The AUTOMACH carver is the best power tool purchase I have made in a long time. I've put about 50 hours on it since I received it, and found it to meet most of my carving needs. It works on both green and seasoned wood-- differently, of course, but equally well. The piece in the photo is a mask on a seasoned pine plank. Clearing the negative background took minutes, and going around the drawn lines was easy.As with any wood carving project, attention has to be paid to grain direction, but not nearly as much as with standard hand tools. The AUTOMACH will change direction pretty much as you wish it to do, without much--or any--tear out.Another major benefit of the tool is the lack of stress on hands, wrists, and arms that I, as an older carver, have found to be an issue with manual carving tools. It's not that the tool doesn't get heavy after an hour, but it's not like using a mallet and chisel, or even a hook knife. Learning to handle the tool equally well in either hand is helpful.Because of the length of the tool, it has its limits if you are trying to carve, say, a deep bowl. There will be a point where you will have to switch to another type of gouge. I have done a couple of spoons, though, and except for a few turns with a hook knife toward the end of bowl shaping, the AUTOMACH works very well. If you have a spoon blank ready to go, the tool can make quick work of almost all of the shaping.Another benefit of the reciprocating action of the blade is the lack of dust. The blade slices, and there is virtually no dust. I particularly noticed this when working on a piece of seasoned walnut lately. As walnut dust is very toxic, I was concerned that even using the AUTOMACH would offer a risk in cutting. After making a series of cuts in the piece, though, I removed the dust mask I was wearing, ran my finger along the cuts, and, when I saw nothing, smelled the wood--only a very faint smell was present (and dry walnut, to me, stinks).I bought a set of Flexcut roughing gouges to go along with the set of blades that come with the tool. Some of the blades that came with it were sharp, and some weren't. Adding the Flexcut blades greatly expands the use of the tool, and they fit the AUTOMACH just fine.The AUTOMACH is not the same tool as an angle grinder with a lot of cutting wheels for major sculpting of larger pieces of wood, but it is excellent for small pieces of sculpture, utensils, and relief carving.