One company in South Africa has established itself as a leader in the complex field of plant nutrition. Founded in 1919, Kynoch is known worldwide for its many groundbreaking innovations, vision and ongoing mission to uplift farming communities. In its ongoing efforts to promote more sustainable agriculture, the company has developed a wide range of standard and tailor-made eco-friendly products. These include specific biostimulants and conventional granular fertilizer.

The new approach offers benefits for both the farmer and the manufacturer. The former retains access to potent and precisely formulated products designed to promote either root or foliar growth or fruiting, as required. The latter can rest assured that their production methods comply with the increasingly stringent regulations governing air and water pollution. Sustainability has become the new holy grail for most industries, and agriculture is no exception. Sourcing and refining the primary, secondary and trace nutrients naturally present in animal and plant byproducts has seen sustainable conventional fertilizer become a reality.

Have you had a project that takes an hour or more just to remove material... BEFORE it even gets to the finish cuts? It can make you a bit impatient. As they say, "Time is money!". Hogging bits have one main distinct advantage... They DRAMATICALLY reduce the time it takes to run your CNC project!

NOTE ABOUT SETTINGS: These are general settings based on benchtop CNC routers like the Longmill MK2, Onefinity, Millright, etc. Pro and industrial machines can be much more aggressive.

There can be no doubt that adding manure and compost will help enrich and condition depleted soils. However, plants’ nutritional requirements vary markedly between species and at different stages in their life cycle. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine the precise concentrations and relative proportions of the essential nutrients in these natural sources. Consequently, although helpful, these raw organic materials lack the precisely formulated composition necessary to guarantee optimal crop yields. Modern intensive farming practices would not be possible without the benefits of conventional fertilizer.

The hogging bits' ability to deviate from these conservative values results in a faster material removal process and, consequently, reduced run time.

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Many CNC projects require a lot of material to be removed before the finishing cuts are made, such as in pocket cuts on projects like bowls. This can take up the bulk of the run time for your project when using your traditional endmills.

Hogging bit cutting edges have a saw-tooth look, which enables them to efficiently clear away wood from your CNC project by cutting the wood into small pieces as the bit makes its cut.

Mechanically, hogging bits have a high chipload value. Meaning they can manage a lot more chips during a single rotation than regular endmills, which gives them the ability to cut much more aggrssively without the potential of excessive chip loading (getting too many chips in the flutes during a cut).

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The BADGER is the precision tool in the group, if the word precision can be used here. As it is a roughing bit, it will not leave a clean cut. While it can't take as deep a cut as the HOG or the BEAST, it effectively works exceptionally well with a 1/4" depth per pass. It operates at a feed rate of 130 inches per minute with a 70% stepover, which means it can efficiently remove material in smaller areas quickly. This makes it an excellent choice for tasks that have more detailed material removal needs.

One of the significant advantages of using hogging bits is their ability to spare the cutting edges of standard spiral endmills, keeping them sharper longer, prolonging their lifespan. This benefit arises from the following factors:

The BEAST is all about boldness. Its shorter flute length of 1" and thick core make it extremely robust. It can remove material at a whopping 1" depth of cut in one pass on hardwood! It can handle higher feed rates, which can go up to 800 inches per minute (it has been successfully tested up to 1000 inches per minute). Like the HOG, it runs at an aggressive 80% stepover. For shallower projects (less than 1" deep), this would be your choice over the HOG.

Concerns regarding the environmental impact of the chemical industry and its products have prompted a resurgence of traditional farming practices. However, while the demand for organically-grown vegetables remains relatively small, high yields are not essential, offering a niche market for smaller farms. That said, there have also been some changes in the methodology for producing synthetic plant nutrients. Initially, these manufactured products were created by the action of strong acids on inorganic compounds, often leading to widespread pollution. However, manufacturers are sourcing essential nutrients from natural organic sources to synthesise conventional fertilizer more recently.

Hogging bits are designed specifically for one thing: To remove material as rapidly as possible in your CNC woodworking projects. They are quite common in metal working but have not generally been recognized for their similar benefits in CNC woodworking until they were introduced by IDC Woodcraft.

In this article, I will explain what a 'hogging bit' is, and the differences between the HOG, BEAST and BADGER endmills from IDC Woodcraft. These bits are among the most popular at IDC Woodcraft. However, it is prudent to explain in detail what type of CNC bits they are, the benefits of using them and why they even exist.

In comes the hogging bit! The aggressive nature of hogging bits can reduce this run time by up to 10x or more. Meaning a 1-hour clearing time can be reduced to 6-10 minutes. Of course, each job has its special factors when it comes to time reduction, but hogging bits significantly reduce this time.

In conclusion, using hogging bits in CNC woodworking offers reduced run time, preserves the cutting edges of standard spiral endmills, and allows for effective cutting even as they start to dull. These advantages make hogging bits an essential tool in the arsenal of woodworkers seeking efficiency in their machining processes.

Comparing the BADGER to standard 1/8" endmills that run at a pass depth of 0.065", 40% stepover and 65 inches per minute, The BADGER runs 4 times deeper per pass, 2x the feed rate and almost twice the stepover value, making it 16x moire efficient!

Countless generations of farmers have relied on natural sources to replenish the natural nutrients present in the soil. Growing plants must consume considerable quantities of essential elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium until harvest time. It could take years to replace these fully if left to natural processes alone. Traditionally, farmers ploughed animal manure and decaying vegetation into the soil, which, assisted by bacterial action, readied the ground for future plantings. However, for just over a century, chemical or conventional fertilizer has offered growers a faster and more efficient means to revitalise the soil.

The HOG is your go-to choice when you need to remove a lot of material in deeper projects, such as bowls or rough cutouts of thicker projects like guitar bodies. It is capable of doing cuts as deep as 1-1/2". It can cut 1/2" in a single pass. However, because it has longer cutting edges, it requires a slower feed rate than the BEAST due to the potential for higher deflection. Because it is longer, it can break easier so feed rates need to be a bit lower than its shorter couterpart. It still sports an agressive setting of 80 inches per minute at an 80% stepover.

Another notable benefit of hogging bits is their ability to continue cutting effectively even as they start to dull. This advantage stems from their robust design and unique saw-tooth cutting geometry. In short, you are not concerned with finish cuts when using a hogging bit so a sightly dull bit can still be used.

Hello CNC'er. I'n Garrett Fromme, CEO of IDC Woodcraft, one of the most recognized CNC router bit companies in the CNC woodworking world.

The BEAST, HOG and BADGER all fall into the hogging bit category. Also known as roughing bits or chip breakers, hogging bits are not designed to leave smooth cuts. Their sole purpose is to remove lots of material really fast!

Hogging bits are known for their ability to significantly reduce run time in CNC woodworking projects. This is primarily due to their unique cutting geometry. Here's how they achieve this:

Hogging bits are traditionally clasified as endmills (an endmill has a spiral cutting edge). They are clearly identified by their unusual serated design along the cutting edges.

Using a hogging bit in CNC woodworking offers several significant benefits that can improve the efficiency and quality of your machining processes. Here are the three key advantages of using a hogging bit:

Compared to standard endmills, such as a 1/4" down cut, the standard endmill will have a 1/4" depth of cut with 40% stepover at 80 inches per minute. The BEAST can carve at up to 1" with an 80% step over at up to 600 inches per minute. The BEAST will be approxamately 15 times faster at removing the material.