This piece is more of a sculpture than a wood carving. Though I carved it out of wood, no tool marks are visible. I spent a lot of time filing and sanding them all away. The result is a smooth finish. It is carved out of a solid block of mahogany and mounted to a figured maple base. The piece is about 12 inches long. It is a close interpretation of the hood ornament on a Jaguar automobile.

Eagle talons are complicated and difficult to carve. This is why almost every carved eagle you find has some sort of stylized version. I found a pretty good picture online of a close up view of an eagle talon and tried to reproduce it. Here’s the result.

It was a challenge. Most of it was pretty easy. Getting the texture or bumps on the skin turned out too difficult and I was forced to use a negative texture instead of the bumps.

Just finished this eagle. It is a war of 1812 style, 28″ wingspan, finished in acrylic paint, made of 2″ thick white pine. High relief and heavily detailed. Available and ready for delivery.