Lasering wood - what is the best grain

[David Griffiths]

Hi all,
I've been playing with a few different types of wood here in Australia and am getting a bit frustrated with the varying results. I can't sseem to get the results you can achieve.

The wood you guys seem to have access to, lasers really well. I can get it here, but boy, there's a price attached to it !
Question is
1. Is a finer grain hardwood more suitable than say a soft pine type?
2. Should I sand back the courser type grain wood. (I've tried what I thought was smooth to no avail.)
3. How many passes do you normally make ?

I've attached results on a piece of Australian Oak and would appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks
Dave

[Mike Null]

Being unfamiliar with the wood varieties you have available I can't make a recommendation but here woods which engrave well are mostly hardwoods.

My favorites are mahogany, cherry, walnut, alder, cedar, redwood and many of the exotics. Maple engraves well but it is difficult to achieve a good contrast.

The various kinds of pine are hard to work with due to the varying density of the wood. This causes uneven engraving.

Oak, particularly red oak, is another somewhat difficult wood to engrave.

I also prefer to have the wood finished (shellac, varnish, etc.) before engraving as it aids in cleaning the residue from the engraving.

In the example you've shown I would think you might get a better result if you engraved across the grain. Just an opinion but I think the direction magnifies the uneveness of the grain with this wood. The picture quality is very good for engraving.

[Frank Corker]

I was just going to say pretty much the same. Oak, forget it, the laser will just blast big holes in it.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Dave I know little of engraving wood (or anything else), but, I do know a bit about wood and photo-printing.

Australian Oak (http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/oak,%20australian.htm), isn't (oak that is, it's an Eucalyptus), the uneven grain and figure (seen in both your photo and the ones I linked to) may make it less then satisfactory for engraving.

My bet would be, the best woods for engraving a photo would be; light colorered, tight grained woods, with little (or no) figure.

[Joe Pelonio]

Another option is to use whatever wood you like for the plaque and inlay some thin veneer with little or no figuring for the graphic.

[David Griffiths]

Thanks guys,
I'll try a few different things.
MIKE: - I've tried the other way and still get the same effect, so I'll give this type of wood a miss.

RALPH: I'm going to try JARRAH, our local hardwood, it has a tighter grain.

JOE: Something different that I hadn't thought of. Can you tell what you mean by "with little or no figuring for the graphic" please.

Thanks all for your help,
I'll post the jarrah deal when I've completed it

[Joe Pelonio]

Thanks guys,

JOE: Something different that I hadn't thought of. Can you tell what you mean by "with little or no figuring for the graphic" please.


In other words, very little or no grain, so that the detail in the graphic shows up well.

[Sandra Force]

My favorite woods to engrave are also the hardwoods with a tight grain. Did some teak and apple the other day and they both did well. I engrave both across the grain and with it depending on the results that I want. If I want a smmoth background I will go with the grain. For a textured look aginst the grain. Quite a bit of the wood engraving is 3D so I like against the grain. As far as very light wood like maple, I engrave that fairly deep and with a lot of air assist to put smoke into the engraving. Gives more contrast, I do it on raw wood and then pop with a sander and finish. It is a liitle more work but the look is very nice. Go to the local cabinet shop and pick their brains for wood types and scrapes to practice on. You can do an engraving in exchange for scraps and both of you will get something out of it. That will also give you an extremely valuable contact with wood.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Thanks guys,
...I'm going to try JARRAH, our local hardwood, it has a tighter grain.
....

Another variety of Eucalyptus (http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/jarrah.htm), but with less figure

[David Griffiths]

Thanks for the tip Sandra, I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Regards
Dave

[David Griffiths]

Hi Ralph,
We love our Eucalyptus (http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/jarrah.htm) down here ;)

Regards
Dave