Yes. It probably would have been separate anyway, since the paths weren’t combined. It didn’t end up making much difference, I just thought it might result in slightly different engraving colors and add some interest. 
0.5”
Hmm, I wonder if you could 3d etch this weathered texture into other materials?
1 Like
Ooh! I don’t see why not. A grayscale image of it should work as a depth map, shouldn’t it? Want me to send you some photos of blank sections to play with? Better yet, maybe I can dust off my old flat bed scanner and see if it still works. (Later, though; I’ve got Gkid today and she’s graduating to a new belt color in karate this morning. )
I’ve got two 6’ by 8’ panels of old cedar fence sitting out back (getting even more aged!) once I use up the stack of a dozen or so 2’ pieces I had stashed away for crafts, so I need to think of a lot more stuff to do with it!
3 Likes
Thanks! I spent a couple of hours trying to come up with some sort of design element to add to the plain text before I spotted the knot and decided to use it as one, instead. It’s actually the back side of a failed etch where a slight warp in the wood made it just a hair too high for the laser and it got pushed around by the head so I had to abort it.* So it’s not something I’d give anyone else, but it’s just fine for my own front porch. I’ll just mount it with screws so the back won’t be visible!
*Which is why the thing published just prior to this was my X-Risers!
3 Likes
Hope you aren’t upset but I took your photo, healed out the text and border, made a Photoshop bump map, adjusted the levels a bit and sent it through as a 3D engrave on a piece of Baltic birch.
17 Likes
WHAT! 
I don’t even know, this is some woodception level stuff going on right here.
5 Likes
I’m trying to see in my head whether it would be best to age and then design, or design and then age. You’d end up with different effects: if you did your design and then aged, you would age your design, I believe. If you aged the board and then did your design, it would look newer/fresher. Or combine the texture into your design and you could have a multitude of different effects!
I should also mention that I took out anything pure white (so the entire surface would be engraved at least a bit) and set the min power to 5 instead of zero.
7 Likes
Can you soak one end of that in vinegar?
I brushed it quickly with denatured alcohol. It was more from the lighting on the original image and that I didn’t take the time to lighten up the far end when prepping. A quick few seconds with the dodge brush on some of the midtones and shadows would have adjusted it.
As I engraved it:
About 15 seconds with the dodge brush:
6 Likes
Wow!
2 Likes
Great looking sign! For but a nanosecond, I thought the title was “entry sign on aged cheddar”. eyiyiyiiii!
6 Likes
That’s amazing!
3 Likes
Beautiful sample of wood. I’m glad it wasn’t what I read first, which was aged cheddar…lol
6 Likes
3 Likes
Ha ha ha… That’s what I saw first too!
2 Likes
Hey, cool!
3 Likes
Glad I wasn’t the only one ! Of course considering this group… it certainly could have said that! 
Nice job on the sign @geek2nurse - is it sealed with anything? (or planned to?)
3 Likes
Glad I wasn’t the only one with an eyebrow raised.
I thought, Why Have A Door On A Tree?
Then saw the sign and did the D’uh thing.
3 Likes