(Cheating at this step yields yucky/uneven results.) And that’s it! Give it a whirl and see how it looks compared to the same burn on untreated wood.Ĥ. Now let the material sit overnight so that it’s completely dry. (Hot water helps dissolve the powder.) When dissolved, brush/spray the material with the solution, giving it a light coat. Baking Soda/Borax treatment - mix in 1 part of either of these with 10 parts hot water. These also allow for high speed and lower power burns without loss of detail.ģ. This is a really good idea if using slices, which have probably not been sanded at all.Ģ.Pretreatments - There are a few tricks you can do to get the engraving to be extra black from the get go instead of the usual brown. Some 400-600 grit sandpaper will help smooth out the surface of your material so you can get a more even burn. Plywood that shifts in color will also show color shifts in the burned image.īefore getting started on the image work, take some time to consider what you can do to the material itself to make it more compliant to what you want to do.ġ.Sanding - Remember that bit above about being flat? This can help. For example, if you’re using unprocessed slices (literally a slice of a tree), rings of different colors will show up in the burn and the core will have an exploded look. Patterns in the wood will have different burn characteristics. Just expect that and learn to compensate when needed. So, what worked on this bit may be a little off on the next bit. Even the same type can vary from section to section, sheet to sheet, etc.

I tend to tape thin plywood (1-6mm) around the edges if I have a warped piece, convex side down, which is often with cheap materials.ĭifferent types of wood can have very different characteristics when it comes to engraving/cutting. If it’s warped, then you need to work out a way to make it flat. For the impatient, see the Quick Version down at the bottom. This lesson is to help you put in less garbage and get something great out. As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. But it’s very unlikely that it will be a great result. Sure, anyone can toss an image into their burning software of choice and get a result, maybe even a good result. Time for a quick(ish) lesson in photo engraving. Get yourself some waste material, the cheap stuff, and see what happens.” - Me You * will* have failures, and that’s both ok and normal.

“This is 5% doing, and 95% mucking around and finding out.

Easy way to do dilutions