Laser Engraving Blog – MBJD Laser

A big part of our Laser engraving business is doing work on leather.   If the project is done correctly you can really get outstanding looks when laser engraving leather.  One of the biggest hurdles however when working with leather is educating the customer as to what the engraving will look like.   (I would like to say that the picture below was taken while doing a google image search so it is not our photo.  I would love to give credit to the photographer but we were unable to find the original source.)    This picture shows both laser engraving on leather as well as leather embossing. 

The top left portion of the picture has been laser engraved.   Most likely by a CO2 laser like we have here at MBJD Laser.  The bottom right portion of the photo shows leather embossing.   Both styles look impressive but as you can see they are two totally different kinds of looks.

The reason for showing this is to help educate the general public as to the difference between the two.    Laser engraving on leather is basically using a controlled burn with a laser to remove a very thin portion of leather while at the same time burning it to a dark brown/black color.  As you can see in the photo the laser engraving is dark and really pops.   The embossing of leather is more of a 3d pressed look.  I like to explain embossing like this.   When you were a kid and you played with Play Doh you would push your fingers into the play doh and when you removed your fingers you could still see the indention in the play doh.  That is essentially what is going on with Leather embossing.

While both processes look very nice its up to the customer to decide what look they are wanting to achieve.