Engraving on Wood with a Laser

If you’re ready to start engraving on wood with a laser, or just want tips to improve your skills, read on! When you’re done, try these DIY “mom” necklaces too. This post contains affiliate links.

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Today I’m going to teach you – hopefully – everything you need to know about engraving on wood with a laser. Wood is such a fabulous, versatile materials for laser engraving, and is perfect for beginners. It’s affordable and easy to use, and offers endless possibilities for customization because of the amount of blanks there are out there.

Today, I’m using the xTool F1 Ultra – read my review here and have one project done using the F1 – read my review here. You can use pretty much any Diode or CO2 laser engraver to do this – and you can read my comparison of the F1 vs F1 Ultra here to see which might be right for you.

Already have a laser? Let’s dive in!

The Basics of Engraving on Wood With a Laser

To start with, it’s important to know that not all lasers are the same. Unlike cutting machines (like your Cricut), laser engravers have lots of variability in their outcome and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for engraving on wood with a laser.

But, I’m here to teach, and will share some basics to get you started.

Since wood is a soft material, it really engraves nicely and there are endless things you can do with it. There are so many blanks you can get in wood but some of my favorites are:

• Acacia cutting boards
• Wood and leather keychains
• Bamboo pens – these are so inexpensive and make fabulous handouts
• Coin-shaped bottle openers
• Coasters – especially wood slice coasters are a very popular choice too.

You can also cut your own blanks, but that’s for another time…

Safety tips

First of all, wood is a flammable material that sets off fumes.

Make sure you have a good air purifier or are venting outdoors. For me, the xTool SafetyPro air purifier is a game changer – read my review here.

It can also catch fire – and in fact, small flames are normal. Have a fire extinguisher handy. I keep a car fire extinguisher near my laser engravers.

Knowing your wood

Different hardness of woods burn/engrave at different paces and so start off by knowing which wood you’re working with. If you don’t know, you’ll just need to experiment more.

Woods with lots of variation in the grain might give you variation in the engrave as well – which can look great but catch you off guard if you’re not expecting it! So pay attention to the grain too.

Make test grids for EVERYTHING. Just do it. You’ll get the look you want that way and really have control over your outcome on a material where that is a built-in challenge.

Choosing the right settings

Choosing the right settings will include some trial and error. I WILL provide settings I used in this post just in case you’re using the same material and machine as me. However, I wouldn’t be teaching you if I wouldn’t share with you how I came to this setting, because every machine and environment is different.

I always start with the xTool recommended settings for that material or the material I think is closest to it. Make a test grid and choose which is best.

If I find that my wood is flaming up too much, the solution is really simple: do more passes at a higher speed. However, this will require some trial and error, so make sure you have a test scrap (or three) handy.

Different styles of engraving on wood with a laser

Not all engravings are the same – and when you create a test grid, you’ll see the options that are available! But I’ll break it down into three unique processes.

Simple engraving

I always recommend starting with a very simple name project when learning about engraving on wood with a laser: here, I engraved names of family members on bamboo wooden pens.

I did this one on the F1 – not the Ultra – and my settings were Power 90, Speed 200, 100 lines.

This basically just colors/burns the wood and doesn’t remove much material. It is also more susceptible to variations in the grain.

On the F1 Ultra, I made this “listen” keychain using default settings for walnut plywood.

You can see how the design is flush against the wood. This is great for basic personalization and a wood burned look. You can get really intricate designs with this.

The “Listen” SVG is included in a free download at the end of this post.

Deeper engraving

I crafted these wooden earrings on my F1 Ultra as well, and you can see that the engraving is MUCH deeper. It made an indentation that can then be filled with color like I did here.

It DID also darken the wood, giving a stained effect. Settings were 3mm Basswood default settings.

Deeper engraving gives an incredibly cool look – kind of like a carving. It goes beyond the wood burned look. I do recommend sticking to simpler designs with this. However, if you’re going intricate, like I did on this wood cutting board, keep the engrave lines thin and the in-between areas larger, so that the wood that sticks up isn’t too thin and brittle.

Layered Engraving

Once you get the hang of different settings, there’s another really cool trick you can try with laser engraving: layer your look! To do this, you need a layered SVG – which I include as a free download at the end of this post.

You’ll need to set each layer as a different setting. Because the image of the base flower is part of the layer below it as well, it’s repeating that burn, and comes out darker. You can also make the engrave settings on that one darker.

I also set a full layer of this project to “score” to create a much darker outline for a super cool effect.

My settings were as follows (chosen from the pine coaster default settings options):

• Base layer: Power 70, Speed 300, 100 lines
• Inner flower: Power 70, Speed 300, 100 lines (second pass over the base layer)
• Score outline: Duplicate the full base layer and apply settings Power 90, Speed 50
• Inner flower: I didn’t use this and just deleted it, but you can try making another layer if you want!

This flower is part of your free download, but you can get the full set here.

This is why you want to do a test grid for any material you will be engraving on wood with a laser – you can really gauge the look and dial in those settings correctly. And once again, practice on similar pieces – but be aware that the nature of wood is variation and no matter what, you’ll get some inconsistency. Embrace it as part of the beauty of nature!

Download your sample files for engraving on wood with a laser

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What are your favorite things to engrave on wood with a laser? Comment below!