Traditional Woodworking VS CNC Woodworking

Although all the projects on CNCKing.com are made with CNC machines – it doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy looking at traditional woodworking. I’m a subscriber to The Wood Whisperer which has lots of great videos not as much for ideas as it is a reminder at how much artistry and dedication I don’t need when you use a CNC machine.

Take a look at how Mark goes about making this knife block… the amount of measurements, tools and dedication needed is where the mastery of woodworking really show. For me? Here’s one of my most complex CNC table router projects to date.

Wow… what a difference! If you bought these plans from CNCKing.com, you could make the exact same Mangonel B Siege Weapon even if you never touched a CNC table router before… try that making a knife block without any traditional woodworking skills.

One of the issues I have with making my “live” CNC videos is trying to make them interesting when in fact, almost 90% of the work I do is based on the computer to generate the cutting and tooling paths. I like this work but it’s boring to watch on video. Mark in contrast, has to measure, decide which tool to use in what steps etc… it’s a lot more work and captures great on video.

The knife block would be a easy to make with a CNC laser cutter, CNC table router, CNC 3D printer or even a CNC plasma cutter – my project would need no sanding (though I might do a little if I was using good wood), be 100% accurate (first to millionth) and could be made in a fraction of the time it takes Marc to make his.

Turn the table and if he were to make my Mangonel B Siege Weapon using traditional tools… now that’s insane as the amount of detail and precision needed would probably cause him quite a few days of blood, sweat and tears.

Where he needs a workshop full of tools to refine his processes, I just need one or two. This is the power of CNC machines – repeatability, precision and ease of use.

I’d gather to bet that my most recent project such as the Spinning Geared Box (animation below) would be almost impossible to make using traditional tools… the amount of time needed would just be incredibly frustrating to say the least as if you were only slightly off, the gears would jam… try making ALL the gears 100% perfect to a fraction of an inch and it spells trouble.

I hope this helps to explain the two camps mentality currently existing in woodworking, those, who like Mark, take YEARS to learn how to make beautiful objects using an endless assortment of tools (power and manual) vs people like me who skip all that, design something and let the machine take-over.

I wouldn’t say one approach is better than the other, but what I would say is that depending on the application, one method is probably better. I really want to get into far larger projects that would work wonderfully on CNC machines – like beds, closets etc… BIG THINGS.

Where Mark just needs to make sure his table is large enough, in the CNC world, if you want to make something big, your machine needs to be big too!