Okay I learned most of what I know about wood working back in the day from the family furniture business. But… Grandpa had since passed and I can’t get any of that sage advice from him.
End grain through a thickness planner is a big nono 
I have heard some stories… I have seen some damage.
What about CNC? If I were to glue up an end grain and thickness it with a surfacing bit am I going to have similar disaster? If I think a bowl bit to it would I hate life and have a broken machine?
Yes, you can surface off endgrain using a tool in a CNC — it cuts much like a router.
A bowl bit can be used if you wish — just requires a delicate touch w/ feeds and speeds — most folks clear the bulk of the material using a normal tool and then do a finishing pass w/ the bowl bit.
The thing about end grain is it is tougher than face grain. So just be conservative. Many people surface and machine end grain cutting boards. The trick is to move fast but very shallow depth of cut. Do not try to hog off a lot of material. Maybe 0.010" at a time. The large bits generate a lot of cutting force and heat. So keep the speed up. If you see burning up in CM 10-30% more. If it is still burning then stop the job and go back into CC and up the IPM. The second problem for big bits and trim routers is they are really not meant to run big bits. On the CNC you can certainly run a larger surfacing bit but it puts a lot of strain on the router over a smaller bit. So by increasing speed you increase stress but making a small depth of cut helps mitigate the problem.
Indeed. My first construction job, between HS graduation and first year at university, was an addition to a factory with a lot of forklift traffic. In the interior poured slabs we left a 2.5" depression where the fork lifts would travel. This was then filled with bricks of oak, end grain up. Longer lasting than concrete and well able to withstand the traffic.
Sweet. Perhaps I will try an end grain carving this week or something!
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.