Bamboo engraving with CO2

Is there an actual way to make bamboo engraving dark ?
Tried fast with lots of power, slow with little power, in focus, out of focus to varying degrees…and the combinations in between. But no matter what i do the engraving just washes off under water while in cleanup stage, So i’m just left with engraved depth but not much colour… To be clear i’m not looking for paint filling/staining the engraving tips, just trying to figure out if its just wood itself that is not conducive to engraving on CO2 lasers ? (also to avoid unneccessary steps in production)…
Machine is 80W CO2, so diode wisdom may not apply.

Bamboo has not been my go-to for this reason. It doesn’t get dark.

I haven’t tried it yet but maybe let it dry out completely.
Till all the color is gone in it. I will cut one down and try it, the ones I have are the ones with a green strip and about 3" in diameter and 30 feet tall.

After i engraved last board i let it sit for maybe an hour, then rinsed it in water with the help of dish washing sponge (no brush was used) and all colour just washed right off…
Sorry, dont have “before” pic, but this is after washing/drying… Its not as light or inconsistent as most i see, but still lost most of its colour…

It was engraved at 250mmps ~20% and way out of focus (+7-8mm on 2" lens).

It’s a long shot maybe, but a test may be worthwhile —-> the baking soda solution sorcery.

The biggest issue with bamboo is that you will get an uneven burn due to the different bamboo that is used when laminating. Even if you get a dark burn, it will not be the same when it burns on a different part of the board.

My suggestion for bamboo would be to apply transfer tape masking on the material, seal it well with a countertop roller, run the engraving job on the piece, spray (with paint or stain) the engraved area, and unmask the transfer tape.

Hallo
Hast du schon mal “cross hatching” ausprobiert ?