Hello Everyone. I have some beautiful 1/4 and 3/4 red cedar I wanted to make a box out of but it keeps tearing out and splintering. Has anyone else experienced this and knows a good way to prevent Red Cedar from doing this?
Thanks in advance.
Cedar is a very soft wood and will tear out and split. You can try to seal the wood first. This should help
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You may also want to try a down cut bit. This will help the top edge be clean and mostly tear out free, but your bottom cut may need a little cleanup. I have used DC bits on western red cedar and spruce for inlay work with success.
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Hi,
I thought this might help.
We did a 6 x 21 cedar sign this morning and here is the process we used.
We sealed the board with Poly , you can also use shellac. (Optional we also used a mask)
We first did a roughing pass with an AmanaTools 1/8" spectra downcut bit (part Number 46200K)
After the roughing pass was complete we used an Amanatools 30 degree engraving bit for the final pass. (Part Number 45771) . You could use a 1mm straight bit, but we found the mask ended up wrapped up on the bit.
I have included part numbers so you can have a look at the bits in case you haven’t seen them before. I imagine Inventables sells similar bits.
Here is the sign after the finishing pass.
Be interested to know how you made out
Steve
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