This is a response to the following comments made in awsum's project
SplinterGroup ..... but I also had the same issue with color in the pores. Nothing like sanding it until the pores disappear or the veneer is sanded away. ..... SplinterGroup ..... I finally decided to cover panels with tape before etching and filling the framing pattern. At least it kept the gook out of the pores, but then you loose that "antiquing". Still had to sand so removing the tape wouldn't pull out the fill, but made it fun to see the panel get exposed. Just like opening a gift.....
that may better suit this dedicated laser thread.
Instead of "normal masking tape", I use this dedicated laser masking tape, The "normal tape" on top is to give an indication of its size. Up front, it may be a tad shekel heavy, however. compared to normal masking tape it is much cheaper when measure by coverage. It will cover large ares in one lay and it's not too tacky to lift delicate pieces (eg. veneers, laminates, marquetry). I'm not the greatest fan of tape as if you engrave complex text/images, bits of tape is left behind (like the centre of an "O"for example) that have to be either manually removed or sanded off and heavy tape requires heavy sanding that may compromise the depth of the engraving.... I engrave a lot.
I have been put onto this fantastic alternative, I applied 3 spatula coats of the AquaCoat onto a rough piece of unsanded merbau. I didn't sand between coats and let it build up over the rough timber to see if it had any affect on the laser's performance... alweays been hesitant about introduced stuff, as my laser would cut concrete like butter in comparison to Timbermate.
I chose merbau as it had some deep heavy grain with lots of black in some of the grain. I deliberately left it unsanded to gauge the coats affect. I had a batch of hardened red filler made up from natural Timbermate and some Chinese red food colouring... that stuff they use on char siu... I reconstituted it with a bit of water and a lot of elbow grease, just don't get it on your fingers (or thumb) or clothes, as that bugga won't wash off.
Engraved the merbau and applied a base coat of the filler and a second coat to fill any voids missed. Wasn't overly careful to keep as close to the engraving as possible and I overlapped the circumference by at least 10mm all round as can be seen in the filler in the pores of the 2nd picture... both were done the same.
Hit it with 240G on my ROS after drying... with our heat, it didn't take long and voila. 1. With the AquaCoat, 2. Raw timber, 3. Duet, you b the, I found that with merbau, the more you sand the more deeper grain gets exposed... you may smooth it a bit, but never eradicate... The dark area on the left is the remains of the AquaCoat in the unsanded depressions after the light sanding to remove the excess backfiller... has not affected the natural look/characteristics of the timber.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
