Using Mustard Instead of CerMark

I found this video on YouTube…

Certainly some (many?) disclaimers on using condiments in your laser cutter… but he seems to be getting some great results. And it’s certainly cheaper than CerMark

Laser Engraving/Marking Stainless Steel with…Mustard!

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@takitus needs to give this a try with more ham

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Bookmarking to watch later. I’ve got plenty of mustard around here

And then, can we get :proofgrade: mustard?

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Ok, gotta try this…

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Dang. You are going to beat me to it. I can’t try laser anything for another 25 minutes.

But what mustard works best? And smells best?

Is that how you make mustard gas? :wink:

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The condiment possibilities are endless. Perhaps a zesty sriracha mayo on baltic plywood with a side of maple-smoked honeycomb.

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OK:

For the record, I did NOT:

Use magnets to anchor a stainless steel kitchen knife to the honeycomb.
Mask that knife with plain yellow mustard.
Run multiple passes at different speeds and powers with an image on that knife, remasking with mustard after every pass.
Clean that knife off to see the result.

However, if I had, the result would look like this:



PS: Cleaning mustard out of the honeycomb is a pain.
PPS: I DID try to scrub the mark off with dish soap and a scouring pad/sponge, and it still looks like this. It isn’t dark, dark, dark, like cermark, but there is a mark.

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Ok, start practicing this now: “I don’t know, honey. I think it was like that when we got it.”

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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Thankfully, I don’t have to try to explain that.

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Ummm wow…I know, chemically, why cermark works…I’m at a loss as to why mustard would give those results. Astounding!!

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I am curious about that myself. I was not worried about burning mustard, however. If burnt mustard was going to give me cancer, my ex-wife´s cooking would have already accomplished that.

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:scream::smile::sweat_smile:

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Acid etch?

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Mmmm. Dont have a clue. The vinegar in mustard is a weak acid but that would have to be where the mustard stayed the longest…not where it was etched… Unless somehow the CO2 laser altered the mustard in someway thermally…

Where are the scientists???
@volivaa what say you???

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I don’t know the chemical reasons for the reaction, but I do know from personal experience that leaving mustard on a car’s paint in the hot sun for several days will acidify and mess up clearcoat on car paint.

I had a car parked at an overhang parking area, some kid in the suite above my car thought it’d be fun to shoot mustard onto a red car. I didn’t see it for the better part of a day or two. Was too late to recover it.

They used GP mustard… the kid used French’s bright yellow mustard.

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The video posted at the start of this thread speculates it’s the sulfur from the isothicyanates reacting with the metal.

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