Has anyone used lauan ply for laser engraving? Saw it at Home Depot yesterday with a 'perfect for furniture grade projects' sign. Thought it looked like nice stuff.

The idol mind at work....wandering aimlessly in the Depot...can't be good! ;)

:-&

nobody's ever figured out a good use for that stuff.

last time I saw it it was used as underlayment for vinyl floors.

Hi Holly,

I keep some on hand all the time -- it's cheap, it engraves well and it cuts nicely (as long as you are patient). Most often I use it for drink tokens, but it is handy for other things too. For me I use about the same settings as I would for working with 1/4 acrylic.

HTH

Ron

ps -- there is a posting somewhere in the archives with a picture of one of my drink tokens so I will not post it again... can't think what the string was for but you may be able to find it if you search my user name.

Of course it is Dave, I had a feeling you would come through for me!

Thanks,

Ron

David,

Yep, plain ol' Homey D lauan. I don't need the service, but they will cut them down to smaller sizes to fit your bed as well.

I consider it a staple around my shop. I don't have a picture yet, but I engraved a nice mermaid on it to inlay in a fish tank stand I'm making for my daughter -- it's going to be painted, so it didn't need to be made of anything special, I just wanted something cheap to use.

Ron

I read something about the lauan...said don't get it wet. (Not that you'd want to get wood wet....) Turns out it's a tropical wood that is very common to have some type of bacteria in it. I read something in a woodworkers site that had this carpenter who built a commercial bar site with it. After the bar openned, they complained to him about a foul smell eminating from the bar. They checked it out and found the vomit-smelling odor was a result of the wood getting wet and essentially re-activating the bacteria.

How's THAT for useless information on a Thursday afternoon??

Holly:
In the floor covering industry, no manufacturer of sheet goods (vinyl etc.) will warrant a floor that is underlayed with luan. Home Depot continues to sell and recommend and the failures continue to keep legitimate flooring people busy. That being said--they also sell a 1/4" underlay called Halex. The 7mm Halex board is 5 ply, the two finished sides are birch. One side has all kinds of green cross marks to tell people how many crown staples have to be put in to secure the sheet properly to a floor. I am new to the biz of engraving, but I have etched a photo on to this Halex, and it is very, very nice. I attach an image here, but it might show blobs, it's not fully dried out. I clean the image after I laser it with Goo Gone. Pat it on with terry cloth, not rub it in, and it cleans up rather nice. Luan is still much cheaper but if you have a quality image thing in wood, I think Halex is the way to go. Hope this helps.
Mike