Has anyone engraved rocks from the Caribbean? I have a client who wants the date of their wedding engraved on a rock from they got from there. She doesn’t have another one so it’s one and done and I really don’t want to screw it up. It looks pretty porous.
thanks
Got a pic of the rock? May be able to tell what kind it is.
In general rocks engrave well and turn white. This makes it tough to get an engrave on a lighter-colored rock, you end up with white on white stone and the contrast isn’t great.
Therefore If the rock is darker color it’s generally more successful.
Almost looks like pumice, if it floats it is. I have a piece, I’ll see what happens…
That looks like coquina rock. Pumice is volcanic and usually black, this looks like it might be an amalgam of seashells and lime. It’s probably going to engrave white on white and be tough to see. Worth a shot but personally I wouldn’t expect a great result.
Hmm, I’ve never seen black pumice. You may be thinking of Scoria, which is also igneous and occurs in darker shades. All the pumice I’ve ever seen is light colored.
Here is a piece I collected in the Caribbean…
Colloquially known to divers, beachcombers, and locals as ‘Beach Potatoes’ because they float and wash up on shore.
Here is a test using proofgrade settings for cut and engrave. The engrave bleaches to white, but is still discernable. This was done on a Basic machine.
This piece is about the size of a silver dollar.
If that rock floats it’s pumice.
Interesting. Also pumice, but more properly scorcia:
Learn something new every day, guess it comes in many colors.
Coquina rock:
Starting to think you’re right about it being pumice. The original pic isn’t the highest res but I don’t see chunks of shell in there when I zoom as much as it’ll let me.
I must have missed “pumice “ in the materials list. 
Yeah, just anticipating the next question. I thought of BTM, but I wanted to respond in the OP thread… plus I didn’t specify a material setting. 
If it doesn’t float it might be sandstone:
and if it is, it also gets lighter with engraving, though this person found that if they covered it with masking it burned dark - in either case you’re going to want to shellac it or equivalent so it doesn’t fall off.
I’ve engraved some stones and have found if they don’t show well to mask them then spray them with clear coat and then spray with paint…the clear coat seals it so it doesn’t absorb the paint. I’m sure you’ll have to experiment! Let us know how it does.
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