Progress continued but there was still a ways to go.
It had almost been time to break out some more interesting tools, but I still had some shaping left to do with my trusty angle grinder.
Why hadn’t I used a hammer and chisel?
Due to its more brittle nature, orange calcite didn’t play nice with traditional tools. One wrong blow of the hammer and big pieces of stone could fracture right off.
For stones like this, diamond blades and grinding wheels were the most viable option.
Part of why I loved stone sculpting, and why it fit so well with Bitcoin art, was the proof of work required.
Initially, I had been hesitant to use angle grinders and the like, dismissing them as almost cheating or a shortcut... but the reality was far from it. In most cases, power tools did allow me to move more quickly, but I had found the strain on the body to be similar—and in some ways worse. There was no getting around the expenditure of energy. And I had thought that was a good thing. ⚒️₿
