[kathrein]

I am an experienced carver but I have never used a power chisel. I have seen demos of automach and arbortech. Arboretech seems to be less expensive. What are the best ones? Do they do fine detail?

[Callynne]

Kathrein, I use reciprocating a lot, but only to remove waste wood. I use larger blades (one inch size) with my MasterCarver System (it's a rotary carver that comes with a reciprocating handpiece). I also have the AutoMach and a Proxxon reciprocating carver, both of which I use smaller blades with.

With the smaller blades I can get close to what I'm going for, but no where near what I'd consider detail carving. When I get to that stage it's all hand tools and/or micromotor carving.

Size and style could play a part in whether or not it works. My work is small so I couldn't, but something big like Colin's wood spirits, might work out just fine.

Hope this helps some, good luck! Deborah

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[Alice in Wonderland]

Kathrein
I am using the Wecheer outfit and I like it very much, I use mostly hard wood and it does a great job of getting rid of wood quickly, for details?, depending how small??? I use my Dremel ,so some of the chisels are small, one can do alot with them ,again all depending on you want to do
I hope this helps
Alice

[kathrein]

Callynne, The AutoMach seems to cost twice as much as the Proxxon. What are the differences in performance?

[Callynne]

Kathrein, the Proxxon is not as quiet and heats up much more quickly than the AutoMach. I never have to stop using the AutoMach to let it cool down, but do the Proxxon. I'd say they both cut about the same but if I had to chose only one to own, it would definitely be the AutoMach. I hate to stop carving once I get started! Deborah</IMG>

[Don by the lake]

I use the Automach also for roughing with Flexcut bits. Nice tool!