I’ve been successful just washing the projects with soap and water. It gets rid of the burnt smell and simply cleans soot off. I’ve even used it on veneers but found that the amount of time and water have to be kept to a minimum. Originally I thought the water would damage everything and I would sand off the soot instead. I caught one of my grandkids washing off his projects with great success and I started to do it. It has saved me time and now its been a while since I have sanded through thin veneers.
And as an added bonus you get free cooling for the laser!