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Hand drafted that tricky curved stair stringer or let the CNC cut it? Still arguing with myself over it
Spent 3 days hand laying out a curved stair for a house in Boulder. Every tread came out dead on. But my wrist hated me and it ate a whole week.
Buddy says just model it and let the CNC router do the heavy work. Faster. Cleaner. But I keep thinking you lose the feel for how the wood wants to sit.
What do you all do? Hand layout or hand it to the machine?
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andrewrobinson20d ago
Man, I had a similar thing happen with a big set of mahogany corbels a few years back. Spent two days with a gouge and a mallet getting the sweep just right on the first one, then my brother tells me he could have run all eight on his little desktop mill before lunch. Told him yeah, but the machine don't stop when the grain starts to tear out funny, and that tear out is telling you something. Half the craft is listening to the wood argue with you, even if it takes all week. Took me way longer than a CNC would have, but those corbels fit the way they were supposed to because I felt every cut. Stairs are the same deal, the curve has to flow or your eye catches it every time you walk by.
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