Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir art projects that carved well?

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JoniEl
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Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir art projects that carved well?

Post by JoniEl »

Wondering if anybody has used softwoods like Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir for art projects that carved well? I'm thinking about objects that did well in the Finishing toolpath & look good.

Also plan to do a 24x36" piece filled with text, so expect to use plywood. Unsure even about how Baltic Birch would turn out, or a quality sanded plywood on 9 pt & 11 pt Arial Narrow from a PDF made from Adobe Illustrator?

Perhaps best with what tool & toolpath, like engraving? Or perhaps Laser?

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Leo
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Re: Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir art projects that carved well?

Post by Leo »

I do a lot of stuff on Native White Pine, construction lumber, and all sorts of softwoods.

Small text not so good.

It all depends on what you are doing.

The whale is construction lumber 2x6
The back board is native rough sawn white pine
IMG_20210425_154832547thumb.jpg
Imagine the Possibilities of a Creative mind, combined with the functionality of CNC

JeffZ
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Re: Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir art projects that carved well?

Post by JeffZ »

My experience with baltic birch is that it machines well but likes to tear out a bit on the surface. It doesn't have many voids like most other plywood's do. I like to stain and clear coat the surface before I cut my letters out. It seems to hold together much better.

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TomWS
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Re: Ponderosa Pine & Doug Fir art projects that carved well?

Post by TomWS »

Here is something I carved out of vertical grain Douglas Fir. Pockets cut about 1/4" deep and painted flat black. 1/8" spiral upcut endmill with 1/16" profile to sharpen the edges. It had some fuzzies to sand with sanding sticks, but, overall, I was pleased with the result.
DouglasFirFloorFauxRegister.jpg
We bought an old house with forced air heating that we replaced with a hydronic system. That left a lot of holes in the floors where the original cheap metal registers were placed. Rather than trying to replace the flooring, we decided to make it a 'feechur' :D

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