Technical Details

Woods Used: Canary, Paduk, Blood, Red Oak
Holder Material: Leather with brass snap buttons so it can be collapsed
Coaster Size: 4x4x0.188in
Finish: 220grit followed by hardwax oil (Rubio Monocoat) and ceramic top coat (Black Forrest)

Project Challenges and Lessons Learned:
This project was trickier than anticipated. Editing each picture was a unique puzzle, considering factors like lighting, facial features, and overall detail. The selection of a wood (color, tone, and grain complexity) was even more important to ensure clear rastering of the images. Test rasters and iteration were essential. Facial features were especially difficult to get right. For example, a complex grain may cause the appearance of what looks like black eyes, facial hair, or even missing teeth! I think once I had gone through the first few photos I had the system down pretty well, but I remember going into this project thinking it would take me a few days, when in reality it took much longer.

I purchased ready to go project boards from Wisconsin based Ocooch Hardwoods which offered a wide variety of wood types and sizes. I ordered a bunch to see them in person, picked the ones I liked, and headed to the laser cutter when I was ready with the edited photos. Some might say I took a shortcut by not milling my own wood all day, but I value my time too much for that. I have no regrets about that decision. To give the coasters a clean finished look I took my hand router around the edges with a 0.125in roundover bit on both sides before sanding. Do not try rounding edges by hand sanding, the roundover makes a significant difference in appearance. These are the little details that can really make a project stand out.

The finish of a wood coaster needs to be fairly robust. Rubio Monocoat offers better water resistance in comparison to pure oil finishes like danish or tung, but it is not perfect. However, when paired with a ceramic top coat there is not going to be any water mark left behind. Some choose epoxy for this but I try to avoid for aesthetic reasons. To each their own.