Belt, wheel, or hand?

All would be the appropriate answer. The belt and wheel will help with removing larger amounts of material if needed. I always finish everything with hand tools. you could do everything by hand with the proper tools.
 
With patience and time, when no fancy tools available...hands are the next best thing :D.
 
My observation is you can screw things up much faster with power tools, a belt sander can take off a lot of material in a jiffy if you aren't paying attention.

I do most of my grip shaping with files and rasp and sand paper for this very reason. Screwing things up is a borderline forte for me so I need to go slow and careful. Not having any patience doesn't usually help the cause either.
 
As a custom gun maker for 40+ years, I must concur with Bawanna's statement. We builders have a saying that is loosely thus: Power tools will ruin your work quicker'n a cat's paw!
 
I concur with both of the above! You caint fix something that aint there no more. Know your tool and how much you can screw up without intruding into what you want to keep. Grind, sand, and whack off what you feel comfortable with then proceed by hand. Only you know your capabilities. If you want to carve out a duck then you carve away everything that aint a duck however you feel comfortable. Just dont cut into the duck:D
 
All good advice here. Plan ahead. Think ahead. Go slow and careful.
Unless I have a lot to take off in material to get where I want to be, I use hand tools. But I do use a drum sander or grinding wheel as needed.
 
I think the best advice up there was to use the power tools as far as you are comfortable you aren't going to take away something you can't put back but would want to. Then proceed by hand from there, if that means hand all the way or just polishing by hand is mostly up to your ability to control the tool you choose. Me, that means using a rasp for a bit then a file for a lot then sandpaper for even more, unless I start with a block 10X the size I need. Then I use a saw first then those tools.
 
What has got me in the past is going by hand and the wood is super hard or just plain too much to remove and I get tired of the file and I want to move on to the next step when I'm really close to getting where I want to be, so impatience kicks in and I fire up the belt sander and well the duck is doomed!

Better as stated more than once to start with the belt sander and then fight the patience issue and go back to hand tools.

Also being a full time sitter, power tools make a hell of a mess with me, belt sander, dremel tools, you should see me after a day on the chainsaw.
 
LOL a rolling pile of sawdust? Can just imagine the curls of wood sticking through the 'stache
 
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