[jmf]

From anyone's experience, is there a hardwood preference for better quality 3d machining ?

[awerby]

What do you mean by "best"? Each kind of wood has its strengths and weaknesses. What's most important to you - Dimensional stability? Availability in large pieces? Strength for weight? Ability to hold fine detail? Hardest or most beautiful? Rot resistance outdoors? Most cost-effective?

Tell us what you're looking for in a wood species, and we'll be better able to help.

[jmf]

awerby,

Sorry I wasn't specific, what I am mainly looking for in a good wood for my projects is the ability to hold fine detail, as you put it so well.

Thanks,
John

[awerby]

In that case, boxwood is the best. Unfortunately, it's rare, expensive, and only available in small pieces. If your projects are small and intricate, though, its ability to hold detail is unmatched. It's been used historically for things like rosary beads, netsukes, and chess pieces. It carves a lot like ivory, with few problems due to grain direction.

[Trotline]

Of the commonly available, more cost effective woods, maple or cherry would be better then, say oak or poplar. They're denser, less fibrous, and not as subject to tearout. Having said that, though, it's good to experiment, and see how the various woods react to different feeds & speeds, tooling, etc. Lots of things can factor into what suits your projects best. Oak, for instance, has beautiful, vivid grain that might outweigh any problems it presents.

Luke

[jmf]

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate it.

I do have a lot of Cherry and have liked working with it, never heard of boxwood but it sounds really nice to work with, I'll do some checking on the pricing and availability for the boxwood.

[Matt Clara]

Anyone ever try holly? I've read that carvers and turners like it. It's grain is all but undetectable and it's for the most part white/off white. I have a few board feet of it I'm wanting to try some 3D carving on. And I will, just as soon as I get some other things sorted! It's not particularly cheap, and the longest board I've seen of it was about three foot long, five inches wide and .75 thick.

[bhurts]

My favorites for carving is a mix of domestic and imported. Domestic woods I like are hard maple, walnut, cherry, and dogwood. Imports I like Chechen, patagonian rosewood, and Bolivian rosewood. The three imports are great but expensive. Of the three Chechen seems to hold fine detail the best and is a very hard stable wood. It's also the cheapest at abit 8 dollars a board foot. Purpleheart is similar in price and hardness but the colors not for every project.

Ben