Router Carving

Ready-to-carve 3D images make it easy to produce finished machine carvings or hand tool ready roughouts.

- By Chris Fitch

Creating stunning carved woodwork has never been easier with a CNC router. Think of all the creative possibilities for carvings: door panels, box lids, frieze boards, emblems, awards, artwork, signs or having your signature carved into the back of a project. The more you use your CNC router to carve the more projects you will find for it.

Not only can the CNC router add beauty and interest to your work but it’s a blast to watch as the machine dances along the workpiece methodically and precisely revealing a beautiful carving. Not into digital carving? That’s OK, the CNC router can also be a tireless shop helper for hand woodcarving. (Yes, really.)

Three Elements

So how do we start creating carvings with our CNC router? There are three main elements to consider: the artwork, the type of work, and the carving process. First, we need a digital image. You can create your own or find one online. To create a 3-dimensional image suitable for a carving requires specialized software. Vectric Aspire, Rhino and 3D Systems Geomagic Freeform are some of many examples of software capable of creating 3d models suitable for carving. A simpler solution for those of us who want to incorporate CNC carvings without mastering the drawing software is to use 3d clip art available online. There is an amazing variety and amount of 3d clip art ready for you to download so plan on spending several hours online being awed by all the choices.