I picked up three of these from a deal of the day last week on Amazon. $6 a piece. So I thought I would give it a try.
I used a png and engraved at 1000/80 270lpi.
It looked pretty when I started, but the details peeled off when I tried to clean it. It was my last one, I used up the other two trying to perfect the settings. Next time I will try engraving an acrylic sheet and debossing the cover.
Very cool! 
Hard paperboard cover material like a regular book? Not leather or hardwood right?
If so yeah I can see why it would peel apart.
Oh gosh, what a deal! Looks fantastic!
amazon link to the one you used? Looks great, also is it laser safe? can’t tell if its wood or not.
Really cool design!
But whatever the material (faux leather/bonded?) could possibly have some nasty toxins, so I’d avoid using them even if they didn’t delaminate unless you can really be sure what the covers were & it’s safe to etch. So hope you do find some others with covers that are “safe” and etch well!!
I got them when they were on sale. $6.99 each, limit 3. Seemed like a good deal to experiment with.
@bansai8creations The material description says polyurethane.
Oh man, looked so good until it started delaminating and that’s an awesome design. (Careful with that unknown material though!)
Did a quick search, and majority of sites concur–don’t laser cut/etch this material unless you want to release a lot of toxins. And if the UK, it’s actually a legal issue, not just a bad idea to breath around it…
This site seems to have a good table summarizing material & why it’s OK or not OK to use:
http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials
What would be great is to make a real leather cover to wrap over these notebooks–I took the idea of the rose compass free design, but modified it to work with smaller notebooks and machine sewing, and added an elastic loop riveted on the back edge… so you have a great designed cover that’s reusable by replacing the blank notebook!
polyurethane not PolyVinylChloride
As most sites I looked at said don’t use it based on toxins that can be released, I’m erring on health safety.
Being easy to work with and safe to use (with a non-industrial air filtering system) are not the same thing.
Worth looking into the details (MSDS/flammability) before using anything–it’s possible some formulations are OK–but research it before assuming it to be safe to breath any exhaust (for you or your neighbors downwind of your vent).
I was able to salvage one the planners I destroyed with some JPP saddle faux leather. This was for my other daughter, she went for a simpler design.
Very pretty! Looks like real leather and I like the color.
Very similar planner on sale today… $8.49
Probably will not engrave well, maybe a smaller, lighter design. But you can still wrap it with a cover!
