# Cowhide Laser engraving

**URL:** <https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355>\
**Category:** Everything Lasers\
**Created:** [July 14, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355 "2026-07-14T20:04:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tonym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tonym](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/tonym)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355/1 "2026-07-14T20:04:54Z")

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Curious if anyone has engraved a cowhide with hair with the 45 watt? Looking for advice with power and speed settings. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![Eric](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.avidcnc.com/eric/32/3220_2.png) [@Eric](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/Eric)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355/2 "2026-07-14T20:50:42Z")

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Did you try any of the speeds here?

> [@Laser Feed and Speed Chart](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/laser-feed-and-speed-chart/5374):
>
> Hey folks! I’ve had several people ask about getting some suggested feeds and speeds for the Avid laser system. Opt has published a lot of information and we have done a lot of testing too. I’ve taken all of that information and I’ve put it on this sheet here: A lot of the feedrates I found were WAY to fast to practically run on most routers, so what I did was scale down the power and speed. For example if an engraving speed was 100% power at 800 IPM I scaled it down to 200IPM at 25% power. I…

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**Author:** ![tonym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tonym](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/tonym)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 9:55pm UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355/3 "2026-07-14T21:55:56Z")

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I did reference this chart but was hoping someone had some real experience as these hides are pretty expensive.

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**Author:** ![Eric](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.avidcnc.com/eric/32/3220_2.png) [@Eric](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/Eric)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355/4 "2026-07-15T00:28:58Z")

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I hope someone chimes in for you, but your best bet may be doing a test. You might start with the leather on that chart as a reference and make up a set of test squares and text at different power levels to see how it burns/cuts.

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**Author:** ![jjneeb](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.avidcnc.com/jjneeb/32/244_2.png) [@jjneeb](https://forum.avidcnc.com/u/jjneeb)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 3:15am UTC](https://forum.avidcnc.com/t/cowhide-laser-engraving/6355/5 "2026-07-15T03:15:07Z")

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It works great for regular tanned leather, but speed and power will need adjusting based on the depth/color you are looking for.

With the hair on it things could be quite different. Are you trying to burn off the hair and print on the leather?

Keep in mind that color has a major affect on absorbtion, so white hair vs. brown or black will likely be very different settings. So as Eric said, testing is required.