7 Best Wood PLA Filaments to Use for 3D Printing
Wood PLA filaments are a great choice to use when 3D printing but many people aren’t sure which specific brands to get for themselves. I decided to look into some of the best wood PLA filaments out there that users love, so you can decide which one to go with.
Wood PLA filament is a composite combining powdered wood and other wood derivatives with PLA used as a base material.
Different brands will have different percentages of wood strands within the PLA, so it’s a good idea to research this before going with one.
Check out the rest of the article to understand and learn more about the Wood PLA Filaments that are available today on Amazon.
These are the seven best wood PLA filaments to use:
- AMOLEN Wood PLA Filament
- HATCHBOX Wood PLA Filament
- iSANMATE Wood PLA Filament
- SUNLU Wood PLA Filament
- PRILINE Wood PLA Filament
- 3D BEST Q Real Wood PLA Filament
- Polymaker Wood PLA Filament
1. AMOLEN Wood PLA Filament
- 20% of Real Wood Fibers
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 190 – 220°C
The AMOLEN Wood PLA 3D Printer Filament is a great option if you are looking to get into wood filaments as it prints similar to standard PLA with a great texture of red wood. The manufacturer goes as far as saying your print will even smell like real wood.
This filament is made from PLA and contains about 20% red wood particles and is compatible with most filament 3D printers out there.
Delivering a high performance, it is the filament of choice of many designers and engineers. The AMOLEN Wood PLA 3D Printer Filament is made with high quality standards to reduce jamming, warping, and similar imperfections.
One user 3D prints this on a 0.6mm nozzle at a temperature of 205°C and a print speed of around 45mm/s. Wood filament is known to produce stringing, but once you dial in temperature and retraction, you can significantly reduce it.
He recommended printing this filament on the cooler side to reduce heat creep and jams. It’s a good idea to use a larger nozzle as well, above the 0.4mm standard since it does jam more often on smaller nozzles.
There can be some color variation between batches but not by much, and it’s kind of expected since it’s wood. He said it’s the best wood filament he’s used from any vendor.
Another user said he was surprised at how few slicer adjustments were needed to get a good print, but also mentioned it doesn’t look exactly like wood, but it’s a nice shade of walnut-like brown.
Someone using the Creality CR-10S Pro V2 said it’s his first time using wood PLA and he went with the Dark Walnut PLA. He got a successful print when he ran it at 200°C with a 0.4mm nozzle, 50°C bed, and 40mm/s print speed.
Get yourself some AMOLEN Wood PLA 3D Printer Filament from Amazon.
2. HATCHBOX Wood Filament
- 11% of Recycled Wood Fibers
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 175°C – 220C°
Another great option for those looking into buying wood filaments is the HATCHBOX Wood Filament (Amazon), which presents almost no odor and needs no heating bed to print it.
This filament is made of high-quality composition, with 11% of recycled wood particles mixed in with the PLA base material. This generates a very sturdy but flexible filament, free of smells and filled with durability and resistance.
Many users of the Ender 3 have 3D printed this filament successfully, requiring similar settings to standard PLA.
One user who bought the filament to feed into his Ender 3 got great results, especially after sanding and staining it, he thought it looked similar to real wood and had no bed adhesion issues.
He mentioned that it felt like plastic if you don’t sand and stain it to improve the texture.
Another user found it to be a lot more fragile and brittle than normal PLA. Still, he thinks it looks much better than any normal PLA filament. He also stated that until he found the correct settings, he faced a lot of issues with stringing and blobbing while using his Prusa Mk3.
After figuring out the correct setting though, his prints turned out beautiful.
The wood content is quite low so when you apply stains to this, you want to go for more coats and a shorter drying time. A user got good results by using two coats of stain and one coat of Minwax Water-Based Oil-Modified Polyurethane, which you can get from Amazon.
One user said he ordered this filament to 3D print a staff topper for his kid’s Halloween costume. He didn’t have to adjust his normal PLA settings and said it better print quality than regular PLA.
He sanded it with 240 grit and applied some wood stain. Many people thought it was carved wood, even seeing it up close.
Check out the HATCHBOX Wood 3D Printer Filament from Amazon for your wood 3D printing needs.
3. iSANMATE Wood PLA Filament
- 20% of Real Wood Flour
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 190°C – 225°C
The iSANMATE Wood PLA Filament is a popular option for wood PLA filament. It’s made of 20% real wood particles and 80% PLA with a nice wood texture and color, producing a filament with a touch very similar to wood.
This filament is easy to use, provides superb layer bonding and is very sturdy and tougher than standard PLA filament while having a very low shrinkage rate. This makes it perfect for 3D printing creative furniture and decorations since it has a nice wood finish.
This is an eco-friendly filament with a good percentage of wood, perfect for printing big objects and models with smooth surfaces.
One user recommends that you change your nozzle from brass to hardened steel before printing with this filament since it’s quite abrasive. He also found that it feels and smells like real wood and is great for 3D printing jewelry boxes and small toys for example.
Some users have said they thought it would look more like wood, while others said it looks like wood, so the reviews are mixed though mostly positive. You can see pictures on the Amazon page and the models look a lot like wood, even straight off the print bed.
After printing it on his Ender, one person said they got great results, especially with larger objects. They initially got a bit of stringing but fixed it after tweaking their retraction settings. Smaller objects might not look as good as larger objects.
You can get into contact with the company as they have a good reputation of taking care of issues and having great communication. It’s recommended that you do a temperature test to find the optimal temperature for your wood filaments.
Check out the video below to see how you do this on Cura.
