Woods and quality of engraving.

[Mike Null]

Some have had success in achieving greater contrast with light woods by engraving out of focus. I tend to use slower speed and higher dpi to increase the burn.

I dislike using maple, alder and birch due to the poor contrast. I refuse to engrave pine due to the great difference in the hardness of the spring and fall growth rings. Old growth yellow pine is an exception. Cedar and redwood are conifers which engrave nicely.

Ash, particularly in baseball bats, is hit or miss. (no pun intended)

[Josh Borlovan]

White oak and red oak can be quite tricky with the "open grain" characteristics. It will always have the harder "strings" throughout making it very tough to engrave. As a previous poster mentioned, it does vary depending on the way it is cut. Maple and cherry and such will certainly produce and much more even engraving and is almost a must when doing photographs on wood.