WHAT TO EXPECT FROM DRILL POWER VS. STD. MOTOR US

[JOHNNY_H]

I AM JUST STARTING TO POWER CARVE....TRYING A DECOY FOR *NOW.
I DO HAVE A 3/8 VARIABLE SPEED DRILL AND DREMEL TOOL. I NEED SOME SOME SIMPLE ADVICE ON *DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO BE SATISFIED WITH USING A PORTABLE DRILL WITH ROTARY RASP AND MAYBE A FEW VERMONT AMERICAN CUTTING BITS,ETC. I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO WRAP UP SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS *IN A DRILL MOTOR WITH FLEXIBLE SHAFT,ETC.

PLEASE COMMENT ASAP !

[pineyknot]

I think I'd stick with the Dremel for carving & use the drill for drilling. Dremel also sells one or two shapes of kutzall burrs as well as two sizes of drum sanders on the 1/8' shank & the prices aren't that bad either. Pineyknot

[Rando]

8) Ditto! I'd stick with the Dremel. They also sell a flexible shaft attachment for a reasonable price.

[Captain_Bandaid]

Ditto. I also found a set of 20 1/8' shank diamond bits of various size and shapes at Harbor Freight. On sale they were about $15, regularly about $30. They do a fine job of detailing.

[Gravel_Girl]

You can make a decoy using hand tools for the roughing out.
A drill can be used with a drum type sander to smooth your carving. It is underpowered, but better than working by hand. I used a drill before acquiring a Woodhog carver that will use 1/4 inch shaft rasps and sanding drums.

A friend of mine likes to use a die grinder from Sears. They are about 99.00. They accept the quarter inch shafts and have a higher rpm than a drill.

A good carver can do more with inadequate tools than bad carver can do with top of the line.

I stsrted with a Dremel with their flex shaft four years ago. I was able to do almost anything you could want to with it. You will find the drum sanders the most useful. I recomend you clean the spring shaft and coate it with a thin coat of STP, STP is made for high rpm's and high heat, it want pack down to the handpice and dry out like grease. I did that with mine four years ago, now I check it once a year and if needed I re-do the STP.