About 50 minutes with the die grinder got rid of all the seams, and allowed enough time to rough out the final shape. I also flattened out the bottom of the head on the giant disc sander and glued it onto the base plate. I'll study it a bit before I carve in the woodgrain and add a little more detail with some sculpting epoxy. We have to remember this is just the post topper. There is no sense in getting carried away and spending too much time going crazy with detail that would only be lost in the overall picture.
Stay tuned as I'll be back with a few more pics later today. This thing is so fun I'm having trouble setting it down. But there is other work to be done today too. :)
-dan
