Ivan Dimitrov Carvings at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of Santa Fe

Here's some amazing pictures of SFCC Advanced Woodcarving professor Ivan Dimitrov's latest project. The work celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of Santa Fe and took about a year to complete.

SFCC Summer and Fall Class Schedule Posted Online

SFCC Fine Woodworking Class Schedule for Summer and Fall 2017 now online at:
SFCC Summer and Fall 2017 Class listings

Registration Begins:
Tuesday, April 18 for Summer (students close to graduation may register April 17)
Tuesday, April 25 for Fall (students close to graduation may register April 24)

For descriptions of specific classes, view our SFCC Course Catalog
If you need permission for a class or have questions, contact Doug Jones at douglas.jones1@sfcc.edu, 505-428-1741 or Bob Mays at charles.mays@sfcc.edu , 505-428-1726

Check out this link that David Gamble sent about a show of inlaid guitars at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix:


Dragons and Vines Show at the MIM in Phoenix

Extraordinary Structures made at MAKE Santa Fe

Fascinating article describing how Zane Fischer and company at MAKE Santa Fe is using Sketchup and CNC router technology to design and construct a new type of framing system for houses:

Extraordinary Structures

Compression Bits

I bought one of these compression bits with a bearing for flush-trimming a small production run of chair parts to templates. It has proved to work exceptionally well for both solid wood and veneered surfaces. They are quite pricey at close to $100, but ultimately save you by greatly reducing wood/veneer tear-out and sanding. Here's an article that Bill Garrett sent with more info on them for CNC and general woodworking use:

Compression Bits. CNC Tooling Basics for Woodworkers: Part Three

By: Tim Celeski | January 31, 2017

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Compression router bits and mills upcut on the bottom of the bit and downcut over the rest of the length.

Part Three: More End Mill & Router Bit Details

In my last post, the focus was on the cutting edges, or flutes, along the sides of an end mill. If you’ve missed the previous segments on CNC mills, here’s the intro and part one. As suggested earlier, two-flute end mills designed for woodcutting and router bits almost always work best. We’ve reached the end of this tooling primer but before we go, I want to pass on a few more details you should know about CNC mills. I’ll be focusing on hobbyist-sized CNC machines next month but I’m certainly not done with this topic. Down the road, there’ll be much more about CNC mills including selecting mills for specific purposes such as part cutting, carving, specialty and high-performance mills, a suggested basic mill set for digital woodworkers and more.

Upcut or Downcut?

Many straight end mills or router bits come in two versions: upcut, where the waste from the cut is pulled upward and ejected out the top; and, downcut where the waste is actually being pushed down and back. If you’ve used a hand-held router, chances are you’ve mostly used upcut bits. If you’re making a mortise that will later house a tenon, for example, you certainly want to get the chips out of the way as you’re cutting. The same thinking holds true when using a CNC. You want to eject the chips as fast as you can.

However, there are some trade offs to be considered when using upcut mills on a CNC. For one thing, upcut bits are more likely to tear the top surface with the cutting edges because they’re pulling the wood fibers up while cutting. On laminated materials, such as plywood with a thin top veneer, that can matter a lot. It may not matter if you’re ultimately going to round over that top edge and/or apply solid wood edge, but in other situations, it might be a problem.

Another issue that’s different on a CNC than with a router is that the upward cutting action pulls the piece of wood you’re cutting off the table. If you’re not careful, that can cause the piece to move if it’s not firmly held down. So, in some situations that makes a downcut bit or mill the better choice. With a downcut mill, the advantage is that it’s pushing down on the piece you’re working, plus it cleanly cuts the top surface. The tradeoff is the waste is pushed back into the cut area instead of being ejected.

So how do you decide on an upcut vs. a downcut bit on a CNC?

If you’re cutting MDF or HDF you absolutely have to use an upcut bit. Otherwise, between the bit getting overheated and the fine paper dust-like waste being pushed back into the cut, there’s a high potential of starting a fire. I know because I’ve made the mistake of using the wrong bit at a slow speed, and the result was a near-fire situation with smoke pouring off the MDF board I was cutting – unnerving to say the least! (And yes, I ran to my dust collector barrel to make sure that I wasn’t starting a fire there, too.) You can bet that I’m careful about this detail now. My mantra: MDF = Upcuts.

