Thick bamboo cutting board

For sure the material like others said, mine came out the exact same way except I used 270 line and attempted 2 passes to see if I could get the colors to level out, but it didn’t. Heres a link to mine then settings I used and If you didn’t wipe down the black areas I would recommend it, it helps blend the two a little bit better for the one I did anyways. https://www.facebook.com/notes/fresh-start-customs/cutting-board-settings/421196298336797/

Oh, and BTW the misplacing of the circular holes is likely because at 0.6 the camera’s view of where things are (for placing the work on the image) will be seriously off.

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I have done a few bamboo cutting boards also. They all have the light and dark difference because of the different pieces of used to make the board. It looks good. I have been wanting to blacken one in before removing the protective tape. Just have not got to it yet. Here is the one I did this morning. :slight_smile: 20180510_105230|281x500

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It is the material bands. You have to examine the board very carefully for that if you want consistency of outcome. It isn’t bad for an engraving like this. It can be murder for photos.

image

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This is the finished result after painting.
Next time I will use masking before engraving and leave it on until after painting because it is very hard to not paint outside the engraving.


Our names are painted with black acrylic paint and the number with Hamerite steel paint (a leftover of a previous project).

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So it is safe to use the crumb tray with a cutting board that’s a little over half an inch thick?

Nope.

You’ll want to put something in that brings the surface to engrave up to the proper height.

There are lots of tutorials if you search the forum.

Here you go:

And

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Thank you!!

This might sound dumb but I’m VERY new to my GF. How do you do this without the black burning from the laser? Is it scrubbed off after?

So, welcome to the forum! It’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s a fun one.

There are lots of methods for avoiding smoke residue on your material. The method you choose will depend somewhat on your materials and the specifics of what you’re trying to do.

They boil down into two broad categories: protection and cleaning.

With protection, you’d use a mask to cover the material first, then engrave and remove the masking later, taking all the residue with the masking.

As for cleaning, there are lots of methods people use, with varying degrees of success and tradeoffs. Some people use water, some use denatured alcohol, some use cleansers like simple green, some use ammonia-based cleaners. There are a lot of techniques out there. Search the forum for “cleaning residue” and you’ll find lots of discussion.

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=cleaning%20residue

If you want to go the masking route, there is a lot of discussion there too, here’s one:

Engraving with masking is a feel thing. You will lose some finer details so it tends to work best with bold deep engraves, if you’re going for fine lines or varying power/3d engraving, you’ll probably want to avoid masking and stick with a cleaning method.

Anyway. This is a very broad topic, and without some more details about what you’re up to that’s about as specific as anyone could get to help you here.

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Thank you, Evan! I was referring specifically to the project on this thread. The bamboo looks so clean and crisp with no black residue. I do appreciate all of your additional info as well! It is very helpful!

Well here’s the extra good news, then: With bamboo cutting boards, they are usually prefinished and clean up really nicely. If it were me I’d engrave directly with no masking and wipe it down afterward with a mild detergent.

Of course this is all theoretical, you’d have to test it out with your own cutting board to be 100% sure, but that’s why you buy two and test first :wink:

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That’s what I do. Or I’ll run a couple passes over the board with 220 and then 320 grit sandpaper in a random orbital sander. Then I finish with a mineral oil/beeswax mix.

The exception is where I’m going to spray it to darken all of the engrave to be consistent since bamboo can have really variable grain that shows a lot of variation in the engrave. Then I mask it, shoot it with a couple coats of Minwax Polyshades and then do the oil treatment after it dries.

What are the setting s you’ve used for photos on a bamboo cutting boards?

I believe that was in the ballpark of 1000/100, but there was a lot of trial and error that went into that. I will do bamboo if I have to, but I’m not fond of it.

Thank you😊

Looking to make a commissioned cutting board and this would be my first! A couple questions:

  1. what are the best materials - bamboo, etc? Got any Amazon recommendations?
  2. do you need to seal the board for food safe afterwards? How do you go about that? I have poly but I’m not sure it’s food safe
  3. any other tips?

Thanks!

Search, as always, is a good thing.

https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=Food%20Safe%20cutting%20board