Anybody cut wet wood?

[Ray Jorgensen]

I've been contacted to cut a project out of green cyprus. Has anyone cut wet wood? How did it work?

[Josh Rayburn]

Ray, are you asking about CNC cutting wet wood? Plywood / veneer or solid stock?
What are you cutting out of it?
jnr

[Ray Jorgensen]

The parts will be cut out of 3" X4" solid cyprus -wet. They will be wedges.

[Josh Rayburn]

Ray, I wouldn't put them on a CNC. Too much movement and unpredictability when cutting the material.

Cutting wet or green wood creates problems with the machinery and the tooling, as I'm sure you already know.
It's almost like doing a job in teak - you have to retool and oil every machine that touched the teak when the job is done, it's a real mess. Most people forget to figure that into the cost and then wonder why the sharpening bill is through the roof and then another day goes by changing all the knives in the shop......yeah I've been there.....
jnr

[Ray Jorgensen]

Thanks Josh,

I've never cut teak or anything wet, so that's why the question. How much would you add to do the job? 25%?

[Josh Rayburn]

It really depends on how your shop is set up.
Previously, I had a shop that was actually well equipped to handle teak or wet wood, or jobs that required changeover and quick setups. I had multiple jointers and planers, also multiple shapers. Therefore, I could changeover one set of machinery - and choose the smallest jointer and/or planer etc. to work on stuff like that. Then I still had another set of machinery for flattening and thicknessing the 24" wide raised panels for the other job happening at the same time. Nobody had to walk up to a machine that was unusable. Thus I did not suffer greatly, I only had to sharpen 8" jointer knives not the 24" knives. I could choose the most economical machinery for the job and figure in the time and material it cost to sharpen and change the tooling for those specific machines. What I'm getting at is the percentage on a job basis was not the way I chose to calculate it. I even had multiple larger shops in the area throw me the teak work so they could avoid changing their moulders / S4S machinery or other tooling.
Not sure what your setup is like so it's hard to say.
Hope this helps,
jnr

[Ray Jorgensen]

All I have to do is throw it on the machine, cut one side - flip it over into a jig and cut the other side. Then Ship. How bad will this dull a bit?

[Josh Rayburn]

Not so bad I guess, a good sharp bit should be helpful. How thick a blank are you starting with?

[Ray Jorgensen]

Blanks will be 3" thick 4" wide 30" long. will get tapered .75" over the 30" length.

[Josh Rayburn]

3" thick on a CNC? Risky business. 3/4" tool I presume?

[Ray Jorgensen]

No, No. The blank is 3" thick . I'll be tapering over the 30" from Z0 to Z-.75. So only going .75 deep at the max on both sides.

[Josh Rayburn]

Oh well that's much different. Load a sharp bit and have at it. Room for screws at the ends...?

[Ray Jorgensen]

Yea I can make room for screws. Might be the most trouble free. Also thinking of banking the whole table full and just letting her go.

[Josh Rayburn]

Absolutely man, that's the way to go. This whole time I thought you were trying to cut wedges 3" thick on edge - but this should be a piece o' cake. Let us know how it turns out Ray.
jnr