Wood type question

[CraigR]

I need to do some indoor signs "on the cheap" for a friend and the first thing I thought of was pine but I know after using pine in the past it gets a little fibrous so I was wondering if anybody has tried to carve MDF before? Since it will be painted and inside just thought it may carve better.

[dbfletcher]

I have done a fair amount of carving with mdf. I am told that it is harder on the bits than normal wood... and creates a ton of ultra fine dust. But it does carve really well. There si also a new mdf on the market called tru-pan ultralight. It is considerable lighter than mdf, but i havn't been able to find it locally.

For inside signage, I do like mdf. The only down side if you have to seal all the surfaces after carving... or it will absorb paint like crazy. I've just been using white glue mixed with water in a 1-1 ratio for sealing.

Doug Fletcher

[atauer]

There has been lots of discussion on MDF and I have seen multiple projects done with MDF. I myself have used it a couple times.

MDF leaves alot of fine dust, which can get into places on the machine that you didn't know dust could get into. Kinda like when you go to the beach. You get sand in places you don't want it to be.

Carving MDF is okay, but I would recommend using a down-draft table, or some type of dust collection system to help eliminate the dust issue. It carves great, but is dusty.

[Kenm810]

A lot of us have and still do - carve MDF
It carves very nicely without to many fuzzys,
But watch out the Dust is very fine and gets into everything.

And definitely wear a good dust mask, it's loaded with Chemicals and Carcinogens.