fronts created by CO2 and fibre lasers in stainless steel at thicknesses between 2 mm and 10 mm have been ‘frozen’ and their geometry has been measured. The resulting three dimensional shapes have been curve fitted as ninth order polynomials in the xz and yz planes and as a semicircular geometry in the xy plane. Various features of the cutting front geometry are discussed including the lack of correlation of the cut front inclination with either the relevant Brewster angle or the inclination of the striations on the cut edge