Anyone ever engraved soapstone?

[Tom Cullen]

Hi all,
has anyone tried to engrave soapstone and onix? I was wondering what results you got and what settings you used. I have a 30watt explorer.

Thanks
Tom

[Jeff Chumbley]

I have seen somewhere in my searches where soapstone was engraved. It looked real nice but if it gets wet you can lose the image

[Jack Harper]

I have engraved it many times. I like to cut it on my waterjet as it cuts like butter and gives a great honed edge finish. I use 100% power (65w) and 100 IPS speed. Jeff was right though, any sealers such as oil, as is commonly used on soapstone, will homogenize the image. You may want to use a color fill.

[Belinda Barfield]

Seconding what the others have said so far. It is also a very soft stone and scratches easily. The etching will wear away eventually if handled a lot. If not sealed (which destroys the visibility of the imaged unless it is colorfilled) it will absorb the oil from your hands over time. It is very easy to work with regular router bits so it is easy to shape and edge. One good thing, it's also easy to sand down so if you make a mistake you can just resurface, and reuse. :)