Roughing out alternatives
Alternatives to roughing out by this method are:

• Make accurate templates and bandsaw to shape. This method is still relatively crude.
• Fit a long thin bit into a router in the copying jig. Put a stylus against each of the prominent features on the pattern to drill a corresponding hole in the wood. A cutting disc could then be used to cut away the wood freehand until the holes started to vanish.
• Fit a Tornado cutter into a router in the copying jig.

The Tornado is a smaller version of the Arbortech and fits into a router, die grinder or flexible drive shaft. It is less efficient than the Arbortech for bulk removal, but has the advantage of being able to cut finer detail and does not require an angle grinder.

My next step was to exchange the angle grinder in the Dupli-Carver for a router. Although a square-ended cutter will remove wood quickly, I prefer a round ended one. A square end, being more aggressive, would cause vibration and distortion as the slender figure would flex.

I used a 12.5mm, 1/2in diameter cutter with a 19mm, 3/4in stylus.

Like the 100mm, 4in diameter cutting disc I used previously, this left a 3mm, 1/8in skin above the finished surface. But it reached into the larger hollows which the cutting disc could not.

Starting on the high spots and working back into the hollows and from the top to the bottom, I rotated the turntables while carving to reach right around the figure. I ignored detail below the bottom of the dress, as this section was needed to keep the block of wood stable while carving.