<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Oddly enough, I was going to suggest the opposite! A high solids stain. Or even paint.<div class=""><br class=""><div class="">Having tried this before, the hard part is getting a crisp transition.</div><div class="">You don’t want the stain to penetrate the light surface and only get into the grooves.</div><div class="">You have to seal the areas that you want to be light before you stain the areas you want to be dark (assuming a dark colour stain).</div><div class="">You can seal by applying a coat of varnish or sealing finish and then carving in the lettering.</div><div class="">Easier than painting the whole thing and then sanding back, especially if the grooves are going to be shallow.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The folks who do wood signage sound like they use cheap black spray paint for the dark contrast.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">If you are going to use the laser to write on the surface, it might be interesting to see if you can simply ablate </div><div class="">a surface varnish coat. Spray it with black paint. Wipe with a rag+paint thinner. Sand just a bit and then add a clear coat.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Mar 19, 2015, at 8:41 PM, Jim <<a href="mailto:jim.kiskis@gmail.com" class="">jim.kiskis@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><div class="">Depending on the stain you may have to thin it many times and then do multi coats </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class="">Sent from my iPhone</div><div class=""><br class="">On Mar 19, 2015, at 7:35 PM, Darcy Whyte <<a href="mailto:darcy@inventorartist.com" class="">darcy@inventorartist.com</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""></div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">I'm making a gift (perhaps like this). <a href="http://www.houseofcribbage.com/cribbage-board-4-track/continuous-cribbage-board-4-tracks-rose-wood-rw-a-9.jpg" class="">http://www.houseofcribbage.com/cribbage-board-4-track/continuous-cribbage-board-4-tracks-rose-wood-rw-a-9.jpg</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I was wondering if anybody's had any luck staining inside groves and lettering?</div><div class=""><div class=""><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>