My first engraving

[zorlack]

Recently we found some cast iron bench ends at a tag sale, so I've been making an octopus bench out of them.

This is my first engraving project (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zorlack/sets/72157627022078256/with/5858326023/) so I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/5858885138_95cff9e5a6.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zorlack/5858885138/in/set-72157627022078256)

This is my first real test of the design/technique:

The material is Philippine Mahogany. The seat is made of 6"x5/4" and the back is 6"x1". I did the cutting with a 60 degree v bit at 19000 RPM with a feed rate of 5 IPS. The cutting depth was .08 for the base and .07 for the back.

I noticed that the Mahogany got really fuzzy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zorlack/5858326023/in/set-72157627022078256/) while doing the engraving. I tried slowing down the feed rate, and I tried slowing down the router speed, but neither seemed to have any effect. Is this caused by a dull bit? The fuzz disappeared when I started vigorously rubbing in some stain.

Getting the stain right is the part I'm still struggling with. My initial tests (in pine) didn't have enough contrast, so for this version I used the following process:


Apply a thick coat of Paste Wax to the wood
Engraved
Brushed in stain heavily
Wipe off all excess thoroughly
Sand off wax

This worked pretty well... although sanding the wax off didn't work very well... there's still lots of it on there that I have to remove before I can varnish.

I guess one way would be to stain the whole thing, then put the surface on a belt sander, but that seems like overkill...

I could use some advice on how to minimize the "fuzzing-up" of the mahogany and how to do the color with less work... Thanks!

[billp]

Dave,
I use a lot of Philippine mahogany and I've had good luck with the following;
first you have to "see"the final product in your head.
Then you stain/dye the wood to the color you see in that image.
Now use CLEAR shellac and coat your wood before cutting ( this will give you "crisper edges" as well as minimizing some of the fuzzies...).
Cut your design using the sharpest bit you have on hand, as this wood is really more in the cedar family than the true mahogany's...
Next step depends on whether you plan to paint/stain the engraved areas;
if painting, go ahead, do your fills, and with the shellac on the surface of your piece, you can wipe off any boo boos.If you suspect your paint might "bleed"under the edges of the surface, just coat the engraved areas with shellac as well, it's the perfect undercoater for just about anything on the planet, (including water based finishes...) .
If you are going to stain the engraved areas, use a gel stain, and wipe it on and off quickly before you get the bleeding issue.
Now since you already have the surface coated with shellac, you can varnish directly on top of it with NO cleaning up...
This method should cut out some of the problems you mentioned...

[bleeth]

As far as the fuzz goes Phillipine Mahogany (Actually Meranti and not mahogany at all) is pretty soft. I never put any on the bot but did a lot of work with it over the years and getting router fuzz was norm. You might do a little better by slowing down your RPM's. Bit should be sharp.

Instead of wax, use sanding sealer followed by UV topcoat. A lot easier to sand off and you should be able to just wipe your stain off it. Since Meranti rots so easily you need to protect it anyway.

Bill posted while I was typing!! Both ways work fine.