One of my mates used to get cuttings of birch faced ply in from a company that did the laser cutting. The edge was carbonized but crisp and some of the tiny lettering in the boards had to be seen to be believed. That went from 6mm to 18mm in thickness. Only sad thing was the factory wouldn't allow visitors to watch as they said they would get swamped with onlookers and get nothing done.
Drew