Carving The Eagle Head Walking Stick

Several posts ago I mentioned that if one has the opportunity to do an Eagle head cane, for the wounded vets, they should not be intimidated by this project.  I decided to present a tutorial to show that this is a project that the less experienced carver can complete.  Not only complete, but produce an impressive cane or walking stick.

This carving project starts out with a good pattern.  This pattern is from the WOODCARVING ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE.

The walking staff that we'll be making will not include the cane handle at the back of the Eagle head, although it could easily be done with a larger blank to accommodate the handle.  The carving wood is a 2 1/4 inch thick block of Basswood.  To transfer the pattern from the drawing, I use a piece of carbon paper.

Be sure to place the pattern
so that the wood grain lines up with the front to back of the Eagle head.



I used the scroll saw to cut out the blank.

The next posting will start with the two tools that I use to rough out and the carve this Eagle head, and then move through the carving steps.