with local school logos and priced them. They were running about $3.00 or $3.25 each, with minimum of 100, from the company that made them for Universal (as I recall, it was a company in Colorado). Universal special-ordered them and they are not a standard item for this company. Mike McKenzie (a member here and a rep for ULS) sent me the name of the company, which as I think about it more, it might have been Colorado Heirloom. http://www.coloradoheirloom.com/Tile%20Products.html

Just another suggestion/place to start.

Nancy (23 days)

[Mike Mackenzie]

Nancy,

That would be the place they have a very nice collection of wood products.

[Jeff Belany]

We cut lots of coasters. Use 3/16" wood, cut 4"x30" and laser art and then vector cut 7 coasters per strip. We buy cork in 36" wide rolls that has pressure sensitive adhesive. Sand to clean up the edges. Quite a bit of work so it's not the biggest profit maker but it allows us to use thin scrap from our sawmill which would otherwise go to waste.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Anthony Welch]

Ok, ..... most of you use wood as coasters. I'd like to also but putting cold glass' and such would leave a ring. What do you use to finish wood to keep this from happening?

Thanks!

[Chuck Esh]

Thought I would toss out what the coasters look like that I make as awards for our Club 40 Pylon Racing. (Radio Control Aircraft)

The size ranges from 4" for 1st place to 3.5" for the 3rd place and fastest time one.

As to what they are made from?

7mm laminate flooring from HD! (The cheap stuff!)

I cut them from the back, flip them over, place them back into the hole, raster the graphics and lettering, and then use black ink to fill in the engraving. Finally they get a 3/32" cork backing and clear coating on the edges to keep the black edge from rubbing off.

The race winners really like them.


Later!

[Keith Outten]

I am looking for a supplier for table coasters, wood, glass, sandstone, and mirror, in both round and square. I have looked high and low; my purchase quantities would be kind of low, maybe 75-125 month. Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks so much, bye for now.

PS Just a Note: I have tried the marble coasters from laserbits, and I thought they turned out nicely.

David,

If you need wood or Corian coasters I may be able to help you out and of course moisture isn't a problem for Corian which is also laser safe material.
.

[Marc Myer]

I've noticed a trend in coasters recently at a major tourist retailer here in HI.
Seems round coasters are becoming more popular, as they are small and easily carried in a suitcase. They retail for $6 and up. But the popular ones have cork on the front surface (not the back) and are laser engraved. Very nice, and simple too.
Are any of you making your own?

[Tom Delaney]

If you go to the HD - in the flooring section they have a display that has 3"x4" (or so,,, don't have one in front of me) cork flooring for samples at a buck a piece. They laser great. The only problem is that there is a foam cushion built into the middle layer (after all, it is for flooring). I just put some of the heat activated wood veneer on the sides and move on. Im amazed the 'super sleuth shopper' Steve hasn't found them yet! :D

[Larry Bratton]

Leather makes a good coaster. (in case we forget, a coaster is supposed to absorb moisture to keep it off the table surface) Leather engraves nicely too. I usually spray a product called Neatlac on it prior to lasering. Tandy did sell 3-1/4" rounds, but I found them to be somewhat irregular. They may have a different one now.

[Scott Shepherd]

Universal was engraving wood coasters at AWFS this summer. They are about 4-1/4" square, 1/4" thick with rounded edges, maple (may have been alder), with little vinyl "feet" on the bottom.

Nancy, I have one of those "coasters". I wouldn't spend any more on that plan if I were you. Sit a drink on it and let the moisture hit it. It bows like a banana. I had it on my desk for about a month. It warped so bad I had to stop using it. I just pulled it out of my desk, and it's got over a 1/8" bow in it.

Save yourself the cash and skip that idea.

[Nancy Laird]

Thanks for that info, Steve. I have two of them, but haven't really used them for drinks. But out here in New Mexico, we don't have the humidity problem that you have in Virginia, so glasses don't "sweat" like they do back there in Virginia. I'm not sure how much of a problem it would be here--I think I'll try using mine a little more and see how they hold up in our 25-30% humidity.

I do know what you are talking about--I lived in Virginia Beach for 8 years, and it was so bad that I'd be wetter getting out of the shower than I was while I was in it---and it took me 30 minutes to blow-dry my 2-3" hair in the summer. Mildewed towels, mildew in the shower, don't ever leave clothing in the washer overnight, etc. I'm so glad to be here!

[James Jaragosky]

As far as warping is concerned; some woods fair better than others.
I have a set of teak coasters that are 10 years old that we use regularly that have no warping.
anyone with a cnc router can make you some costers out of teak or Jatobá, Brazilian Cherry has a janka hardness rating of 2350. both should laser well and be fairly water restient.
let me know if this interests you and I can shoot you a price on a 100 or so.