Damp, wet, cold day here.
So, mind went “what if??”
Got into my box of saw blades and picked this one.
I did a horrible job of prepping it knowing it was not going to work.
Didn’t care about settings.
Cleaning after was just as bad! lazy I guess, and messy.
BUT, it worked!
Didn’t scrub off, and I don’t think it will after a clear coat to stop rust from forming.
Not bad for a 10W diode.
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I think that is great. Can I ask is that saw blade coated in something, or how did you get a diode laser to etch on metal.
More info on how you did this please, I’m also very impressed with the clock face. Excellent work.
I coated the blade with 3 coats of dry moly lube after a light sanding. Didn’t try to hard to clean it up since I really didn’t think it would work. Next one I will sand blast it to get a good cleaning.
Ran it at 300mm/min and 100% power. Need to play with the setting some. I don’t think it needs to go that slow.
I will know more when I get the next one running with a better cleaning.
That looks great, very nice design. And well centered to boot.
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And risk ruining the process???
Just had a horrible thought… If that clock falls off the wall, it is going to make an ugly mark in the floor.
Depends how fast the second hand is moving.
But ya, it probably would.
This is awesome
Just a bit of an update on this.
I sandblasted another blade to get a better cleaning.
I do not know if the freckle markings are from terrible composition or age. Guess it don’t matter since they are supposed to be old blades for there new use.
But anyway, this was done and got 2 coats of satin clear coat.
Now need to go out and get the clock kit and get it working.
So for a final note. YES you can do it.
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I’m not op, but I’ve etched on unpainted stainless steel tumblers with a 22W diode. You do have to go quite slow (500mm per minute or so). My wife sometimes gets darkened areas accidentally when she’s just trying to burn the powder coat off tumblers. The black marks don’t seem to clean off. We haven’t figured out exactly what causes this as she burns at relatively high speeds for the machine (5000mm per minute or so which is about 50% speed for this machine).
Just one idiot’s opinion, but I much prefer the natural patina on the first one.
I agree. Love the first one. Hopefully, I can create such awesome things.
You know this psykedelic pics that you look at, to try to find the pattern…i was looking and looking at your sawblade and wondering…»what did the dude do to it?» i couldnt see anything…and then i though «do Harley Davidson manufacture sawblades?.» well, i did see a documentary yesterday about how eating mushroom will destroy you, but i swear, i didnt eat it! 
really cool work thou 
That looks great. I often do stainless steel, but never thought to try other steels. Saw blades are generally just high carbon steel, so may be that’s the reason this works? interesting that aluminium really doesn’t work at all…Funny thing chemistry…
One thing I’ve done when doing clock faces like this is to run a test grid on the back side of the sawblade. One can then choose the best settings from that. If you put a shroud on the back for the movement, the pattern really doesn’t detract from the piece and since it’s on the back, the only time someone will see it is when they change batteries in the movement.
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