Polished Agate Stones

After being inspired to try laser designs on anodized aluminum and then black granite, my dad pulled out a box of polished agate stones that had been given to him by another artisan. The stones had waited 50 years for the right project to come along, but after our first test we were convinced they’d found their purpose. I had a lot of fun creating designs that fit each stone’s unique shape, and learning how to read the stones to predict where the engraving might get rough due to subsurface imperfections.

I settled on Speed 800, Power 900, DPI 340 for most of these, resulting in a 3-4 minute job per stone.


Bonus picture of the black granite test. I used the masking tape trick to get a matte surface for focusing, but didn’t punch in enough power to engrave through the tape, so there’s a spot missing.

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Wow, I really love the results! Thanks for sharing, they look amazing. And the tape spot kind of matches the phrase at the top…it just threw some more complication into the mix.

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These are really awesome!

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Agate was on my test list, thanks for sharing results and settings. Looks great.

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@kittski did the first agate engraving I remember seeing here. In fact, I think their avatar used to be a dog skeleton engraved into agate. Be interesting to check out how those settings compare with yours. I did a little with it years ago, but nothing like what you’ve accomplished. Kudos on your results!

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Wow, that one of Saturn is pretty fine. This is great work.

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These turned out fantastic. I love the triangle design. So nice.

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This is amazing

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You got some wonderful results there.
I too tried to engrave some agate slices awhile back with some nice results.

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Love the eye and dragon fly! Nice work

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I agree. The shape of the stone made it appear like it was meant to have that eye on it.

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Wow, those look awesome. My first week with my new Glowforge I tried engraving some river rocks with limited success. But now I am inspired to try again. Thank you so much for sharing.
Terry

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Nice, I’ve done a lot of stones and I’m surprised how many engrave well.

I engrave Selenite and to get focus I lay a small scrap of paper on the piece. The laser uses the paper to catch focus and then the fan on the head blows the paper off the piece as it engraves. It works pretty well.

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Ooh, clever!

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Oh, that’s rad! Good thinking!

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The second photo is my favorite. Amazing results!!!

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Love it! I want to try engraving in labradorite

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Gorgeous results!

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Wow, excellent results @gameryamen

I particularily like the granite test “Reality is Complicated” that illustrates just that. :rofl:

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Thanks! My art name is Complicated Reality, so I use that slogan a lot, but people seem to love it.

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