In the age old tradition of carving family crests on thick wooden shields, we did our own. It’s a representation of a lion on a field of leaves.

Our carver created a fine line etching and finished the work with a custom frame holder. The crest is made out of a few select pieces of fine grain spruce and the holder is fir. Spruce is a softer wood but quite strong and pleasant to carve and whittle. A light stain of mixed antiquing oils was used to penetrate the etching and darken the lines. The piece is soaked in linseed oil and cured to a hard finish. (If you are working with oils, remember to place the rags in a sealed metal container or they might spontaneously ignite. Or hang them outside to dry.)

A retired furniture manufacturer from the UK saw this piece and pronounced it definitely guild quality. We don’t know about all that, but humbled considering we are just whittling out back.

Approximate size: 31″ x 21″ x 1.5″ thick with a 5% curve.