You can get yourself some iSANMATE Wood PLA Filament from Amazon.
4. SUNLU Wood PLA Filament
- 20% Real Wood Fiber
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 170°C – 190°C
SUNLU Wood PLA Filament is solid choice for 3D printing with wood filament, having around 20% real wood fiber mixed in with the base PLA material. It produces a filament that is stable with great layer adhesion.
Each spool of filament is mechanically wound and manually inspected to ensure its quality. The spool it comes with is smooth so it reduces stringing and jamming to produce better printing results.
One user had to experiment a lot with designs, retraction speed and temperature to be able to find the optimal settings to print this filament. Disabling retractions altogether worked for him to fix a breakage issue he was having, but not recommended as a default.
Once this breakage issue was fixed, the prints came out great, having a soft feel to it and being easy to work with afterwards. The temperature that worked for him was 180°C which produced some stringing and imperfections due to not having retraction.
Another user who has an Ender 3 said he had some trouble with getting the first layer to adhere but after solving it, the results turned out pretty good. He did experience a clog for a longer print he tried, but the issue was more to do with his settings rather than the filament.
According to one person, it was the best wood filament that they have ever tried on his Artillery Sidewinder X1 machine. He got some high print quality without clogging or other issues, even with long 3D prints lasting more than 24 hours.
If you are interested in some SUNLU Wood PLA Filament you can get it online.
5. PRILINE Wood PLA Filament
- 10 – 15% Real Wood Powder
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 200°C – 230°C
The PRILINE Wood PLA Filament is a respected choice for 3D printing, coming in three different colors:
- Light wood
- Dark wood
- Rosewood
This filament contains about 10-15% real wood powder so the end result looks like real wood and should be easy to sand, stain, drill, nail and paint. It is widely used among the toy, health care and education fields.
Manufacturers do recommend printing with 0.6mm or larger nozzle to avoid clogging, as well as printing layers thicker than 0.2mm. This is because of the high wood powder presence making it an abrasive filament that can cause issues if not printed correctly.
One user who was 3D printing on an Ender 3 had great results after finishing up with light sanding and oil. He was very happy with the color shade and texture of his printed object.
Another user said it’s their favorite wood PLA filament because of the smooth, dark color. They haven’t experienced any issues and followed the recommendation of using the 0.6mm nozzle and hasn’t experienced clogs.
Many people said the 3D prints from the filament looked good, but they will need some extra processing to make it look like wood.
One guy who couldn’t find some Hatchbox Wood Filament in stock decided to use this and initially expected to be disappointed. He was pleasantly surprised to see it come out with some great looking models that didn’t require much finishing work.
Overall, he was happy with the material but did not find it as versatile as other wood-based filaments out there, but it’s great for the dark wood look.
Check out the PRILINE Wood PLA Filament on Amazon for creating great wood 3D prints.
6. 3D BEST Q Real Wood PLA Filament
- 30% Real Wood Fiber
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 200°C – 215°C
When searching for wood PLA filaments, a great option you will find available is the 3D BEST Q Real Wood PLA Filament, which contains a high percentage of real rosewood fibers, going as high as 30%.
This filament is made with very high quality and purity, even containing wood odor with the mixing of padauk wood powder and plastic to ensure the best filament possible.
Another cool feature of this filament is the anti-aging properties it has so it doesn’t degrade quickly like some filaments can. It’s a very sturdy filament that provides great layer adhesion and can be properly polished as well.
One user who bought this filament to make a board game box was extremely happy with the results he achieved, with a lot of fine details and great layer adhesion. He said that even with a larger 0.6mm nozzle, you could still see fine details easily and even speed up the prints.
He described the color as a deep, rich reddish brown that looks luxurious, looking as good in person as it does in the pictures.
The reviews are mostly positive, but one user did initially have bed adhesion issues at the beginning. He used a Prusa i3 MK2 which doesn’t usually have adhesion problems, but after using rafts and supports, the prints came out great, with nice details.
He really loved the unique color this filament had.
Other users did mention they found that it didn’t have a real wood feel, but were impressed with the color. I’d recommend some sanding and staining to try and get a better wood feel and texture.
7. Polymaker Wood PLA Filament
- 100% PolyWood
- Recommended Printing Temperature: 190°C – 220°C
Last, but not least, we have the Polymaker Wood PLA Filament from Amazon, which doesn’t actually contain any real wood fibers. Instead, it’s composed entirely of PolyWood. This is basically a PLA mimicking wood through a unique foam technology developed by Polymaker.
It delivers a material that is similar to wood structurally but contains no actual wood.
PolyWood still presents a rough texture that allows sanding, staining and other wood like finishes. This filament has great layer adhesion and rigidity, making it warp a lot less and features a very consistent color. They claim that it won’t produce blobs or jam your hotend.
It’s a great filament to give you that aesthetic of real wood and can be used for decorative pieces, as well as architectural models and figurines.
One user mentioned that even though the filament doesn’t contain any real wood, it has the benefit of not needing a lot of testing with the settings. He said he has wasted a lot of wood filaments trying to get the settings right.
Another user who 3D prints on a Raise3D E2 and keeps the standard PLA settings and gets great results. He stated that the filament is delicate when it comes out of the nozzle but the final prints are very sturdy.
He also believes the filament provides a very realistic wood tone to the final object that gets even better after sanding and staining it.
Many people recommend this as a great option for wood PLA since it doesn’t cause clogs like other wood filaments and still looks great. Once you have 3D printed your models, you can work on the post-processing by sanding and staining it to get the most out of it.
Get yourself some 3D BEST Q Real Wood PLA Filament from Amazon today.