Custom Cutting Board Engraving
Custom cutting board engraving and cutting is something CNCROi.com can do across a huge variety of wood species but also different materials from steel through to Corian.
Today we’ll be custom cutting board engraving a real walnut and bamboo wood, we have a shop full of woodworking equipment to make and build just about anything including our top of the line CNC equipment.
Generally we have two streams of customers when it comes to custom production (cutting boards included), those with a photo with instructions that describe a few changes from what they see such as shape or materials then the others who have everything spec’ed right out with CAD documents.
Depending on the volume and material we are working on for your project, we have lots of options, whether it’s using our industrial CNC router to cut these out or bandsaw to do a one-off based on a pattern that we laser engrave into the wood plank.
With over 20 species above and beyond of what we can find at the local lumber store and yes, if you really want a specific type, we also have suppliers to trade in very exotic woods.
CNCROi.com works from your specs, that’s what CUSTOM is all about and cutting board engraving should be considered, as just a small part of what we are able to make for you.
Custom cutting board engraving on walnut produces very beautiful results, the engraving is a little darker than the wood at the surface and generally we CNC laser engrave about a mm deep as doing deeper doesn’t actually produce a better or permanent results.
Like all natural REAL woods, there is a lot of variation in grain color, texture and density. Walnut is no different, compare the above unfinished walnut wood to the one you see in these photos.
As for finishing, just a quick sanding and then applying mineral oil is all that’s required but when it comes to walnut signage, we use an acrylic seal instead just because we don’t have to worry about people eating off of it.
Regarding the resolution that we are capable of producing in our shop using our Austrian wide-format industrial laser, we can go up to a thousand DPI.
The real question is whether the base material, when it comes to custom cutting board engraving or any other material, whether it can handle it of if it’s time (and money) thrown down the drain as there isn’t any noticeable difference.
There is some slight resin and smoke that builds-up onto the surface from the custom cutting board engraving process is quickly sanded off, that’s why there wasn’t any protective masking applied.
The nice thing about our shop is that we have an extensive sanding capabilities, we do lots of work that requires finishing so investments were made early on to finish the work we do to the upmost quality CNCROi.com‘s customs have come to expect from us.
Before we move onto the bamboo custom cutting board engraving, let’s take a quick look at the Corian possibilities we can also offer you, both V-carving and engraving and paint filling.
Note that V-carving can also be done on wood and these cutting boards as well, I just prefer using the laser for these as it produces a sharper result as there isn’t a round bit engraving into the wood.
Regarding the paint filling options with Corian (or other materials), it’s just another method to add even more color options to the finished piece.
I did an AMAZING post here a while back outlining your color options when it comes to just the Corian, check it out at Custom Corian Color Options.
The advantage of paint filling Corian that’s been CNC laser engraved when it comes to custom cutting board engraving is that the results are incredibly sharp and the Corian itself is available in hundreds of colors.
Corian is also a very strong material, it will wear out your knives far faster than wood, but each material has a plus and negative, it all depends on the application.
This is why I tell people that the difference in options available for custom cutting board engraving and production are essentially the same as signage, it’s just generally smaller but just as highly detailed and precise.
Now that we have some of the basics of our capabilities covered (this is by no means an extensive listing of materials, processes or options), let’s proceed to this bamboo cutting board engraving!
Bamboo is a wonderful material when it comes to custom cutting board engraving, the results really look nice, as you’ll see, bamboo is a widely available material (though expensive!) and it has a wonderful weight to strength ratio which it’s used for so many other applications from building massive fortresses to a base material for brooms.
Another fantastic material to make custom cutting boards out of is actually old pallet wood! Here’s a video of a sign we made using this widely available material that has plenty of character and presence.
Something IMPORTANT for you to tell us though before we make a custom cutting board for you or engraving is to let us know if it will actually be used with food or not. If it will be used for food, then it won’t affect the engraving but it will affect the finish we use but regardless, you don’t want to stick any custom-made cutting board in a dishwasher, always HAND WASH a cutting board!
CNC laser engraving a custom cutting board is essentially the same whether it’s walnut, bamboo or any other material, the laser works overhead and vaporizes the material.
You may have noticed some custom cutting boards looks just “burned” and not engraved with any real depth, personally, I prefer to give it a slight depth, if only to give a bit more flexibility when it comes to finishing (sanding and sealing).
If you wanted something more extensively build and engraved, here’s an example of one of our many custom model kits, a platform crane that was designed and cut by me.
Custom cutting board engraving can be used for a wide variety of branding purposes, from wedding gifts with the names engraved into them like you saw in the walnut cutting board engraving above to corporate signage through branding as I’m doing at an extreme example on this bamboo cutting board.
