# Going Away Plaque



## Stick (Aug 23, 2007)

Here's a plaque I did the woodwork for and had laser etched for a guy PCSing out of my Division. I used solid mesquite so he could take a little Texas with him.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

That is really nice. I did not realize that mesquite could be obtained in boards that large.

George


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

beautiful, and a great choice of wood.


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## The Everyman Show (Jul 10, 2009)

Stick great job on the plaque, I like the two accent strips that break up the two edges, nice touch. The laser etching does an amazing job of precise detail – does it create much tear out? Do you have much sanding to do afterwards to get any tear out cleaned off or is it a smooth finish product?


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## Stick (Aug 23, 2007)

GeorgeC said:


> That is really nice. I did not realize that mesquite could be obtained in boards that large.
> 
> George


I had to drive 45 minutes south of San Antonio to a specialty flooring/mantle shop to get it. It doesn't usually come that large. If you look at the grain close, that is the entire cross-section of the tree. The longest board they had of that width was 37". The did have longer ones up to about 8' that were 8-9" wide though.


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## Stick (Aug 23, 2007)

The Everyman Show said:


> Stick great job on the plaque, I like the two accent strips that break up the two edges, nice touch. The laser etching does an amazing job of precise detail – does it create much tear out? Do you have much sanding to do afterwards to get any tear out cleaned off or is it a smooth finish product?


There is absolutely no tear out with the laser etching, probably because it burns the wood out instead of cutting it (smelled like a BBQ pit when I picked it up). I did all the sanding to the board before I had it etched. The laser only goes about a 1/16th deep in most places, even less in the lighter shaded parts. I think the letters/wording at the bottom were the deepest etched parts. I did spend about 5 hours working on the .jpg to get it lightened up enough so the picture wasn't a dark black blob. Even after I see the finished product, I think I'll lighten some parts of the picture up even more to give more detail and less of a solid "burn".


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