Finishing some engraved wine holders

[skeniver]

Hi there,

I am a complete wood working beginner and am in need of some finishing help please. I have made some wooden wine holders for my fifth anniversary and had them engraved. The wood isn't anything special (just craft wood from Homebase) and is untreated.

The engraving looks great, but is quite faint in some places. I have attached two pictures, one taken at an angle, which shows how much fainter one is than the other and one from overhead, which shows a bit better.

Does anyone have any tips on how to finish the holders? If possible to make the engraving a little darker, to see it better and to finish the holders in general

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Neil

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

You could just try a light oiling. Hopefully the oil will sink into the grooves left by the engraver and fetch the colour in a little deeper. Raw or boiled linseed oil....tung oil all would be fine.

To be really clever you could very carefully wax the flat surface with a candle. Be very careful to avoid digging the wax into the grooves where its engraved....then carefully brush a water based black paint around the letters. The letters will take the paint (hydrophilic) while the waxed surface will reject the paint (hydrophobic). Then gently brush off the puddled paint from the waxed surface and it will just leave the blackened grooves where the engraving is....thus highlighting the text.