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View Full Version : More results with cherry wood



Ray Mighells
02-16-2008, 9:03 PM
Hi y'all, I've been trying different things to try to improve results on Black Cherry. You all probably already know that a hard finish on the wood makes a difference in the results compared to an unfinished surface. Course sanding will lase darker than smooth sanding and figuring also has a effect. I mention this because of the recent talk of publishing a reference aid for machines, settings, and materials. Personally, I would welcome such an aid as a reference for materials I haven't tried and a starting point for other stuff. The settings you use will still be your best guess. Back to the Cherry . I tried bleaching the wood and it made a pretty striking difference. The bleach raised the grain a bit and I didn't sand over the bleach. I don't know if it is darker because of the treated wood or possibly the chemical residue in the wood. This wood will keep its color better than the natural since the patina will be masked by the bleached surface. Black Cherry naturally turns dark red over time. These pics are all 9x9" with a 72 dpi photo. The bleached one required more speed and less power than the 2d one.

Mark Winlund
02-17-2008, 11:12 AM
There are some unusual aspects that affect how dark the engraving looks as well. With small lettering, the deeper you go, the darker it looks, because light gets "lost" down in there. On the Universal, increasing the "throughput" helps also. The head moves farther with each scan line, creating little valleys that the light gets "lost" in (absorbed). Examination under a microscope will show this easily. Those two changes will make small lettering look black, almost.

Mark