Okoume is an African exotic plywood: light, soft and very even-grained. It is the plywood of model makers and boat builders: it cuts more easily than birch at the same thickness, but it forgives focus errors less, because its surface marks immediately.
Settings: what really matters
At 3 mm, okoume goes through in a single pass with a well-focused 20 W diode, and easily with a 40 W CO2. At 4 mm, use one slower pass rather than a second pass: going over the same line darkens the edge heavily, faster than on birch.
The grain is even but the density is low: at equal power, okoume cuts roughly 15 to 20% faster than birch. Reusing a birch setting as-is gives a burnt edge and a lasting smell.
When engraving, contrast is light, almost pinkish, with little difference between soft and hard zones. A good support for fine-line artwork, less so for photographic gradients, where the result lacks depth.
Specific to okoume: the glue between plies is often harder than the wood itself. A cut that goes through the first ply can stall on the glue line. Better to lower the speed by 10% than to raise the power.
Common thicknesses and pitfalls
The most common workshop thicknesses are 3, 4, 5 and 6 mm; 4 mm is widely used in ship modelling. Measure with callipers: okoume sold as 4 mm often measures 3.8 mm, which changes the joint fit of an assembly.
The classic pitfall is internal voids: standard-grade okoume contains pockets under the face ply. The cut goes through everywhere except two centimetres, and hand finishing is needed. Keep a power margin on long parts.
The surface is soft: a machine lid set down on it, or masking tape pulled off too fast, leaves a visible mark. Work on a clean offcut and remove masking flat.
Risks and finishing
A soft exotic wood, resinous in places, okoume ignites easily on a slow cut or a second pass. Keep fume extraction and air assist running and watch it constantly: it is one of the plywoods that least forgives an unattended machine.
Exotic wood dust is more irritating than European wood dust: clean the bed after a batch and avoid blowing dust around the workshop with compressed air.
For finishing, okoume drinks a lot: a filling primer is needed before painting, and a marine varnish if the part will see moisture. On a raw part, 240-grit sanding then a hard oil evens out the look and softens edge scorch marks.
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.