I want to engrave on a Rosewood pen and I have concerns over settings and cutting too deep. My worry is the laser will cut past the thin rosewood layer and begin cutting into the pen casing itself. Pen set
I can use some advice so I don’t ruin them.
Thanks!
The answer is - test and find what works for your material. You may have to sacrifice a set to figure it out which is fine if you’re planning to produce a lot of these.
The other approach which works for one-offs is to start with very low power and repeat the engrave (I assume you mean engrave, not cut!) until you get the desired effect.
Yes! engrave. my bad. So I guess I’m glad the set I bought was fairly inexpensive.
@o-o is right, especially considering how many “rosewood” species there are. In general rosewoods are very tough woods but beyond that testing is the only way to be sure.
I am going to move this the Beyond the Manual since we are talking about non-PG materials and settings.
When I started to engrave my hand turned pens either acrylic or wood, I took the pen blank and tested it before I started to turn the blank to see how deep the engrave went. My starting numbers are 1000/80/270LPI. These numbers are also what I use for basic pencils I give to the schools each year with the school name of them.
It also easier if you make a jig to hold the pen barrel one your finished. Make sure you engrave the pen before finishing the pen. We had a guy in our group that didn’t and the non Glowforge laser he was using went up in smoke from the finishing materials…
If you aren’t already aware, please note that most rosewood is highly irritant and you may react to the smoke even if there isn’t much of it.
Thank you, thats good to know. Maybe I’ll grab a mask.
thank you so much! When you say “finish”, do you mean adding a glaze type finish to it? I wasn’t planning on adding anything to it once it was done. Should I?? #newbie
Yes, that is what I meant. When you go to engrave the pen put some masking around the barrel just like you would any other project.
The depth of the engrave is going to depend on the pen kit you are using and the size of the bushing.
Finishing the pen with a polish is a personal thing, but when I complete the turning I apply a finish to the wood and acrylic. I use the CA medium to seal the wood which gives a little shine and then I apply a polish and buff.
There are several methods and instructions on the finishing of pens all out on YouTube and various retailers have their videos. If you decide to engrave the pen, I finish and polish first, and then fill in the engrave with acrylic paint.
Have fun, enjoy and Happy Holidays…
thank you thank you!! I appreciate the words of wisdom!