Thanks for the info Alexis! I'll have to look at Ross and Marshall's since the place I was looking at with nice prices aren't so nice with shipping prices (small bottle of plastic cleaner - shipping $19, same bottle with a 5x7 cutting board: 32 shipping, and it only got worse from there), My last visit to Ross only had bamboo and one rather large acacia.

@nosferatuia I’m always preaching about how Ross and Marshall’s are fantastic places to score cutting boards. I haven’t really seen many at the TJ Maxx’s I’ve been to and only been to one Burlington Warehouse. I can’t really say I remember seeing anything but that was pre-laser so I wasn’t always looking for anything under the sun I could burn on lol. Thanks for the good info!

@vinny We have had a few people laser rubberwood here at the library and it seems to laser really well and produce nice color contrast with little smoke or smells. We have mostly Co2 Hobby Lasers here in our innovation labs and maker locations.

Here is a sample. Not the best design, but we only had 10 mins to laser it, and no spare material to test on. The bride loved it either way- but it is an example of how forgiving rubberwood can be in my opinion. This one is used decoratively so I am not sure about durability after being lasered.

You can find them at stores like TJ Maxx, Ross, and Burlingon for like $5-7 and sometimes less if they are on sale. I just make sure and try to find wood with the tags so I can have info to check against the MSDS.

@vinny you try that rubber wood yet?

@anthonym Yeah. Faster than the diode and these are too big for the fiber.

@vinny CO2?

I haven't tried one yet. Will prolly be ordering some in the very near future tho.

I have an end grain chopping block I think. Got it cheap at Ross

I don't have experience with them, but do have one in my box of things to test. Have you tried engraving one yet?