The paper presents the results of a case study applied to the milling process of solid wood
specimens made of black alder wood (Alnus glutinosa L. Gaertn.) with a view to find the optimal
cutting schedule when two main criteria, such as the minimum power consumption and the best
surface quality are fulfilled.The experimental work was performed with black alder wood originating
from mature trees from the Buzau Valley region in Romania. All samples were processed on their
longitudinal edges by straight milling with a milling cutter having glued straight plates on the vertical
milling machine under different cutting schedules. An electronic device connected to the machine
engine and an acquisition board were used to record and compute the power consumption during
milling. Roughness measurements of the samples were performed by employing an optical
profilometer. All data were processed using the regression method and variance analysis. The study
revealed that best results are to be obtained in terms of cutting power and surface quality when
processing with low feed speeds and light cutting depths