how to finish 3d carved piece?

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studioso

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hi,
Back for your advice once again...
I have CNC carved this tray/bowl in zebrawood, and I'd like to finish it in a way that will accentuate the details, giving it some depth.
I was thinking of some kind of dark finish, maybe wax that I can rub on/off and will settle in the crevices somehow, almost the way you would use rub n buff on a metal piece... I've seen done on molding, but I'm not sure how.
anyone has any advice? should I be sealing first with shellac?
thanks!
 

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How are you going to sand out those cross grain router tool marks? I think any glaze or dark wax is going to high light the minor chipout and tool marks. I'd stick with clear.
 
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Alex, a little critique if I may. You cut your roughing pass against the grain. In my experience zebra wood machines a lot like oak with it's hard and soft grain. You're better off machining with the grain. There are a couple of reasons the marks are left behind, most machine related. Your finish path was cut diagonal and your step over needs to be decreased to help eliminate the small grooves left behind since it appears it moved while being machined. I would also finish cut with the grain.

As others have mentioned you really should sand the machine marks down to avoid accentuating them because you won't be happy when they end up being the center of attraction. I wouldn't use anything dark to stain or seal it because anything you add is going to do that to a certain extent anyway or give it an amber tint. I would hand rub several coats of Tung Oil into it to let the natural chatoyance of the zebra wood show. There are a couple of very good cnc forums that can answer literally any question you have about wood cnc routing. PM me if you're interested.
 
thank you all for your advice.

yeah, I realized I messed up with the machining. Hey, this was only my 3rd prototype!
what I did was first pass with a straight 1/4" bit for roughing, then a 1/8" round bit, then a 1/16" round bit.
However, I assumed that the round bits will sort of erase any mark left from any previous pass, so what I did was running the 1/4 inch across the grain, the 1/8 round diagonal, and the final 1/16 with the grain. in retrospect I see I should have probably done all 3 with the grain.
also, I think that perhaps with the first 2 bits I should have left .050 or so for the last bit, even where the first bit reached.

OhioCoconut, which cnc forums are you thinking of? I find CNCzone to be very overwhelming, if you know what I mean...
 
No problem, I was a newbie once too and I'm still learning. How much material you leave for a finishing pass depends on what software you're using and which bits you intend to use. There's no need to use two different tools for a finish pass unless you're not satisfied with the detail from the first bit, it just adds more machine time. The preview of the image your cutting should give you an idea of the detail you'll end up with depending on the resolution you select when you design it. I'm running Aspire on both of my machines and I've been to the forum you're referring to but the one I regularly read is Vetrics Forum. Vectric Forum • Index page
 
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