"Skinny Dude" carving

I recently decided to try carving a head from Lynn Doughty’s patented head rough-out. I made small modifications to it made the chin section longer in case I wanted to have a beard and I made it fit on a 3” piece of wood that I had. Once I cut it out I decided that 3 inches on the profile was ok but that 3 inches on the width of the face was too much so cut that down to 2 inches and this looked better. 

Now awhile back while carving with my buddy up in “billyburg” (Williamsburg for those out of townies) Bob, we did almost the same thing but on a different rough-out. At the time he said that I should carve the narrow piece just to see what I could do with it. Well at the time I thought about it got busy and forgot all about it. So while holding the thinner section of wood after cutting the rough-out down I remembered the challenge and thought “why not”. This would be one of those moments where there are no expectations of the piece because what else would I do with the wood any way, nothing ventured nothing gained. 

So here is the piece carved, right now the beard has a smooth cut to it but The old wood carvers law states: “Let no wood go un-carved”.Click the link to read the original story from the woodbee carver himself.

am thinking over the idea of putting in some cuts to highlight the beard. Not sure at this point, the smooth seems to match the design in a way, time will tell.

Moral of the story carve, carve, carve any piece of wood that is available. You never know what you might find hiding within the grain.