Laser etched Flag stone

Our local Trail Life Troop (Christian Alternative to Boy Scouts) is building a stair way for awards and such out of local flag stone. I was asked to mark one of the pieces.
I think it came out nicely. :grin:

<img src="//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/glowforge/original/2X/8/8ce8f33846a41a4d089cff86416f068b344c56f1.jpg" width=“295” height=“499”

35 Likes

What a lovely idea! That turned out great! :smiley:

3 Likes

Wow, that turned out great. I have a flagstone path in the yard. I may have to pull up a few before the Wisconsin snow and frost sets in during November. I won’t want to wait until Spring to try this.

3 Likes

How many watts is your laser?

1 Like

Is it actually ‘etched’ as in layers of the stone blasted off by the laser? Or is it something like Thermark?
What kind of power laser is it? Oh, and how long did it take to actually laser it? Just a couple questions :wink:

Very nice work.

3 Likes

I used my 35 wt laser but honestly, the laser tube is going on that one so it was probably closer to 25wt.

5 Likes

That’s very cool!

2 Likes

Oh I want to do that. Well, not exactly, because Troop OK-0339 doesn’t live in my back yard. That looks so great.

2 Likes

that came out GREAT!!!. is it color change or is there some depth on that as well ? did you run the laser slow and hot or just let it rip at speed?

I love this

2 Likes

Its a shallow etch…since flag stone is soft like sandstone. The color change is from melting the silica from what I understand. Hes going to put on a layer of urethane on top to weather better.

6 Likes

I think the settings were 50% both speed and power but Ill check tomorrow when I get back to my office/shop

2 Likes

That came out beautifully! I love it.

2 Likes

Fantastic! Add flagstone to my wish list for materials. Maybe I’ll make some Pet Rocks (anybody remember that phase?).

5 Likes

I loved Pet Rocks! Best marketing scheme ever! :relaxed:

4 Likes

You’d probably be better off using thin river rocks. Thinner pieces of flag stone, that would fit in the GF, might be a bit brittle.
This particular piece was 3.5" thick and weighed 30+ lbs. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

6 Likes

The layer of stain/oxide on the surface greatly increase the contrast, very nice!
I have some scrap multi-color slate I am anxious to work with. The colors, mostly shades of green come from mineral stain. Petroglyphs for the new age!

Thanks for showing that!:thumbsup:

2 Likes

Yeah I asked him for a dark piece…better contrast.

1 Like