I am wondering if my carvings are taking an exceptionally long time. I am carving a simple “Live, Laugh, Love” and it is taking more than 3 hours. Is that normal?
More information would help. Size of the carving? Depth of cut? Size of bit? Feed rate? Anything else you can add would help!
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I am really new to this, so I am not sure about some of your questions. The carving is on a 8 X 9 oval and the depth is .5 in. The bits I have do not have a size on on them so I am just using what has worked for me before. And the feed rate, I have no idea what it is or how to determine that. I apologize for my ignorance here. Maybe one day I will know enough to be able to help someone else, but surely not yet 
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A larger diameter bit will require less time to remove wood, but may not be able to get into all the nooks and crannies if a tiny one is required for those small details. Depth of cut is how deep the bit goes on each pass. Stepover is how much of the bit diameter is used for each successive pass. A 1/4" bit with 1/4" stepover would take out the material but probably leave a rough edge. The norm is to use half the diameter as the stepover distance. Sometimes I use more on a roughing pass myself.
I’d guess that you are using a tiny bit and that is why it is taking so long. Depth of cut might be too small making it take longer too.
I don’t use Easel, but I know that it’ll show the details with bit selections, so you can tell if a larger one will remove all the material.