CNC Business Card.

One of the perks of a laser or other CNC cutter is cool business cards!

I’ve been using wood for my business cards. Exotic hardwood has been cool but oddly hardboard has been even more popular. It may be because of contrast with blackening from the laser. Also I find that hardboard is more robust in this application than exotic woods.

The hardboard is from cut-off and extra material from projects. So it’s reused material. I really enjoy that aspect. Also the cutoffs may have cutaways and other features from prior use of the material. Every card has a story and is associated to a project.

I often run into people a year or more after giving them my card and they are still carrying it. Also when giving it out at various socials it is not uncommon for someone to say they’ve seen my card since their friend has one or they’ve seen it around the internet.

Here’s a version using hardboard with a layer of melamine. The record spindle design come from my vinyl business card project. These ones are cut using a CNC rotary cutter instead of the laser.

There were a number of experiments with different designs and different materials leading up to this.

On the material front I have tried paper, cardboard, card-stock, Bristol board, sumac, balsa-wood, hardwood, veneer, vinyl LP records, hardboard and a few other materials.

One challenge with real wood is grain balsa being the worst.

Reaction

You get a variety of reactions to wooden business cards. One of my favorite is this young lady immediately got busy making a mess with salt and pepper.

This other young lady showed me her card which happens to match her bottom exactly since she keeps them in her back pocket. That was some impressive on-up-man-ship I didn’t see that one coming.

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Published on: Sep 8, 2012 @ 17:28