The quality of the etching is quite poor. Missing and faint lines yet significant smearing outside the letters. Are you etching characters that are outlined? Can you post your source?
If you stain prior to etching it can help keep the soot from falling back into the grain of the wood. It may also increase the energy needed to burn the wood.
Thanks Zax - I will try those options on this.
Gallant - I think a lot of the issues you are noticing is all based on how i printed it & not having "Dynamic" mode activated on the laser. I'm learning as i go. The burning tends to happen when i have Bold Print & the faintness happens when there is a thin line it seems. Honestly, those issues don't bother me too much.
Also - i didn't have the letters outlined. I learned that this happens because that's where the laser 'starts' and 'ends' every time it begins etching. I believe activating 'dynamic' will reduce this in the future.
Since i have 100 of these i'm going to move to the next one. I assume i'll get better as I go. & this gives me the option to come back to it somewhere down the line.
Appreciate all the help.
PS: I added the final picture below. In future, I will probably cut a hole through the wood to make the card almost flat w/ the wood. I'm welcome to any suggestions.