When we first came up with the Copy Carver we knew this machine would help other fish and wildfowl carvers mass produce their carvings.  We had no idea there were so many other trades that had a need for this same machine.  Over the years I have learned from our customers how useful this machine is for a multitude of things.  Below I will touch on just a few of the more popular applications.

Woodcarving- the obvious, capable of replicating any three dimensional woodcarving through the rough out and detail stages.  Either use an original woodcarving or as many others do, an original of other material that you would like to replicate in wood.  Plastic figurines and ceramic greenware make excellent originals to copy.  Since many of these shapes are cast from molds they have minimal if any undercuts to deal with, making them the ideal item to use for an original on the Copy Carver.  I know many carvers that use various components found in the corner ceramic shop to create beautiful relief carvings in cabinets, furniture and gunstocks.  Often in these shops you will find very inexpensive plates with 3D wildlife scenes or full size figurines of the same.  Simply bandsaw the soft unfired clay to shape, have the shop fire it in their kiln for durability and use it replicate your next carving project.  Tips on how to do this in more detail can be found in the "User Tips" section of this website.

Stone Carving - Just as with woodcarving, virtually the same things you can carve in wood you can carve in soft stone, Alabaster and soapstone are the two most popular.  They carve easier than wood with a carbide router bit.  Use anything you would use for an original doing a woodcarving, just position your piece of stone where the wood blank is placed normally and proceed.  Just think how easy it would be to create beautiful stone statues for your home or garden using inexpensive plastic outdoor figurines.  For those of you who have never tried carving soft stone, give it a try.  It is really nice to work with.  

Musical Instruments - Here is the biggest surprise to me of all.  The largest group of Copy Carver users is by far guitar, banjo, violin, mandolin and piano builders.  I had no idea there were so many people building these instruments by hand as a hobby.  The results they have achieved with the Copy Carver are overwhelming.  Each using the machine not to produce quantity but to produce quality.  Once a design is perfected it can easily be reproduced to exacting standards each time, reducing any errors left to chance.   

Cabinet Makers / Furniture Builders - Next to musical instrument builders, cabinet makers and furniture builders are the next largest group of users.  They often have a need to mass produce highly detailed relief carvings in cabinet doors, table and chair legs or replicate the look of a customers antique hutch into new kitchen cabinets.  A simple latex mold of the detail is taken from the antique piece, plaster is then poured into the mold and a plaster original is ready to use on the Copy Carver.  Leaving the original antique in original condition while you work from the cast replica.  The Copy Carver can replicate the look and feel of the old world masters in minutes.  A great time saver for anybody in the furniture trades.

Sign Makers - Many sign shops have a Copy Carver in operation to replicate wood signs from carved or sandblasted urethane foam originals.  These machines are often adapted to a special use with a larger than normal working table and specially shaped router bits for cutting a decorative edge on 3D letters.  While most outdoor signs in use today are created in a very dense urethane foam many customers still  prefer the charm of naturally finished wood sign.  So many of the sign makers I have spoken with all use the same technique, they design the sign on the computer, laser cut vinyl decals from the design that will protect the areas they want raised.  Once the decals are in place the etch away the urethane with a small sand blaster creating a relief carving of sorts.  The soft vinyl decals shield the abrasive effect of the sandblaster from the urethane foam.  The finished urethane sign is then coated with a layer of fiberglass resin for durability and used on the Copy Carver as an original where an all wood sign(s) will be created from it.  

Woodcrafters - There is also a large following of people that make wooden toys for kids, birdhouses, yard ornaments, arts and craft show type projects.   These projects often contain small wooden parts that are tedious to cut out on a scroll saw by the hundreds.  Setting up the Copy Carver with a small diameter router bit one can quickly cut out these pieces from large pieces of wood stock by following a template or jig mounted on the work table. And best of all a cut made with a high speed router leaves a smooth finish unlike that left from a bandsaw or scroll saw.  Reducing the amount of finish work need to complete the projects.  

Intarsia- For those interested in intarsia the Copy Carver can mass produce your designs with ease.  Just as in stain glass work the challenge is in the fitting of the individual pieces.  If just one piece is too large or too small it will effect the others around it used in completing the scene.  Since intarsia uses individual pieces of colored wood to create a picture, until now, each piece had to shaped by hand for proper fit.  With the Copy Carver an intarsia artist can create an original, separate the parts of the scene and use them as the originals to mass produce others.  Each piece cut to an exact profile requiring minimal sanding to complete the project.  If you are working on a project that contains 45 pieces, simply mount each piece on the Copy Carver and make 50 copies of each.  In about the same time it took to create the original you have 45 boxes of matching parts to create 50 more originals to sell!  Each piece fitting like a precision puzzle piece.  No alterations needed.  It couldn't be any easier to profit from your efforts with the Copy Carver as your assistant.

Cut Out Tool - There are a few users that have built this machine to aid in cutting out plastic parts created on a vacuum form machine.  One of them in particular makes plastic RC car body's.  He heat forms the hot plastic over his pattern and when the plastic cools it is pulled from the vacuum form table and placed on the Copycarver worktable where he then passes the stylus over a second pattern with a thin needle like cutter in the router.  This operation quickly cuts the plastic body free of the excess plastic, with repeatable accuracy.  In the past he used a hand held cutter with inconsistent results.  He also noted how safe the Copycarver process was for his employees to operate compared to the previous methods they used..