My new favorite wood!

Desert ironwood. This little 3/4” thick 4”x4” piece weighs as much as a 1x3x8 piece of pine. Machines BEAUTIFULLY. First time machining it so was cautious. .25” whiteside downcut. 55ipm, 9ipm plunge, .025” depth per pass. Pocket was as smooth as glass.

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What are you planning to do with it?

I machine turkey call blanks for a call maker

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It does look like it in the picture, but’s it’s lined up fine. Everything is perfectly smooth with the 40% step over. Just went to checked the pocket and it’s a slick as can be.

Hmmm. I see what you are saying, even holding the call in my hand. Honestly first time I’ve noticed it, might have just started? Also, can’t feel any lines or ridges on the surface with finger nail or a little Brad nail

Just checked a koa call that was milled before the ironwood… I can BARELY feel a line on sides, but not top and bottom.

Try a piece of scrap wood, use the largest bit you have and set stepover to 80-90% and try again. That will give greater “resolution” to any tramming issues.

The best way is to use a tram dial indicator, or a cheap DIY variant of the same.
You need to skim the surface prior to get accurate results.

DON’T power up the router, turn the boom by hand.

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This is the same method I use to set my drill pres table back in square with the quill. But there I use a bent coat hanger tightened down in the chuck.

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I use the same method. It’s rather difficult to get that spindle perfectly aligned. Hard AF.

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Saw a post using that method a while back. Now that I think about it, the issue may be due to the sacrificial “wasteboard” I’m using.
The blocks the call maker sends me for the calls are 4” give or take a bit. The outside diameter of the call is 3.85”, so I use a 1/4” thick 5”x5” piece of MDF and carve the outside shape .02” in to it. That way I can set the actual piece of wood on top of that to be 100% sure the wood will be set right, especially since the wood isn’t always square.