After getting some useful advice for you all about power carving knives and then investing in a few, I got one bowl's-worth of carving out of my old beater garage-sale power carver before it gave up the ghost. That bowl then sold in a record 90 minutes at the gallery today, so I may be on to something. There are a lot of advantages to power carvers, chief among them that you don't have to clamp the work down but can easily hold the piece in your lap and carve one-handed. The big negative, at least with my old one, was that the carver vibrated like mad and made my hands go numb. Granted, it was a POS, but the vibration may be an issue for all of them. The other big negative was that it was a large and clunky shape to hold.
Looking at the power carvers available at the moment, there seem to be 2 main styles -- flex-shaft and integral motor. The flex-shafts mostly seem to have smaller, easier-to-hold handpieces, which seem like they'd be a lot nicer to work with. I've got zero experience with these and would welcome your comments on how they are to use and maintain. Are they noisy? The integral-motor units like the Automach give you a bit more freedom of movement, since you're not tethered to the flex-shaft, but the chunky, heavy handpiece isn't pleasant to hold for a long time. Have you used both styles? Got a strong preference? If so, why? To be clear, I'm specifically looking at reciprocating, chisel-type machines, _not_ rotary tools. I've got a Foredom K-1070 micromotor for my rotary needs and it does just fine.
Looking at the power carvers available at the moment, there seem to be 2 main styles -- flex-shaft and integral motor. The flex-shafts mostly seem to have smaller, easier-to-hold handpieces, which seem like they'd be a lot nicer to work with. I've got zero experience with these and would welcome your comments on how they are to use and maintain. Are they noisy? The integral-motor units like the Automach give you a bit more freedom of movement, since you're not tethered to the flex-shaft, but the chunky, heavy handpiece isn't pleasant to hold for a long time. Have you used both styles? Got a strong preference? If so, why? To be clear, I'm specifically looking at reciprocating, chisel-type machines, _not_ rotary tools. I've got a Foredom K-1070 micromotor for my rotary needs and it does just fine.