There is no right or wrong way along the path of custom cutting board engraving, you tell us what you want, and CNCROi.com makes it. That simple!
Some things you want to keep in mind though when it comes to custom cutting board engraving, the first is that if it’s for actual food preparation, try to keep the amount of engraving to a minimum.
By its very nature, the surface of the engraving will have less strength and be easier to fill-up with bacteria and other things than the top surface of the sanded wood. There are A LOT of ways around that, just let us know ahead of time.
What I really enjoy about custom cutting board engraving with our laser as opposed to our sand blaster or CNC router is the smell, natural wood just smells great and when we are able to do a large production run, the shop smells great for days (or minutes if it’s followed by custom rubber stamp or acrylic production).
Which brings-up an interesting fact, other than rubber comes from trees that these cutting boards originate from as well, if you were a manufacturer of say, custom cutting boards yourself but didn’t have large production runs or specialized in unique applications, we can make you custom rubber stamps so you can brand your own without having to go through the incredible expense of your own CNC laser equipment.
CNCROi.com works at both ends and in the middle of production cycles for a host of businesses.
As for the surface areas that we can engraving using our CNC laser, we’ve done edge engraving on cutting boards, we’ve also cut all the way through, like introduced a branded handle or anything else you want done.
For instance, on this custom cutting board engraving, we could have put the date going horizontally on the left-handed lighter bamboo and a name on the right-handed one with or without engraving in the middle (where it will be used most).
Your custom design options are completely up to you, that’s the flexibility CNCROi.com offers you, raw materials to finished masterpiece, we specialize in fitting where you want us to. No more, no less.
As this bamboo cutting board engraving proceeds, notice the very fine details at how sharp they are, the palm leaves are all incredibly precisely positioned.
There is no jaggedness, there is no missed horizontal or vertical skipped lines nor is there any variation in-depth (other than what’s naturally caused by material density differences).
If you are looking for a very unique cutting board option that you really don’t see too many of, check out this live edge cutting board! It does require a lot more maintenance though, so you’ve been forewarned.
Although this video was for a wall plaque, as you’ve seen in this blog post, it could have just as easily been used as a live edge cutting board.
Another thing to keep in mind, an options we offer if you wish, is what grain direction you want in your custom cutting board relative to the engraving, do you want the grain to be horizontal, vertical or angled?
CNCROi.com is also able to model and create any type of stand or holding system you want to go along with your custom cutting board, so let’s say you wanted a bamboo cutting board engraved as a set of 10 for a restaurant with a Miyajima gate to hold them in vertically, yep, we can do that no problem!
This is where our 3D production capabilities come into effect as well, so before we do any work, we are able to make a full visual representation of what you will have made, this is great for retail or wholesale presentations!
The smoke and light you see in these photos relative to custom cutting board engraving is only the base material being vaporized in a flash fire sort of speak, there was nothing added to this cutting board before, nor will anything be added after (this is a demo for us).
The smoke is no different from what you see if you had a camp fire with the only difference being that it’s more isolated and precise burning rather than an area burn and smoke.
What I want you to focus on this bamboo cutting board is the .com, notice the slight “ledge” I created in the design to emphasize the logo over the palm tree.
That ledge is about 1/32nd wide or a fraction of a mm, it’s incredibly small and if I was going to use this as an actual cutting board, I’d probably make that wider to give it a bit more lasting power, my goal at CNCROi.com demos is to show you an extreme of what’s possible, but for everyday use, a few mods would be done to the design to make it more sound.
Also notice that due to the fact that the ledge is so thin and small, it basically disappears when looked at straight on, again, for corporate branding of custom cutting boards, probably not the result you’d want, so a thickening would be in the cards.
Otherwise, I would have the branding around the edges and not in the middle of the cutting board, the area that will most likely be used most, again, these are all specs we work with you to produce the best result for your given application.
I put this custom cutting board engraving in a light just to show you that the ledge in the .com didn’t disappear or was removed, it’s still very much there, just not thick enough to be noticed when there isn’t a shadow.
At least with CNCROi.com, these type of options ARE available, you aren’t stuck into any one box of thought when it comes to our custom production capabilities.
If you are wondering about how crazy we can go when it comes to custom cutting board engraving, just imagine this Mahogany business card and imagine it being about the size of the cutting board above at an inch thick, turning it into a WOW Mahogany cutting board!
As you’ve seen, that could have just as easily been a custom pine cutting board, custom zebrawood cutting board, custom maple cutting board, custom cherry cutting board or custom wenge cutting board, the options are endless with CNCROi.com!
How do you go about getting a custom cutting board produced? Contact CNCROi.com right now to get the ball rolling!
Just be sure to let us know how many custom cutting boards you want, what you want engraved, material preferences and budgets along with timeline.