As you can guess, when cutting solid wood, most of the time an upcut is the best solution. But not always. On a CNC, I use downcut bits almost exclusively when I’m cutting out solid-wood parts, because the top surface comes out perfect and the wood is held tighter the bed because the bit is pushing down as it’s cutting. But I have to run the CNC faster so that the chips and the bit don’t overheat. To do this, I usually take shallower cuts and multiple passes at higher speeds than I would use with an upcut bit, where I might take the opposite approach with slightly deeper cuts and fewer passes.

Compression Bits

Thanks to modern end mill and router bit design, you can now have your cake and eat it, too. Compression bits do both upcuts and downcuts at the same time. They have flutes that upcut on the bottom .250″ or so, and flutes for rest of the cutting length that are for downcutting. These are the cutting tool of choice for laminated materials such plywood. But you have to use them correctly. Your first pass needs to be slightly deeper than the upcut section of the bit, say .260″, then the remaining cutting area on the bit will push down the board and cleanly cut that top surface without tearing the thin top veneer layer. Also, if you cut all the way through the board, you get a bonus: The top cutters don’t tear out the bottom veneer layers because they are pulling the fibers inward. A win/win situation.

For solid woods, compression mills or bits can work just as well. But to get their major benefit you need to keep in mind the depth of that first pass. For very hard woods, .250″ might be too deep a cut. With other, softer, woods this may not be an issue. For MDF, which is notoriously hard on cutting tools, it just seems like such a waste using an expensive bit on such as abrasive material, so I stick with upcut bits.

Climb vs. Conventional Cuts

With conventional cuts the bit is biting into the material at it travels. A climb cut, on the other hand, pushes the bit away from the material. This is why it’s so difficult to control a hand-held router during a climb cut, and why you really need to pay attention to the direction that you’re routing. Cutting direction is a different issue on a CNC machine where the stock is tightly held onto its bed. There, you can take advantage of climb cutting to get the benefits, which are usually less tear-out and a smoother cut. In fact, on a CNC, climb or mixed cutting are the preferred techniques. Mixed cutting is faster, too. However, there will be times when cut direction on a CNC is important. I’ve had a few issues with very soft woods with strong grain where I’ve restricted cutting to conventional cutting, but for the most part, I cut bi-directional to speed up the milling process.

Though I prefer carbide end mills and router bits for their longevity, sometimes bargain high-speed still mills have their place. These heat-treated Onsrud 3/8″ mills are very useful for part cutting.

Cutting-Tool Materials

Router bits and end mills are made out of a variety of materials. The most common are high-speed steel (HSS) or carbide. Carbide is harder, lasts longer, resists heat better and can take faster feed rates. In my work, most of the time I use carbide mills. If you’re already using a router you likely are using them as well. Carbide lasts a long time and the better ones are worth resharpening. You need to be very careful when using carbide cutters; they break with the slightest deflection. Though carbide is superior in most ways, HSS mills have their place in some situations and when cost is a consideration. I have occasionally found great deals on quantities of HSS mills in sizes I like to use for CNC part cutting. If the work isn’t too hard and you’re careful to not overheat the bits, use them. I’ll use HSS cutters on a few projects; once they’re dull, I toss them.

To further enhance wear resistance, various coatings, including titanium aluminum nitride (TiAN) and diamond, are sometimes applied to carbide tools. Though these may add to add to a cutter’s longevity for specific metals, for woodworking use, an uncoated mill running at an optimal speed works just fine. Some manufacturers, including Onsrud, use special coatings on some of their end mills to protect them from higher temperatures.

— Tim Celeski

P.S. Next month, I’ll introduce a class of CNCs that are well-suited for hobbyist woodworkers and I’ll follow that up with a review of one of them.

Furniture Design Class Models on Display in SFCC Art Lobby

Recent models by last Fall's Furniture Design class are on display in the lobby of the Art Wing (700's). Great job everyone and thanks for bringing them back in:

World of Wood, formerly Albuquerque Exotics

I recently got a newsletter from World of Wood off Menaul in Albuquerque concerning a significant expansion of their lumber offering:

