Wood Filament
One of the cooler things you can do with your printer is to use exotic filaments. In my opinion wood filament is the coolest. Printing out a part that looks like it was carved from a block of wood is awesome. I was a shop kid in school (who would have guessed) metal shop, automotive, small gas engines I took every class I could but woodshop was always my favorite. Time would just fly in that class.
Making things out of wood just feels right. Maybe it’s the primitive aspect of carving out something from nature and reshaping it to something new or just that smell lumber produces but I have always loved working with wood (get your mind out of the gutter).
You can imagine finding out that you could print with wood filaments was an exciting day for me. I ordered a spool and fired up my printer (this was years ago mind you) and I have run a spool on my machines regularly ever since. Affiliate links ahead. If you like my articles consider clicking the affiliate links.
MG Chemicals Wood Pla
I’ve used a lot of wood filaments and filaments that tried to look like wood and the best I have found so far is from MG chemicals. Over the holidays I must have gone through 6 lbs of it. I was tight on cash this year so I printed gifts for people along with random items around the house. One of the things I like most about the about their blend is how easy it is to print with.
The first thing I printed when I built my folgertech ft5 was a baby Groot. I just used a pla setting in simplify3d and let it go. It printed out fantastic. It has one of the highest particle contents I have seen in these wood filaments but I have yet to clog my machine even once. I’m not one to do a lot of cleaning either. I do a cold pull in between Filaments but that’s about it.
Staining ![]()
Really if you are printing in wood you are probably planning to stain the final product and this is an area where MG Chemicals Wood PLA really shines. The high particle content means that when you give it a light sanding and stain it, you will see a nice deep and even stain. Overall a very high-quality PLA.
Pros and Cons…
Pros
- Easy To Print
- Sands like wood
- Smells like wood
- Stains Like wood
- Fooled family and friends into thinking it was wood
Cons
- Price. It’s not bad for an exotic but still spendy
- Becomes brittle if not kept airtight between uses
- Can clog or degrade nozzles
- Lots of stringing but easily cleaned with a file.
- Doesn’t bridge easy
Final Thoughts.
If you haven’t printed with an exotic filament yet MG Chemicals Woodfil is a great place to start. You can get a half kg for 20$ and try it for yourself. I have a project I’m printing right now that’s going to look awesome when stained. I absolutely love this filament. Their other filaments aren’t very impressive but they got this blend right. I do wish they made an abs version so I could acetone smooth it first but I will take what I can get.
I have used this filament several times with great success. Layer bonding is excellent and prints turn out great. One of the best wood filaments I have found!
MG came up during my Amazon searches for wood filaments but I hadn’t heard anything about the brand outside of the Amazon reviews. Good to know that this one is one I should try.
What kind of airtight storage methods do I use?
A zip lock bag with the disicant it was shipped with is more than enough for moderate storage. Long term I would suggest using a vacuum sealer.
That baby Groot looks great! It absolutely looks like it was made from wood! I have a question though. I didn’t understand having particles in the filament. Maybe I’m having a brain fart right now but you said it had, “the highest particle contents”…Does it have bits of real wood in it? I am still relatively new to this so please be kind..haha. I know a lot of people talk about some filaments being rough on their extruders so I am thinking companies use all kinds of different particles right? Is that why the extruders go bad? I guess I just never really thought about it/ I just thought it was the normal wear and tear.
Yeah exactly. They have wood powder mixed in with the pla. It’s a balancing act and this blend is really good. It can be abrasive. Its a good idea to have spare hot end parts when using exotic particle filled filaments.
Still pricey but surely more accessible than others considering the good quality.
Have you used wood filled ABS? I don’t think I remember ever seeing it before. Just the wood PLA. Does acetone smoothing affect the way it would take stain? If not, you 3D print some interesting natural or organic shapes and vapor smooth instead of sanding.
No, i haven’t seen it in abs. I’d like to though.
So I looked into it a little more because wood filled ABS sounded really interesting. Apparently, ABS does not play well with other materials when trying to make composites or reinforced filaments. ABS has a lot of expanding and shrinking during the heating and cooling of the printing process and this would not work with well with most fillers. (You can find carbon fiber and glass filled but not much else) PLA, in addition to just being much more in demand, is more thermally stable. So there is much less expansion and contraction during printing.
Printing your 3D object with the help of wooden filaments is such a green and eco-friendly idea. Besides, wood offers a rustic and timeless kind of appearance on the objects. Nicely defined points on wooden 3D printing which could be a better futuristic approach.
I wonder why this article has such a low rating? (2.8 stars) It seems like an honest and unbiased review. I liked it.
My article was unbiased but because i used affiliate links Some people probably didn’t like it.
Maybe… I mean you stated right in the article that you were using affiliate links. It’s not like you stuck them in there without saying anything. Can’t keep ’em all happy I guess. 🙂
Would be amazing if you give away one of these rolls??
Pretty cool stuff
The roll I ordered just came in yesterday. When my current print finishes, the wood filament is going on the printer! My only question right now is…
Is it an actual law written some where that I have to print baby groot? 🙂
That was my thought also. I think my first print was a crate that I found on Thingiverse. But I did eventually print a baby Groot. Lol.
Like the idea of printing woodlike pieces
Does this wear and tear as much as glow in the dark filament?
So I am in the process of printing some items with this filament, and it has been printing great. (205C with a .4 nozzle) I’ll get some pictures up soon, but I am very pleased with the quality so far.
So I printed a Groot planter for my wife, and I made the handle portion of a “Baby’s 1st Mace” rattle using this filament. It has printed amazingly well. I am really impressed with this stuff. No clogs, very little stringing. It also sands as if you were sanding a hardwood. I haven’t tried painting or staining yet. I actually want to to try velocity painting with this to try and emulate a wood grain pattern in the print. 🙂