I was rather excited to get this project started since my wife is out of town... I wanted to have something completed on this before she returned in the evening. To save me a trip to the box store for wood, I ran out to my shed to see if I had any 11.25" width pine scrap available because I wanted to at least do the Rooster_Back first. I had none.

However, I had some Oak pieces (.715" thick) that look like that are layered. Well, I am going to try it and see. So I prepped the piece of wood and set it up on my machine. I modified Michael's file for the .715 thickness and I see he used 1/16"ball nose. Darn! I don't have that. So I scrambled to amazon.com and purchased one... but it won't be here for a few days. However, I do have a 1/8" ball tool. So I tried to see in Vcarve if there would be any difference in quality or detail. I couldn't see any. So I moved forward and rough cut. I thought, oh no... it looks like a chopped up terrible mess. Being persistent that I am... I continued. Started running the 1/8" ball final...
I have to add that this will be my first 3D carving. Idid do Michael's vase project with the 1/8" ball a few weeks ago. But that was the closest I came to the 3D carving.
This pic is the 1/8" ball nearly finished...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/250wckqofspd3 ... R.jpg?dl=0Since I didn't used Pine like Michael did, I used Oak. I personally don't like to stain Oak, so I had to modify the finish. I simply used a good coat of Teak Oil...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0c85eci18a52 ... 0.jpg?dl=0My wife came home yesterday evening and she was very pleased with the result. The layers of the grain in the Oak gave off a rustic impression imo. Very neat. I still plan to try more in Pine and maybe other wood, but again I have to thank Michael for such a great project he shared. Salute!
~ Ed