Post #231765 by tikigap on Fri, May 12, 2006 5:50 PM

Hey thanks everyone! Especially Silverline - your 'props' are very appreciated (pun intended! :wink: ).

Kapu - the foredom has let me down. I think I expected too much from it. The rotary part works great, and is really good for fine detail sanding and such. It helped me do the teeth on bat tiki 2. But as far as the Wecheer reciprocating hand piece, I've blown up two of them since I got the device at Coon Tiki.

I'm awaiting the 2nd replacement unit again from Smokey Mountain Woodcarvers (SMW). Those guys are really good - I'll buy all my carving stuff from them, and I recommend them - they are reasonably priced and the service is really good.

They replaced the first weecher in a couple of days. The 2nd one, well, I'm still waiting for it, but they said they sent me a new one just the other day. They were helpful in determining what I was doing wrong with that hand piece: using it to remove too much wood from very hard woods like walnut (of course, my favorite), and cherry.

It doesn't say anywhere in the Wecheer documentation that it should not be used on those woods, and it also doesn't state anywhere that it shouldn't be used for lots of wood removal. The guys at SMW suggest that I just use it for detail on those woods and get an Arbortech heavier-duty power chisel for the heavy work.

That's okay because I love to buy, have, and use tools. But it is getting expensive. I should mention that SMW has replaced the Wecheer under warrantry, and that it has just cost me postage on the 2nd one. I was hoping to get the 2nd back today or this weekend. We'll see.

I started a new carve today - a Moai - about 3 feet high - out of dogwood! It's some scrap log I had layin around, and I wanted to test my skill at chain saw/lancelot carving on it before I ruined a nice piece of walnut. Dogwood - who wudda thunk it. It's actually pretty nice wood! I post a picture tomorrow.

Update

I got a new Wecheer today from SMW... works great!

[ Edited by: tikigap 2006-08-25 10:35 ]