Third King of the Magi

Here is the third king of the Magi. I took more progression pictures to better show the carving process.

Wow! Beautiful grain!

 I start out by transferring the pattern to a piece of butternut and cutting out the blank on a band saw.

Front view.

 I removed wood from the sides of the head face.

Back view.

 Next I begin to remove wood from under the arms and taper the forearms and hands.

Back view showing wood removed from under arms.

 I cut in the sleeves and begin to remove the wood between.

I begin to round off the body shoulders and head wrap.

Rough in the crown. 

Create folds in the head wrap and bottom of the robe.

Remove the wood from the back and sides of the frankincense holder. 

 Carve the details of hands, face and crown, and begin sanding.

Finished sanding and profiling with 80 grit.

Continue sanding switching to 150 grit .

When sanding your carving make sure to line up scratch marks with the grain of the wood before changing to a finer grit. Continue sanding with 220 grit, and finishing up with 320 grit.  I seal the carving with Deft Satin Lacquer, applying several light coats and using a Sand-O-Flex with 320 grit between first few coats.