First try at a cutting board from scratch. Got some maple planks from ocooch, cut, rounded the ends, sanded, oiled, waxed. Don't like the engrave tho, gonna have to work on that. Maybe I'll find something in Boyce's settings.
@vinny Maple is funny. I've only messed with it a little bit using my diode lasers, and it gave me a light toasted brown color. Not nearly as dark as I would like. Once my new lasers (CO2 and non-MOPA fiber) have been delivered and I've set them up I'll give maple wood the same testing regimen as I did with bamboo with diode and CO2. That will hopefully yield some settings that are usable, and hopefully a couple of nice tutorials to be posted here and on LMA.
I also recall from the livestream this past Tuesday (October 24) that maple was one of the hardwood species that was challenging to engrave darkly. Oak and Walnut engraved, but not darkly at all. My personal experience with Acacia is that it is also a species that takes engraving well, but the engraving is not dark at all.
I use the mineral oil specifically for cutting boards as I have a gallon of "food grade" mineral oil I got from Amazon and many people use it to maintain their boards. I personally like to use a paste I make with organic coconut oil and bees wax but have never treated a board with it prior to burning so I cannot recommend it.
When I engrave wood, I generally cover it first with release paper that one would use for lifting and placing vinyl letters (cheap and works great). Be sure to smooth it down. Well with a squeegee because air bubbles will keep your wood from staying clean. Sometimes I’ll use the orange film from PhotoBrasive, or the red film from Rayzist Photomask for the same purpose. Both of these take paint better if you were going to do so.
As for cleaning, alcohol is my general go-to in my workshop, but not for wood. For wood, if it is untreated, you can usually clean it pretty well with water or hydrogen peroxide, but it must be done within 15 minutes of engraving the wood. I’ve never heard of the oil trick, but I will say that if you were going to varnish or treat the wood with something that dries, these finishes help tremendously with the clean up afterwards. Of course, a light sanding may also work, but you don’t want to let those resins soak into the wood too long.
@anthonym it was drenched with oil. The next one I may try tape and paint fill or just tape. We'll see prolly tomorrow. I also upped the power setting a bit. Oh, the above is also after hitting it with alcohol and lightly sanding it.
I also recall from the livestream this past Tuesday (October 24) that maple was one of the hardwood species that was challenging to engrave darkly. Oak and Walnut engraved, but not darkly at all. My personal experience with Acacia is that it is also a species that takes engraving well, but the engraving is not dark at all.