Beech is a hard wood with a very fine, even grain: the best solid wood for detailed engraving, especially on turned objects, handles and toys.
Settings: what really matters
Unlike oak, beech has almost no hard/soft alternation: engraving is remarkably even, which allows clean photographic gradients.
It is dense: expect more energy than plywood, and accept that a 10 W diode only reasonably cuts up to 3 or 4 mm.
Steamed (pinkish) beech engraves darker than white beech: two similar-looking boards can give two different contrasts, so test first.
Risks and finishing
Ordinary wood fumes, extraction needed. Beech moves a lot with humidity: a thin laser-cut piece can warp within days if not stored flat.
Pale beech shows smoke halos clearly: masking tape is strongly advised. Hard wax oil darkens the engraving and gives a warm look, well suited to handled objects.
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.