What's the best timber to burn on

[Roy Nicholson]

It's probably been discussed in the forum hundred of times but a search brouht me no results.


I'm in Australia and I am havong diofficulties finding supplies at a reasonable price.

I can get Luan ply bit it really does not give a pleasing result.

I can get some veneers on MDF buty they start at $170 plus a sheet
8' x 4' or 2400 x 1200 I asked if they had any swatches that I could test and got the proverbial brush off...


Could I please pick your brains and then I can at least buy a sheet of a veneer that may be suitable.

The 3mm veneers available are

American Cherry
American Oak
Brush Box
Euro Beech
Jarrah
Tasmanian Blackwood
Tasmanian Oak
Radiata Pine

I'd appreciate some guidance form your experience


Regards


Roy N.

[Joe Pelonio]

Wow, are the price because the trees are not native to your area?

Of those listed, the first two I have used with no problems, solid and veneer on mdf or plywood core. Any mahogany can be a problem, especially African which will burn with flame and not cut. While I have never used (or seen) Tasmanian Oak or Radiata Pine, I have had good success with other oaks and pines.
Have you tried looking for stock at the hobby/craft stores? Here we normally find basswood and balsa there, balsa is too soft to be useful but basswood is great for many projects. They also may have birch ply at those stores here.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Roy;
Trust all is well down under. My choices:
Best all around laser engraving and cutting wood is alder-very common on the USA west coast but tough to find in veneered form as ply or with MDF base-at least on the East Coast.
Best engraving-contrast/speed:
Alder
American cherry
Butternut-also known as white walnut
Hard maple
red oak-better filled and finished
luan mahogany- good to poor, many species
santosa mahogany

Easiest Cutting
walnut
mahogany
soft maple
poplar
American cherry
alder
butternut

Woods with high oil content (ebony, coco bolo, certain rosewood, and many south/latin american species) are difficult to cut as flaring occurs.
Ebony, by far, is the worst.
It is interesting to note that some softwoods are more difficult to cut than some hardwoods-depends on molecular structure of wood more than density.
best regards
george
Laserarts

[Roy Nicholson]

Many thanks for yor imput. I have no idea why our prices are so high. I can get a sheet of 8 x 4 luan ply for less than $30 dollars but although it will burn...it really does not look as good as I'd like. I'll take a photo and attach it.

Not the best photos I'm afraid but you'll see the results I'm getting.

I might try a bit of radiata pine ply and see how that burns.

Regards and Thanks

Roy N.

[Frank Corker]

Roy, most woods tend to engrave very nicely, I personally find mahogany works well for me even though it can splinter when it's carved. That said, how many mahogany woods are there?

You will find that your picture engraves better if the grain runs vertically, you might want to try that. The mahogany veneers look fantastic but can splinter just when you don't need them to. Best way of doing veneering is to put tape over the back of the piece that you cutting, keeps it in place until you are ready to glue them in place.

These pictures are mahogany and bog standard pine. Both engrave and cut very well as can be seen with the pine.

[Ray Mighells]

Frank, you have a great touch.

[Frank Corker]

If I give you my home telephone number will you ring my wife and tell her that? :confused:

[David Fairfield]

Nice work Frank! I wish more people would show their work here, the talent I've seen so far is amazing!

Agree on Alder, by the way, the results are spectacular. Luan is awful stuff. I'll be looking at pine again after seeing Frank's work.

Dave

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Guys;
To clarify, there is luan, and luan, and then there's luan, and some other stuff called luan. Point is that a lot of stuff is sold under the luan "label", but ,basically, it's a very common form of mahogany. Some of it lasers great and some lousy, with every variation in between.
If you buy it in the plywood form it may cut poorly because of the glue used, not because of the veneer surface.
Most solid mahogany laser engraves and cuts beautifully-and is cheaper than alder on the East Coast-damned if I know why. I use a lot of 1/8" luan surface plywood-not too hard to find but you have to ask for it- and some of it is crap, but cheap enough that it doesn't matter much.
best regards,
george
LaserArts

[Roy Nicholson]

I'll try and swing the grain around and give it another try Fran.

I've been using the grain horizontally.

I've done some today...just text with avector cut making some coasters.

It worked well with a little scorching on the cut and a slight scorching on a potion of the text towards the bottom of tghe coasters...which would be towards the centre of the laser.

Quite happy with it...this still sold as luan but looks slightly different to the other sheet that I had bought...I'll nknow what to look for next time I buy a sheet and at a little under $14.00 for an 8 x 4 sheet I'm happy with teh result.

I'll try some photos woih it in the next day or so.

I see your an ex police officer Frank...I was in the Victorian force over here for seventeen years after a six year stint with the Royal Corps of Signals in the UK. I had to get out about ten years ago.

Regards


Roy N.

[Frank Corker]

I see your an ex police officer Frank...I was in the Victorian force over here for seventeen years after a six year stint with the Royal Corps of Signals in the UK. I had to get out about ten years ago

I recognised that from your spelling!


:) :)

[Angus Hines]

Hey frank wanna share those background patterns? The scales and the other one??