Q & A: What are the Best Kinds of Wood to Use? | Q&A | CNC Wood Carving Machines
Q & A: What are the Best Kinds of Wood to Use?
Tue/11-Nov-2008 Filed in: Q&A
I get a lot of emails from my newsletter subscribers asking for advice and help... I thought that I would start a new segment of this blog (Q&A), where I post some of those questions and the corresponding answers. I'm hoping this information will help everyone, not just the original subscriber.
Question:---------------------------
Gary R writes and asks;
Hello,
I just received my wood carver, so I don't have much experience yet.
My question is what are the best kinds of wood to use? I tried poplar and
it seems not to hold much detail. Kind of splintery.
What do you experts advise?
Thanks,
Gary R.
Answer:------------------
I have to admit that for the most part all I've ever used for my carvings has been oak - either white or red. These seem to hold great detail but I really didn't know the complete answer to this question so I did a bunch of research and the best advice I could muster was from the CW Forum itself. Here's what I found.
Hard materials with tight grains produce the best finishes. In most cases, feathering and chip out will increase as the grain size increases. Also dry materials tend to produce a better quality finish then material with high moisture content. The CarveWright Designer Software has several tools to control chip-out to help when working across all types of wood grain.
Question:---------------------------
Gary R writes and asks;
Hello,
I just received my wood carver, so I don't have much experience yet.
My question is what are the best kinds of wood to use? I tried poplar and
it seems not to hold much detail. Kind of splintery.
What do you experts advise?
Thanks,
Gary R.
Answer:------------------
I have to admit that for the most part all I've ever used for my carvings has been oak - either white or red. These seem to hold great detail but I really didn't know the complete answer to this question so I did a bunch of research and the best advice I could muster was from the CW Forum itself. Here's what I found.
Hard materials with tight grains produce the best finishes. In most cases, feathering and chip out will increase as the grain size increases. Also dry materials tend to produce a better quality finish then material with high moisture content. The CarveWright Designer Software has several tools to control chip-out to help when working across all types of wood grain.
