Frank Corker
12-23-2007, 9:59 PM
Well I thought I might share what I was asked to do in time for Christmas. These were going to be gifts for relatives from the two little girls used on the items.
First up was a stainless steel hip flask. The small round disk on the right of the flask is one of those collapsable cups that flick out.
Second was a set of six stainless steel coasters.
Third was going to be the simplest job, but subsequently proved to be the hardest of the lot. I was using Thuya wood, which is a beautiful aromatic wood from Morocco. It's a burl wood and the wood used is actually underground most of it's life until it is cut down. The wood actually engraves beautifully and has a gorgeous aroma to it. The problem came when I tried engraving the picture of the two girls onto it. It engraved fantastic, only problem was that the little 'black eyes' in the wood structure made the kids look like they had some sort of weird exotic disease.
So, by this time and in my mind, it was going to be a challenge. Write the piece off as a bad job or turn it into a labour of love. I hate waste and I decided that although I would not get the money for the time spent it was now a matter of pride. I decided to engrave the picture onto a slightly off white piece of 3mm acrylic. Unfortunately although 3mm would not have been my first choice, it was all I had that could possibly do. Using a bit of skill, I deftly created a pattern for the box in Corel, marked out an hexagonal shape that would cover the engraved image.
I engraved the acrylic and filled it with black acrylic paint. No problems. Then I started on the box. I lined up the box, put a piece of clear acrylic over the top and engraved the hexagonal shape so that I could be able to line the piece up exactly. Then came some heavy duty engraving. 600 dpi at 100 power 20 speed. Six or seven runs and I was down to 3mm. As you can see from the photos, it was quite a spectacular engraving, loads of burning and flames As I'm sure all of you that have engraved deeply will know that ridges appear all over the place as the laser blasts it's way through the softer laser in the wood and only touches on the harder. I then had to carefully remove the raised parts using a chisel and a bit of sandpaper. Applied a contact adhesive and the insert popped right in.
Hard work, time consuming, but my oh my, what a lovely result!
First up was a stainless steel hip flask. The small round disk on the right of the flask is one of those collapsable cups that flick out.
Second was a set of six stainless steel coasters.
Third was going to be the simplest job, but subsequently proved to be the hardest of the lot. I was using Thuya wood, which is a beautiful aromatic wood from Morocco. It's a burl wood and the wood used is actually underground most of it's life until it is cut down. The wood actually engraves beautifully and has a gorgeous aroma to it. The problem came when I tried engraving the picture of the two girls onto it. It engraved fantastic, only problem was that the little 'black eyes' in the wood structure made the kids look like they had some sort of weird exotic disease.
So, by this time and in my mind, it was going to be a challenge. Write the piece off as a bad job or turn it into a labour of love. I hate waste and I decided that although I would not get the money for the time spent it was now a matter of pride. I decided to engrave the picture onto a slightly off white piece of 3mm acrylic. Unfortunately although 3mm would not have been my first choice, it was all I had that could possibly do. Using a bit of skill, I deftly created a pattern for the box in Corel, marked out an hexagonal shape that would cover the engraved image.
I engraved the acrylic and filled it with black acrylic paint. No problems. Then I started on the box. I lined up the box, put a piece of clear acrylic over the top and engraved the hexagonal shape so that I could be able to line the piece up exactly. Then came some heavy duty engraving. 600 dpi at 100 power 20 speed. Six or seven runs and I was down to 3mm. As you can see from the photos, it was quite a spectacular engraving, loads of burning and flames As I'm sure all of you that have engraved deeply will know that ridges appear all over the place as the laser blasts it's way through the softer laser in the wood and only touches on the harder. I then had to carefully remove the raised parts using a chisel and a bit of sandpaper. Applied a contact adhesive and the insert popped right in.
Hard work, time consuming, but my oh my, what a lovely result!