I'm planning a project (wedding card box) that I will be having some laser engraving done. I will be having this part done by someone who does projects for my local hardwood source. I don't know much about lasers and want to select a wood type that will work best for engraving the name of the bride and groom. My initial thoughts were cherry or white oak. Looking for recommendations. Thanks!
I would think a closed/tight grain like cherry or maple would give a sharper laser line. Some woods (like pine) with distinct early/late season growth rings can have different densities which can make for consistency issues. White oak may or may not have this issue.
I'll see if I can run a test today as I have plenty of WO and cherry scraps. Is there a finely detailed design involved or just some lettering? Also would be good to know if there are largish areas that get filled (engraved).
Based on what was available, I went with hard maple. Pretty board that is about 10 inch wide. Still working through my design, but thinking beveled corners with walnut splines, hinged lid that features some figured walnut, and then their names on the front face. Need to find some nice simple hardware to hold the top open during and then latch for later use as a memory box.
Splintergroup - thank you for those test runs!! I thought oak might be too "rough" or grainy. The cherry example is nice. The place I went didn't have any cherry that had the right color and dimensions so I went with maple. I think including walnut accents will be good. Just found out another nephew got engaged, so who knows if I'll be building multiple!
I didn't let the white paint dry enough for my last lettering test, made a mess.
So I just sprayed a piece of cherry with shellac and did a deeper engraving Black is good, but let's try some paint. Had a can of "gold" so I sprayed and let this dry over night. Could have used another coat. Now to re-sand, shellac kept the paint out of the cherry.