On Mar 18, 2:25 pm, charlieb wrote:

SNIP

I think this will fall into the "depends on who is doing it"
category. I will always have deeper appreciation for something hand
carved or rendered over machine carved.

I was over at my friend Lewis' shop when he was finishing up a carved
scene for the front of the podium of a small church. It was gorgeous,
and he had been working on it for a while (3-4 months) to get it where
he wanted it. It was lovely.

But I don't think a Compucarve would turn out the same thing. More
detail, yes. Sharper cuts, yes. The nuances that show it was hand
carved on wood, I guess you could program it. But it wouldn't be the
same. Work hard on the design, finish it up and save it. Then
putting in the board, turning on the machine and going to lunch
doesn't really seem like carving to me.

Maybe "the craft" in the case of the Compucarve or a laser engraver is
the design of the applied rendering rather than the finished product
which allows others to enjoy the computer design work.

I know the laser and its related machinery and software can do much
finer work than can ever be performed by hand, but I think that the
decorations will become so ornate and complicated that they too will
become just run of the mill.

But then again, you can only turn so much stuff round. We used to
have a turner in our little club that decided that turning a vessel
was no different than a painter making up a canvas and frame. that
was his start point. He happily burned, pierced, cut, veined, stained
and anything else his heart desired when he started operating on his
forms.

Right now all the stuff I've done about using the
laser for engraving, carving and piercing are on
our turning club site. I think I'll start doing some
pages on it on my woodworking site. Will post the
url here when I've got something to share.

As always, I'm looking forward to it!

Robert