Yeah, that guy has mad skills.
I spent twenty years in the antique business, and all too often had to repair or replace similar carvings, and it is very interesting that the procedures for modeling and carving are so similar. Of course to replace the actual upright of the arm would require complete removal of the existing upright, and duplication of the unseen structural bits where it all connects with the arm, the seat, and the legs.
Granted, he was starting from nothing and building out, and I was starting from a block of wood and cutting away material, but the intermediate processes of roughing it out are quite similar visually.
It would also have been interesting if he had shown a depiction of the block of wood he would have needed to carve one of those uprights, and once you start, you certainly don't want to make a mistake. (the sourcing and selection of the block of wood would be nearly as painstaking as the carving process)
Bad things happen to furniture, usually in shipping, and while most wooden items with clean breaks could be carefully reconstructed, sometimes the pieces were smashed, horribly splintered, or simply lost.
A worst case scenario was a shattered carved foot for a large wardrobe (armoire), which would have to bear the weight of the structure, its wooden shelves, the heavy mirrored doors, and the contents, easily several hundred pounds.
The chair this upright belonged to might be one of two armchairs in a dining room set which had a large table, six to ten side chairs, sideboard, server, and china cabinet, so the entire set would have been on hold until the armchair was repaired.
Just as he had a photo of the chair, having another undamaged armchair to look at was pretty important, and I reckon that with other day to day duties, it may have taken me a month or more of staring at the block of wood, drawing contours, roughing out the material, and repeating. By the time I got to the point where my carving tools came out, I would be sweating bullets. Once the carving was complete, then came a whole new set of challenges to get the color and finish right, and reassemble the chair.
Now with computer technology, they could probably replicate that upright and carve it robotically in an hour, however I doubt there is someone locally who could be called upon to knock it out at a reasonable price.
Fascinating to watch that guy model this so quickly, thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Gman