@Gerryattrick and @rcamber: you should try, it’s really 0% skill, 95% machine/material/tools/vector input quality, and 5% luck.
0% skill required is exactly why I joined the ranks of CNC hobbyists: I have two left hands and would make a terrible woodworker, so I hide behind my computer screen and let the machine do all the precision work for me (and let Etsy artists do the artsy part for me too, as I can’t design anything beautiful myself either)
90% of the technical result is from:
- selecting a fancy vector file and letting the CAM software do all the work.
- selecting a wood that v-carves well and holds tiny details. I love bamboo for that reason but many tight-grain woods will do. Trying the same in say, pine, would be a recipe for frustration.
- selecting the right tool: staying in my comfort zone of using 60° and 90° Vbits would have meant much lower detail. It’s scary to use those tiny pointy vbits, but it shouldn’t.
- relying on a good machine (the HDZ sure helps) in a semi-decent state of mechanical tuning (mine is very average, but I do have my v-wheels and belts nice and tight)
- surfacing the piece before V-carving (I can’t stress this enough, by now I have done enough uneven v-carve jobs to know). And then setting Z0 carefully.
5% luck because I dyed the epoxy a bit randomly and was lucky to get the “mostly black but with shades of red in shallow areas” look.