FASHIONING something beautiful or useful from wood is one of the oldest skills known to man. Carpentry may be an ancient craft, but in 21st-century Bermuda, even the occupation of Jesus Christ is going high-tech.

In the workshop of CNC Automated Carpentry in Cemetery Road, Hamilton, the chisel is now taking a back seat to the computer.

With their decision to invest in the only computerised milling machine on the island, CNC owners Joe Baron and Rick Vesely have truly carved themselves a niche in the market.

The sophisticated apparatus (CNC stands for computerised numerically controlled) has made possible jobs that would not have been viable before and has resulted in other carpentry firms hiring the company to tackle intricate millwork that would have been highly time-intensive to carry out by hand.

With a full order book and a growing list of satisfied customers, the CNC partners believe the $80,000 or so they invested in the machine was money well spent.

"There are no limitations, within reason," 39-year-old Mr. Vesely said.

"Whatever you can design on a computer screen, it will cut it out." The software allows Mr. Vesely to create a three-dimensional image of what he wants the machine to mill, place the wood and then press the button to allow the machine to do the rest.

"Sometimes the tool work can take a long time," Mr. Vesely said. "We once left the machine running all night on a 14-hour job to cut a panel."

The German-made machine, imported from Techno Isel, of New Hyde Park, New York, has dramatically increased the range of work possible at the small carpentry firm.

That range and quality surprised the team who came in to refit the Neptune bar at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel.

"They just did not believe that the job they wanted doing could be done by anyone in Bermuda," Mr. Baron said. "Decorative Flooring were given the job and they did it through us.

"It was teak bordering around the floor and we designed each part on the screen.

"When they came to install it, everything fit perfectly. The general manager couldn't believe a local firm had done it.

"It has made it possible for us to do a lot more than we could before. A job that might have taken four hours to do by hand, it can do in one hour.

"You have to take care though. It will cut out whatever you put into the computer.

"So if you put it in wrongly, it comes out wrong."

The machine really displays its worth when the job requires mass duplication, for example when it cut out more than 600 identical decorative rafter ends for the Elbow Beach Hotel.

THE manufacturers of the software claim its millwork is around 100 times more precise than work done by hand.

But Mr. Vesely rejected the notion that the introduction of the computer was taking some of the skill out of the carpentry.

"I would say that, if anything, it has increased the skill level I need," he said.

"You have to tell the computer exactly how to do it. And you could not do that without knowing a lot about carpentry.

"It's not as easy as some people might think it is. I had a bit of training, but basically I am self-taught.

"And I've only been computer literate for about seven years."

Mr. Vesely is the chief operator of the computerised milling machine, as 55-year-old Mr. Baron prefers to leave his younger partner to deal with the new technology.

"At this stage of my life, I can't really get into it," Mr. Baron said. "I prefer to do conventional carpentry."

This week, the machine was carving out gooseneck sections of a handrail for a staircase.

Only hours of delicate chiselling could have produced the curved pattern on each section that the machine turned out within the space of an hour.

"We could not even have fathomed the cost of doing that job by hand," Mr. Vesely said.

CNC has its roots in Cabral's Mill, which operated in the same workshop, at the rear of Animal House and Garden. That company was owned by Abel Cabral, Mr. Baron's father-in-law.

MR. Baron worked there for around 30 years and ran the company when Mr. Cabral semi-retired. Mr. Vesely, an employee, approached Mr. Baron with the idea of forming their own company to carry out automated carpentry.

Nearly five years ago, they formed CNC.

They have recruited two full-time staff to help with the workload, as well as one part-timer.

"Business has just escalated," Mr. Baron said. "We advertised in the phone book, but most of our work comes by word of mouth because people have been happy with what we've done for them.

"Many other carpentry firms are coming to us as well, particularly when they need to do some really fiddly stuff and they just haven't got the equipment to do it. It's satisfying, but sometimes we don't get the credit for work we've done."

The firm turns out shutters, cabinets, carved panels, inlay, doors, windows, ornaments, signs and almost anything else you could fashion from wood.

One of their more interesting assignments was at one of the most architecturally innovative homes in Bermuda, on Agar's Island, owned by computer guru James Martin. There they built a piece resembling the bow of a ship, overlooking a 40-foot drop.

"Most of our work comes from people who want to make renovations and improvements to their homes," Mr. Baron said. "At the moment, we are getting a lot of work."

If a client wants computerised millwork done, he must pay for a minimum of one hour's use. That amounts to $150.

"If people just want a small, one-off job doing then they step back when they hear how expensive it's going to be," Mr. Vesely said.

"I tell them to give us additional jobs to fill that hour, as they're going to be paying for the full hour anyway."

With the construction boom continuing and no shortage of people looking to make elaborate home improvements, the future looks bright for CNC Automated Carpentry.