Don Quioxte

This is my attempt at a 3D carving of a Don Quixote stl that you can find here..

The wood is pine and some lessons I’m still learning the hard way, is that pine is not really suitable for this kind of detailed carving. If you want to carve pine I think you need to do the following.

  1. Use a bigger bit than a 1.5mm ball nose, at least 2mm and live with the loss of resolution or make your piece bigger.
  2. Final step over needs to be about 10% or bit diameter, I was using 20%.

The biggest problem has been fuzzies…

For the future, I think a bigger bit and smaller step over should help eliminate them. This time around I’ve had some success with brushing on a mixture of white vinegar and olive oil. It probably would have worked better if I’d been diligent about doing it before staining.

Does anyone have any other ideas for getting rid of fuzzies, especially in hard to reach places?

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I use a 1mm tapered bit on pine, 9% step over. Brush vigorously with a nylon bristle brush, and then use a pair of long metal tweezers with tapered and rounded ends to scrape away and pick off the remaining fuzzies. Works well for me.

I have used shellac and it seems to work ok.
I have also read (but have not tried) that if you thin the shellac 50% with alcohol, it will work better. (by soaking deeper into the wood)