The thing which I’d ask is that in removing the material, rather than doing it as tiny little chips which end up in a landfill, please consider working out a way to remove them in pieces large enough to be used — I’d love long thin strips for making chopsticks for instance (yeah, I couldn’t resist getting a Mini Workshop – Bridge City Tool Works ) and slightly larger pieces could be used for pens — doing this might help speed up clearing out the central area, and would make any additional time worthwhile.