Cherry is the wood of premium pieces: a pinkish tone that darkens with age, a fine grain, and a pleasant smell when cutting. It engraves with a medium but very elegant contrast, and works more easily than oak or maple.
Settings: what really matters
Cherry is of medium density: 45% power at 2,700 mm/min with a 20 W diode is enough for engraving. It tolerates overheating poorly, giving a dirty brown rather than a clean one: prefer two light engraving passes to one strong pass.
For cutting it behaves like walnut: two passes from 5 mm with a diode, one pass with a 40 W CO2. The edge stays clean as long as air assist is on.
Common thicknesses and pitfalls
Common thicknesses: 3, 5, 8 and 10 mm. Cherry is often sold as boards of uneven thickness: measure before setting focus, half a millimetre changes the look of a fine engraving.
Specific pitfall: cherry darkens naturally. A piece delivered light will turn amber within months, and engraving contrast will drop. On a commission, warn the client or push the contrast slightly.
Risks and finishing
Few specific risks: no silica, little resin, moderate smoke. Standard extraction and supervision are enough.
For finishing, an oil-wax shows the pink tone off perfectly. A 240-grit sanding before engraving avoids raised fibres that trap soot.
Every figure on LaserSettings comes with the machine, the laser source, the material and the thickness it was tested on. A setting published for a 10 W diode says nothing about a 40 W CO2, and a setting for 3 mm says nothing about 6 mm: check those four things before you copy any number.
Settings are confirmed or disputed by the members who reproduce them, so reliability comes from cross-checking rather than popularity. Photos of the result — cut edges, engraving shades, scorching — tell you more than a single number found on a forum.
Whatever the material, treat a published setting as a starting point: run a small power/speed test grid on an offcut, clean the lens, redo the focus, work with fume extraction and air assist, wear glasses rated for your wavelength and never leave the machine unattended.