I am cutting a company logo that has raised fonts. I have tried ash, beech, and mahogany, and the grain is breaking around some of the letters.
I have made the fonts as big as I can
What species of wood seens to hold its form the best?
What is the size of the lettering?
What sort of toolpaths have you tried?
Photos of the results?
Where will the logo be displayed?
How will it be finished?
I am using Franklin Gothic Medium Cond, .375 tall with 120 spacing.
I am using a 1/8 bit followed by a 30 degree vee.
Pendorheim Draft 3.c2d (252 KB)
I was planning on a tung oil finish.
I am guessing it will be displayed on a wall
I might try a downcut bit around the text and tree first, then go back with another bit for the flat areas.
Or
Cut the flat area first but leave a border around the text and trees, then use a downcut bit for the remaining features.
1 Like
I would go even smaller with your bit diameter. Smaller bit - smaller bite. Less chance of tear out.
I suggest these from drillman1, now Oliver Tool Company. They have worked well for me in many woods.
2 Likes
Just to mention it out loud, It’s easy to get stuck in the loop where you try things over and over without taking a step back to think about how you’re trying things.
If you haven’t already, it might be worth taking a few small pieces/offcuts of different species and just doing a couple letters on each. Maybe come up with a few different tool paths for your most troublesome letter and save the setup time on each attempt 
If you wanted a relatively high effort test that you could use as your own reference down the road, maybe prep and glue up a bunch of uniform strips of different species and do a nice test pattern in each strip. Make it something nice to look at so you can keep it on display and/or use it as a visual reference to show clients for species and text size 
Good luck on your testing 
2 Likes
Your issue here is grain direction and wood types, in order to stop this from happening you should cut with a vee first to keep the structure but that will greatly alter feeds and speeds required for a clean cut, You have to think about the individual fibers and strand/pore orientation and how that affects these small features.
Additionally the Vee is it 2 flute or 4 flute a 4 flute vee is going to have a smaller chip per tooth meaning less stress on the wood you’re cutting. Next is the vee still sharp? Does it have a coating? How many Hours are on it? All of these things factor into how your final product will turn out.
I have been working with CIC on inlay kits. I have messed it up a few times and I found out that I can just buy the Plug side.
I know it’s expensive, but I bet that you can get a GREAT carve using just the inlay side since it’s both hardwood and endgrain.
You can just select the inlay “top” piece and skip the bottom piece. It’s about $40 with delivery.
1 Like