Just a simple question for those that do this,
What does everyone use to treat the wood they etch on? I am looking at doing family pics for Christmas presents and am experimenting at the moment.
Would love to hear what the community uses.
-Rocket
Are you talking pre or post engraving? I know some people have used different treatments beforehand (baking soda, borax, etc.) but I personally haven’t found a need for it.
A lot of it depends on what you’re using it for and what you want it to look like.
Any of the usual wood finishes work - danish oil, polyurethane, shellac, varnish, wax, stains etc.
If you’re using something as a cutting board you’ll want to make sure it’s food safe. Food-safe mineral oil works well.
Are you trying to protect it and keep the wood from aging and changing color?
If I was just doing engraved photos that I’m just trying to protect I would probably just use spray poly or shellac.
-S
What are the standard settings to etch in Luban on wood.
There aren’t really standard settings.
It depends on the type of wood, the particular piece of wood, the image being engraved, the personal preference of the user for how dark they want it, if you want it to be dark but barely burned, or scorched and deep. Some projects barely burned is perfect and others a deep char is what you’re going for. If you’re doing a photo it’s going to be more particular than just a logo. The different modes also react differently.
I like to run a test where I take a small section of my image (say 10-15mm square) and duplicate it in Luban a half dozen or more times. I then set a range of speeds or power and run it. Pick which one I like best and then decide if I’m good with that or want to run it again with a narrower range. Generally with wood I’ll almost always use 100% power (want it to be fast as possible) and then speeds from 400 to 2500.
Some tips;
Faster and/or less power = lighter
Slower and/or higher power = darker
Density also affects darkness - higher = darker (but also more detail. But only to a certain point where the burning may overlap/bleed)
Multiple passes faster at lower power will give less bleed/char (cleaner edges) and still result in same exposure as single pass at slower speed.
You can always run additional passes to make things darker. (Make sure you keep track of work origin because it doesn’t save between jobs. I take a picture on my phone)
-S
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