White Oak advice

[pete hagan]

I have to burn 20 white oak barrel heads tomorrow and my test tonight on a raw piece provided from the client gave me a very good engraving however there was an awful lot of resin flashing out and falling back to the wood. I was able to remove the resin with solvent, dry and then sand the wood clean leaving a great looking image. A quick coat of clear laquer and I'll see what I have in a few minutes.

MY QUESTION
Is it the normal course of business to work on a "finished" surface, ie laser the laquered finish and touch up any flashed out resin or to work raw and finish as I did? Anyone have experience burning oak and what would you suggest. I appreciate any suggestions.

[Margaret Turco]

I don't have personal experience, but others on the board have said in the past that they finish the wood first and it makes cleanup a lot faster. The finish masks the unlasered areas.

[Skip Weiser]

Hi Pete,

Is there any chance that you could use the blue med. tack painters tape over the area to be engraved? I love that stuff. All the residue will go on the tape and not on the wood. Peel it off and you are done, no clean up required.

Skip

[pete hagan]

I though about just using vinyl application tape as that would be easy but I didn't know if that was a no-no or not.

Pete

[Bill Cunningham]

ost wood is finished, with a good coat of whatever to seal the surface.. I don't know much about white oak, but if it's anything like regular oak a surface finish may not be enough.. Sign makers, transfer tape (it's paper with a low, med., or high tack) can be put over the finished wood, and lasered through.. When done, just peal it off and your done.. If the surface is sanded smooth and clean beforehand, you probably won't even have to finish it before putting on the tape.. I get mine free from the sign maker next door.. It's all end rolls, no good to her, but a gold mine for me..

[Mike Null]

White oak is far superior to red oak for engraving. With all wood I like to have a finish on it before engraving for easier cleanup.

White oak shouldn't present any serious challenges even if you don't prefinish.