How We Make Our Products

Every product at Cherry Grove Craft is made to order in our workshop near Chester in North Wales. Here's what actually happens between you placing an order and it arriving at your door.

The materials

We work with two main materials: oak veneered MDF and Moso bamboo.

Oak veneered MDF is real oak veneer bonded to an MDF core. The veneer gives the warm, natural look and feel of oak; the MDF core gives dimensional stability and consistency — every sheet behaves the same way under the laser, which matters when you're producing 200 identical name badges or a set of matching hotel door hangers. We source it from Laserply, a UK-based specialist supplier of laser-ready sheet materials.

Moso bamboo is made by laminating strips of bamboo together into a flat sheet. It's harder and denser than most woods, slightly more moisture resistant than oak MDF, and carries FSC Chain of Custody certification (RINA-COC-001256, valid to August 2026) from our supplier in Guangdong, China. Because it's made from laminated strips, the grain direction varies across the sheet — this means the laser produces lighter and darker zones depending on fibre density, giving each bamboo piece a natural variation that oak doesn't have. It's not a defect; it's what bamboo looks like. But it's worth knowing if you're ordering in bulk and expecting perfectly uniform results.

You can read more about both materials and why we chose them in our blog post: Where Our Materials Come From.

How laser engraving works

Laser engraving uses a focused beam of light to burn away the surface of the material to a precise depth. The result is a permanent mark that sits below the surface — it can't be scratched off, it won't fade, and it doesn't use any inks or chemicals. The engraving is controlled by a vector file (essentially a digital drawing) which tells the laser exactly where to burn and how deep.

For text, logos and QR codes, the laser traces the design at high speed. For filled areas (like a solid logo), it rasters back and forth across the shape. The contrast between the engraved area and the natural wood surface is what makes the design visible — on oak, this gives a dark, warm brown mark against the lighter veneer; on bamboo, the result varies depending on where in the grain the laser lands.

The same machine also cuts — a higher power setting cuts all the way through the material, which is how hanging signs get their two drill holes and how shaped products like oval name badges are cut to size in a single pass.

What happens when you order

  1. Order received — your personalisation details and logo (if applicable) are reviewed. If anything is unclear, we'll get in touch before proceeding.
  2. File preparation — your text, logo and any other elements are set up as a vector file ready for the laser. Logos are converted to a format the laser software can read; QR codes are generated from your URL at this stage.
  3. Engraving and cutting — the file is sent to the laser. Depending on the product, this might be a single engraving pass, a cut-out pass, or both.
  4. Hand finishing — edges are checked and any residue from the laser process is cleaned off. Hanging products have jute string attached. Name badges have their fastening fitted.
  5. Quality check — every item is checked against the order before it goes into packaging. If something isn't right, it's remade.
  6. Packaging and dispatch — orders are packed in cardboard and paper — no plastic. Dispatched via Royal Mail Tracked 24 (UK) or Royal Mail International Tracked. You'll receive a tracking number by email.

What we don't do

We don't print. Everything is engraved — which means no risk of the design peeling, fading or washing off. We don't use paints, inks or chemical finishes on standard products. We don't outsource production — everything is made in our own workshop, which means we control the quality at every stage and can fix problems quickly if they arise.

See the products

Any questions about how a specific product is made — get in touch.