Warehouse

Our goal is to provide New Mexico with quality products at a quality price.  To accomplish this we now have our warehouse up and running.  We have had over 35,000 board feet of wood delivered to the warehouse and it is ready to sell.  The warehouse will supply the store with a consistent inventory as well as any bulk orders for our customers.  Due to the size of the store we do not have large quantities on the floor; however, we will be able to supply many species in bulk.  Ask one of our sales staff to help you with any of your needs.
The warehouse will also be available to customers buying large quantities of wood.  The warehouse is not set up for walk in business at this time.  As a result, it will be available by appointment only at this time.  Just talk to Ernie Cano, to set-up an appointment in person or over the phone. He can be reached at: (505)239-1549 or email him at, support@myworldofwood.com. Please specify the species, thickness, and quantity you will need so we can make sure we have it in stock.  In order to help provide better service to our customer’s delivery will also be available for orders over 100 board feet. 
At this time, we still have limited species and grades.  We have been working with the saw mills and shipping companies to help build our inventory.  As time goes on we will be able to provide a more consistent supply of hardwoods for New Mexico.

Bulk pricing We have become a distributor for some of the biggest sawmill groups in the United States.  As a result, our cost have dropped and we are passing that savings on to you.  This is being done in two different ways.  Price drops on wood on the floor.  We are now also offering bulk pricing discounts.  The bulk pricing will work as follows: 0 to 100 board feet (BF) = regular price 100 to 500 board feet (BF) = 20% discount 500 to 1000 board feet (BF) = 25% discount 1000 + board feet (BF) = 30% discount If you are a company and have a state tax number, we would like to get you to set up a tax certificate (NTTC) to help with the cost as well.  In order to do this go into your state account and look to execute a NTTC.  Enter out tax number, 03-305902-00-0.  Bring us a copy of the tax certificate and we will set it up in the system.

Price Drops Many of our domestic species have dropped in price.  The following are examples of some of the price drops:                                               Was       Now Walnut 4/4                          $ 9.75     $ 8.35 Cherry 4/4                           $ 6.00     $ 4.90 Maple 4/4                            $ 7.00     $ 4.80 Cedar 4/4                             $ 5.00     $ 3.90 Hickory 4/4                          $ 4.50     $ 3.80 Alder 4/4                              $ 5.00     $ 1.99 Ambrosia maple 4/4           $ 3.50     $ 2.35 Red Oak 4/4                         $ 5.00     $ 4.05     While Oak 4/4                      $ 6.00     $ 4.65     This is just an example of many of the woods that have dropped in price.  We also have several new exciting grades of many species.  Come in and check out all the new changes.

Wood of the Month Select Pen Blanks 40% off We have ordered in a massive quantity of exotic pen blanks and have them on sale for the wood of the month.  It will be limited to select species on display on the sales counter.  The following are the species and the pricing.                                                   Was        Now African Blackwood               $ 7.00     $ 4.20 Kingwood                               $ 5.00     $ 3.00 Afriacan Padauk                    $ 1.50     $ 0.90 Zebra wood                            $ 2.00      $ 1.20 Pink Ivory                               $ 4.20      $ 2.52 Pau Rosa                                  $ 3.00      $ 1.80

Turning stock 25% off We are offering all of our turning stock at 25% off for the month of February.

Pre-Sale Sale     One of our vendors has received a shipment of Cocobolo!  It is going really fast and will not last for very long.  The future of Cocobolo continues to look the same as it has for the past few years, very little to none available.   Starting today 2/2/2017 through Sunday 2/26/2017 we will offer our Pre-Sale Sale. The 4/4 is kiln dried, the 8/4 is air dried only.  I do not get the opportunity to select the boards or make any request for what they send us.  We get what we get.  I will order in a little extra to help give variety for people to choose from.   3" up X 3' up means I am guaranteed the board will be at least 3" wide by 3 feet long. Here is how the sale will work.  You place an order for the amount of board footage you want.  Pay in full for the wood you order.  When the sale ends, we will place the order with our vendor and it will take about 2 weeks to arrive.   When it arrives, you come in and select the boards you want (first come first served).  This vendor has always been good about selection and quality.  If you take less then you ordered I refund you some money.  If you take more then you ordered you give us a little more money (still at the pre-sale price).  I'm also going to add a few other choices of species, see list below. Cocobolo 4/4        3" up X 3' UP      $55/board foot Cocobolo 8/4        3" up X 3' UP      $60/board foot Ziricote 4/4           3" up X 3' UP      $55/board foot Kingwood 4/4      3" up X 3' UP      $55/board foot Place your order by calling the store at 293-9663, or drop by in person.