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A friend recently got funding to buy a laser cutter to use with his students and I sent the following to him. With the, relatively recent, arrival of affordable easy to use lasers on the market I realized there might be other teachers out there with new tools and not a lot of experience. So I thought I should share what I’ve learned. My school got a laser a couple years ago with similar cutting/engraving capabilities of most of the hobby grade lasers on the market today.
For material we use a lot of 1/8” Baltic Birch Plywood. I get it from Amazon in 12” x 12” sheets . It works really well, but occasionally there are inconsistencies in the glue. These inconsistencies can some times prevent the laser from cutting all the way through the wood. You can sometimes salvage the piece by finishing the cut from the back side with an exact-o-knife. This is a problem with all plywoods. I get this in a box of 50 sheets for $65, so less than $1.5 ea.
If I want wood for nicer projects I mostly get it from a place in Wisconsin, Woodchuck’s Wood . They sell a variety of thin stock hardwoods (1/8” and 1/4” thick). They’re a relatively small operation so it can take a couple weeks to get your order. As far as price and variety, this is the best place I’ve found for thin stock.