Color filling engraved cases

[GouletPens]

I know it's popular to CA over color filled engraving on pens, but what does everyone do on boxes? I have some rosewood boxes from PSI which look AWESOME, but when engraved with a fairly intriquite logo, looks wierd b/c of the way the wood engraves. I'd like to fill it with black, but I don't know what kind of finish is on the case (probably lacquer) and I don't know if the backfilled engraving would need to be 'finished'. I'm not really trying to get the engraving 'flush', I'm just trying to make the logo stand out better and make it so the color fill stays in there over time. Any suggestions?

 

[low_48]

You can get your engraver to engrave through a mask so you can color fill without any of the acrylic getting into the grain of the wood. You can then use a special color fill from laserbits, or I use fabric paint. You can get the fabric paint at Wally World or Michaels. I'm sure that any acrylic paint will also do the job.

 

[Rmartin]

Laser Bits has a product called Pro Sealer for use with color fill.

 

[GouletPens]

Laser Bits has a product called Pro Sealer for use with color fill.

I'll talk to my engraver and see if they have any prosealer (they might). What kind of mask is best? Would low-tack painters or masking tape work, or is there something special?

 

[Sylvanite]

I'll talk to my engraver and see if they have any prosealer

There are two problems. One is that the color may wick into the grain of the wood. That is what the sealer prevents. The other problem is that many boxes are made of open-grained woods and the manufacturer does not fill the grain before finishing. The color-fill can get into the open spots. That may be hard to fix without refinishing the box.

What kind of mask is best? Would low-tack painters or masking tape work, or is there something special?

"Engaver's tape" is basically a low-tack masking tape, but typically about 6" wide. I sometimes use it, and it works reasonably well for keeping smoke from settling back on the engraved piece. It does not keep color-fill from getting on the surface.

Regards,
Eric