ronnave

I am just beginning to do woodworking and my skills so far are limited. Good wood is expensive and good trees are rare.
The thought of attempting to build something with imported mahogany and then ruining it scares me. Money is a significant factor.
I can build a lot of stuff and also buy more tools if I limit my craft to inexpensive raw material.
The same applies to commercial furniture.
Everyone needs furniture , but only the rich can afford solid wood furniture. For most people function is more important than style or appearance.
The best compromise for most people would be to use the expensive wood where it is most visible and to build the hidden parts with something strong but affordable.

Someday when I am very skilled , or win the lottery , I may build everything with expensive solid wood.

That said I prefer to use good plywood or pine wood. I have seen flake board crumble and disintegrate when it gets even a little damp. It definitely is no good for outside uses.
If I was making something that I wanted to last for 100 years , I would avoid MDF. Use solid wood and then seal it with good paint , varnish , stain , or other top quality sealer.

Regarding the merits of a CNS router. I would love to have one if I could afford it . I just purchased the plans for a scale model P51 fighter plane pedal car for my grandson. It will be by far my most ambitious wood working project. I spoke with the company that sold the plans. They used to make the parts for the toy plane using a CNC router. the demand was too small so they sold their shop equipment. Now I get to make all the parts in my shop. I will save a lot of money but spend a lot more time.

Based on the latest Find Wood worker magazine , I purchased a
new 3 1/4 horsepower 1/2 inch Hitachi plunge base router for
$230 including tax at Lowes. It appears to be a marvelous and powerful machine.
The CNC router described in you online magazine would have been even better. Unfortunately $4800 is beyond my budget.

My current plans call for the purchase of a table top planer ,
heavy duty floor mounted band saw , a good wood lathe , and
a steam wood bending facility.
All those tools together may cost about $2400 over the next five years.

My guess is that if I wait five years , I will be able to buy a CNC router for less than $1000 maybe much less.
Computer prices always come down as technology improves and competition increases.
As far as CNC ruining the wood workers craft, I say Hooey.
Go back to using hand tools like Jesus Christ presumably used around 30 AD.
Opposing a CNC router is like the French peasants throwing their wooden sabots ( shoes) into the gears of early industrial machines.
It is better to carefully examine and adopt progress than to fight it.
As far as the selection and change of wood bits, that is the next level of automation. In the machine tool business automatic tool chuckers have been used for years.
The problem with wood versus metal is that metal is uniform whereas wood is made from a living tree. Each tree and each piece of a tree are different.
It would be possible to program the CNC to change bits and speeds at the appropriate time. However , a different program may be needed for each piece of wood.
You will probably never be able to load a 100 pieces of wood into a hopper , press the start button and go out for coffee.
That is unless you use some sort of manufactured wood where every piece is the same.

The advanced CNC technology should free the wood worker from the tedious tasks and allow him to concentrate on creativity.
Higher productivity should allow the wood worker to make better and faster products. As the finished product became more affordable , people other than millionaires will be able to afford custom work.
This may be the solution to loss of jobs due to foreign imports.

If we could make every car , and every table a custom work of art specifically made for an individual customer ,The cheap factories of
asia would not be able to match the quality and craftsman ship.

Ron Nave

active tool buyer , and wanna be wood worker