Earring Edges Getting Charred

Beyond the Manual
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Hello!
I have done lots of trial and error and am finally able to cut and score my pet stud earrings successfully! I’m not sure if there is anything that can be done about this, but the sides of the earrings are very charred, they are completely black. I am wondering if there is anything I can do to make the sides show the different shades of the brown wood instead of looking so charred.

The wood I am using is .125" bamboo wood from inventables, and then for the settings I chose on the Glowforge are:
Thin Maple Veneer
Cut: 155/100
Score: 125/1

Thanks for your help!

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Bamboo tends to char very badly. You can try tossing the parts in a bag of salt to knock most of the char off, but some materials char more than others. Chipboard is another bad one.

(Support won’t offer assistance with non-Proofgrade materials so I’m going to shift your post to the Beyond the Manual section so that you can hear from some of the other customers.) :slightly_smiling_face:

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For the most part the act of cutting through the wood with heat will char what does not evaporate. That part is pretty much unavoidable. The char is not as strong as wood so some can be removed with a tight wire brush and a bit of sanding, though that small may be difficult and time consuming, Another means is bleach or ammonia (but not both!) that could lighten the burn. Another alternative is a tumbler with salt or fine media. I bought one to use with salt but the salt has some very big limitations on what I was doing though it might benefit the size stuff you are doing.

The things you are doing could benefit greatly from Proofgrade maple as the surface is finished and it is thin enough to have the dark sides be less obtrusive, It should also be stronger in those sizes than bamboo.

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Are those the barest minimum settings you can use to cut through the bamboo? If you can dial back at all, it would help. You can enter the settings manually. But my experience with bamboo (minimal, granted) wasn’t great. I think I used 200/90 for bamboo.

You probably saw this post, but… Settings Help - Can't seem to find Other users using similar materials

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The downside of cutting with fire is scorch marks :slight_smile:

Some folks have had great luck with Windex wipes: Windex wipes = magic scorch remover

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Testing is simple but as @jules said, bamboo is known to char. (Cork is bad that way too)

Try maple and yellow heart and walnut. Much less char with good settings.

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Also fluoresces under UV lights that could look cool where one was hanging about where there was black lights.

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Thanks for the advice! I’m looking at Cherry Wood as it’s close to the color I’m after. Do you think this one would have less charring as well?

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Thank you! I just tried some windex and it does seem to help!

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I use 90% alcohol and a magic erase to remove scorch marks. Very little of the alcohol will absorb into the wood becasue it’s such a low water content.

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Yeah cherry has nicely caramelized edges.

I may have a pic, let’s see.

Ok no pic of the edges but you can kind of see in this video of this box, which is stacked slices of cherry finished with polyurethane:

The edges are dark but not char, more like an enamel, which you see with maples and the other woods I mentioned.

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I’ve cut a lot of hard maple (wood, not plywood) lately and using the same settings the edges vary from a warm brown to a darker brown. So even using the same wood, from the same board, will give you varying shades of brown.

The color of the edges varies with settings, so fiddle with those, but even with the same settings expect some variation.

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