Question on filling in engraving on a dark (wenge) pen

[jbswearingen]

I have a possible order for a bunch of pens for a groom's men. The buyer would prefer the wenge over the maple, but wants them to engraved with the wedding date. So he'll take the maple if it'll show better. I told him I'd look into possibilities for the wenge, so here I am...

So I have two questions...

The first is when to engrave them--before applying the CA finish or after?

Then...how to fill in the engraving with something that contrasts? Is there a way to engrave them then fill them with something white (talcum? something?), flooding it with CA, and then mounting on the lathe and applying CA finish to the whole barrel?

Does my question make any sense at all?

 

[truckfixr]

Why not go with the maple, and use decals in stead of engraving? If he's determined to go with the wenge, you could use inlace granules or dust.

http://www.inlaceonline.com/

 

[IPD_Mr]

Talk to one of the lazer guys about when to have it engraved. What about getting it to say +.010 to .005 to actual diameter, engrave the date, then fill with aluminum powder. Finish it off and seal with a nice CA finish.

 

[jlord]

Hi Brad, The guy who does t he lasering for me does the pen after the finish is done. I fill with a high gloss acrylic enamel paint from Liquitex. Something like silver might be a good color. Here is a picture of an acrylic pen. I finish wood pens with CA & he lasers than when finished also then I fill. You could go back & apply more coats of clear over engraving.

 

[Gulfcoast]

Hi brad ---

---here is a picture of a pen that I had laser engraved, and color backfilled (gold)

--- I finished the barrel with CA and then sent it to the laser engraver, who also color filled the engraving.

---- http://www.mestaridesigns.com/engraving

Joe

 

[JerrySambrook]

Brad,
The only issue I see is that Wenge is very porous.
With that being said, seal the turned blank, have it engraved, reseal in the immediate area, then fill.
Otherwise, you might get some of your fill material in the pores, and then it will look not so cool.

Jerry

 

[NewLondon88]

Yep.. finish first. Then laser engrave before assembly.. Then spray the area
with an acrylic spray, wipe it off of the surface (that will seal the newly
exposed wood) and fill with acrylic paint .After it dries you can apply more
CA if you want, but the acrylic paints hold up fairly well on their own,
especially with thin lined fonts. Applying CA after filling will allow you to
level the surface though.

 

[low_48]

Have the laser guy engrave through a tape mask. There is special mask available that will not mess up the laser. Apply the fill, then pull the mask. I've used fabric paint (really thick latex) and wet sanded it flush. Others use commercial laser fill, some use rub-n-buff.

 

[toddlajoie]

Yep.. finish first. Then laser engrave before assembly.. Then spray the area
with an acrylic spray, wipe it off of the surface (that will seal the newly
exposed wood) and fill with acrylic paint .After it dries you can apply more
CA if you want, but the acrylic paints hold up fairly well on their own,
especially with thin lined fonts. Applying CA after filling will allow you to
level the surface though.

Charlie, after watching Real's laser demo, I'm wondering about wenge's reaction to the laser power wise. The darker lines in wenge are significantly more dense than the lighter areas of the wood. I would be concerned that in order to get enough relief out of the darker areas you may be going pretty deep in the softer areas. Might not be a problem if the blank has a fair amount of thickness of wood left, but on the thinner kits, you may hit brass... Would a good penetrating finish, like letting thin CA soak in, solve that problem? Or am I thinking too much into it and the density difference is not really that significant?

 

[NewLondon88]

Charlie, after watching Real's laser demo, I'm wondering about wenge's reaction to the laser power wise. The darker lines in wenge are significantly more dense than the lighter areas of the wood. I would be concerned that in order to get enough relief out of the darker areas you may be going pretty deep in the softer areas. Might not be a problem if the blank has a fair amount of thickness of wood left, but on the thinner kits, you may hit brass... Would a good penetrating finish, like letting thin CA soak in, solve that problem? Or am I thinking too much into it and the density difference is not really that significant?

If we were engraving wenge, you'd be right on target. But we're really
engraving the FINISH, not the wood. The sealer protects the wood in case
you go all the way through the finish, but ideally you wouldn't need to
worry about it. (but you can never really predict how far into a finish you
will engrave.. it's too variable)

Engraving the wood itself is tricky. We do the 3D blanks and have a lot of
trouble with density variations in certain types of wood. Eventually we
settled on the plainest, grain-free maple we could find. Any variation in
the sapwood or heartwood would just screw us all up!