Cutting Redwood

[tomkk]

I need to mill some arches in 1 x 12 redwood. I was wondering what bit and feed/speeds would work best.
Thanks Tom

[dlcw]

For soft woods, ON MY MACHINE, I use a 2-flute downcut spiral. My speed is 13K RPM and my feed is 5" per second (IPS). But that is what's right for MY machine. You might need to do some fine tuning to find out what is best for your machine.

[coryatjohn]

I find redwood to be a very easy material to mill. It's soft and has a low rate of tearout. A 2-flute downcut, as suggested by dlcw, is a good idea although I've had great results with upcuts. I keep the rpm's down to under 10k and the speed around 6 ips. That seems to be a good chip rate. I like the Onsrud 1/4" end mills for soft woods. They're sharp and sturdy.

One thing to keep in mind about redwood. The dust is an irritant and some folks can even be allergic to it. I find it irritates my eyes, nose and throat so I always use a dustmask when sanding.