So we lost my Da last year in May. I told her this machine was amazing and asked if she’d like something made. She sends me this picture of my dad. I was like, “Oh great! First project and she wants me to be a pro already.” I watched a few videos and edited the picture she sent me some and this was the result.
Edit: his favorite wood was always oak so it had to be done on oak.
Nicely done. Something like basswood might be an option to explore if you want to make others - very little pronounced grain unlike oak and other wood species.
Yes…oak is a very difficult grain to work with. When I was doing these by hand I could get into the grain with my burner, but it was even hard then.
Nice work. If you want to remove some of the residue:
A quick wipe down with a rag damp with denatured alcohol will take the smoke residue right off. It’ll make the piece a little clearer. Just work quickly and gently, use small lint free rags and as little alcohol as you can get away with. Work on a little spot and replace the rags as they get dirty.
My dad was a woodworker all his life, and he loved working with oak, and of all things, pine. I think this is a very fitting tribute, and the grain just accentuates his love of the wood. Nicely done!
Good tip. The lens wipes we use for GF cleaning are good for this too - just enough alcohol and no lint. Since I buy them in the 500 count box I have pikes of them around anyway.
I keep a small bottle of denatured on my bench, one of these dudes:
And I have a pile of 3" squares of painters rags that I keep handy as well. I make alcohol wipes as I need them 
If you were willing to redo the project you might try using masking and engrave with the dot option at a very high LPI. Each dot will be at full depth and full darkness. The difference that dots will be more scattered in light areas and more dense in dark areas, and the higher LPI the tinier the dots. In addition the extreme color difference in the grain will show very much less.
Under that circumstance Alcohol or the Hand Sanitizer that I use will not wipe away the darkness, but it will dissolve the adhesive of the masking allowing it to come away in one piece if soaked enough. However when soaked Oak will warp more than most, but if you hold it flat and let it dry it will stay flat after that. 
For large area engraves or cuts, I soak paper towel in alcohol, then lay the material face-down on it, on a granite surface, with a little weight on top. Just a minute or so, it breaks down the resin so it can be wiped away with minimal effort to reduce risk of damage to the design.
Just used an alcohol swab on it and it cleaned right up with minimal effort. Thanks for that tip!
