2 Likes
My fancy schmancy hardwood (Purple Heart, Red Heart, Black Walnut, Satinwood…). Satinwood smells soooo good. Red Heart looks so good. 
I also like the “normal” wood though, Oak and Ash and Thorn, Pear, I absolutely love Cherry as well… wood in general is just neat.
2 Likes
I like working with foam. While not forgiving in terms of durability, it is easy to cut and prototype with. When systems are being dialed in or tested, it typically won’t force cnc destruction and is fairly inexpensive. Melting a blob on the bit for the first time is somewhat exciting, but atypical for using it. Low rpm. High feed rate… Full depth at 1.5" is fun to watch… with a mask on and dust collection. It is pretty terrible without dust collection and static clings to everything.
1 Like
HDPE. Super easy to machine. I never seem to get a perfect surface finish on the sidewalls, but the Z faces work great.
1 Like
Aluminum (2mm, 6mm, 9mm).
Maybe because I have masochistic tendencies, maybe because of the challenge, and maybe because of the sense of satisfaction when it all turns out great in the end…
1 Like
Natural MDF & the green stuff
ACM/ACP sheets
Drywall sheets (with transfer tape on the finished side) you can make some nice designs, but messy AF!
1 Like
One of my favorite woods is poplar. It’s cheap, easy to work, and super stable! It can be nice looking too but generally I paint it.
I also really love Olive for wood turning. It’s gorgeous. Two years ago my neighbor cut down their olive tree and I got lots of bowl blanks out of it.
2 Likes
I mostly end up working with treated pine, honestly because I end up building a lot of stuff for outside.
In terms of favourite to work with so far I’ve enjoyed Macrocarpa because it grows well here in NZ so it’s readily available, it’s not super expensive, it’s reasonably insect/moisture resistant and it looks nice. The main downside is that it’s pretty soft so dents/marks easily.
I’ve done a fair bit with Yaka from Fiji due to my Dad having brought a fair bit of it into the country.
Most of the other common woodworking woods seem to be either insanely expensive or just utterly unobtainable here in NZ.
1 Like
I did this all for wood! My dad introduced me at a young age. Then when i was about a teen he bought a shopsmith! I was very fortunate for woodworking and what my dad taught me. Now i recently did the aluminum plates and really want to do more aluminum!!!
Oh my kids got me doing vinyl and iron on vinyl, that is kinda fun too!
1 Like
I was given some Rimu and Kauri while visiting some family that was living in New Zealand a few years ago. The Rimu was some of the weirdest wood I’ve worked with. I was using a UV finish that just would not cure on the Rimu. I’ve used it on probably a dozen different types of wood and never had any issues like that.
2 Likes
I got this Eugenia wood from a local lumber mill. It machined better than any wood I ever used. I have not been able to get anymore yet.
Second favorite is walnut. Regular walnut. I recently got Peruvian Walnut and it left so many defects and fibers I threw it out.
5 Likes
That’s really interesting. I’ve never heard of issues with Rimu for finishes. It’s well known for being pretty tough. It was used a lot in houses built around 50-60 years ago and some of the tool vendors specifically advertise the fact that their nailguns are strong enough to work with Rimu.
Kauri is beautiful, though. We have a few turned pieces of it around here and the handrails for our staircases are all from Kauri saplings. Our back yard is 4 hectares of Kauri forest, so we’re pretty lucky
2 Likes
I am all over the place for materials. Cant really think of much I have tried that I don’t like to work with. Well… MDF. I hate the dust lol. But other than that everything I have used has its purpose and once I learned how to work with it, it has worked well. I will say don’t use premade Pine panels for anything where you will be cutting narrow parts. Because they will look beautiful until the day you go to deliver the finished product, then they will split 
1 Like
Wow, can’t say I’ve ever heard of that species before but sure loooks good!
Yes. The answer is just Yes…
2 Likes