When all else fails...read the instructions!

[Edi Royer]

I've had pretty good luck engraving photos on wood so far. Nothing special, just digital photos lasered with little editing. Then I got a request from a friend at work and he emailed me the photo and away I went. This was the result...IMG_2036E.jpg
It was AWEFUL! I hated that I had just ruined a plaque and didn't want to keep trying with no success...so off to do my homework I went. I found a great tutorial at engrave.ca and I tried it again with their suggestions. And here is the final result...IMG_2047E.jpg

It just goes to show...when all else fails, read the instructions

[Dee Gallo]

Good save, Edi! Hopefully you can just sand down the other one and it will be ready for the next job.

I don't know, though.... reading the instructions is pretty radical, don't you think?

cheers, dee

[Edi Royer]

Thanks Dee
I've already got the "mistake" off to a friend to be sanded/planed down to use again.
I'm usually a trial and error gal, but I didn't want to have to go through 10 plaques before I got it right...sometimes the instructions are the way to go

[oscar martinez]

Edi some times When I have a unique piece of wood or marble is good to make a test on a similar but cheap material. Another option is cover your plaque with regular blue masking tape and lower the power and increase the speed it will give you a close image of the final result( just enoug power to get a white image on the tape no to burn the tape). If the engraving comes out ok on the tape the lower the risk to make a mistake on your piece to be engraved .Also you already achieve your final results do the same engraving in the blue tape that will give you an idea on what is going to look before engraving on the final material and use that info for future projects.

[Martin Boekers]

I tend to save some of these mistakes and use them for testing.
One mistake can be used many times over.

Did I said I make mistakes?

[Chuck Stone]

REAL men don't need directions

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Looks much better Edi. Do you ever do any test engravings on scrap wood? I find it's much easier to test on scrap poplar or plywood first and get a basic idea of how it will engrave before I actually engrave it on a finished wood product. Once I'm finished with the scrap board, it ends up in the fireplace as it makes great kindling.

[Dan Hintz]

You learned faster than I did, Edi... I spent several days trying all kinds of things, but nothing seemed to make it work. It wasn't until I stepped back and thought about what was really going on until it hit me what I needed to do. A couple of more tries and I had it.

[Bill Cunningham]

I've had pretty good luck engraving photos on wood so far. Nothing special, just digital photos lasered with little editing. Then I got a request from a friend at work and he emailed me the photo and away I went. This was the result...It was AWEFUL! I hated that I had just ruined a plaque and didn't want to keep trying with no success...so off to do my homework I went. I found a great tutorial at engrave.ca and I tried it again with their suggestions. And here is the final result...

It just goes to show...when all else fails, read the instructions

Mike Clarke (engrave.ca) has been in the laser business for quite a while now,(I bought mine from him) and has a very informative site. His Father was one of the first engraving supply salesmen that visited me when I opened my business in 1989, and Mike carried on with his marketing company when his father retired.

[Edi Royer]

I will definitely be using scraps from now on. I was having pretty good luck up til this, so I didn't see the need to use scrap for this project. Just goes to show that each project is different and needs a trial run first.
Thanks for your comment