Here's the leg vise chop I'm carving to replace the original on my bench. It's a piece of 2x6 sandwiched between two 3/4" planks of poplar. I'm finding poplar to carve very much like a denser basswood. I like it! The lighter (heartwood?) is definitely harder, but takes a cut better. Plus that green color is just great when you burnish it on subsequent passes of the carving chisels. It's like wood laced with emeralds.
I'm carving my first banner and so far have the shape set where I want it, I just need to round over the edges and get the numbers in there for the year. I'm also starting in the three headed dragon symbol (gotta love me some Game of Thrones...). Most ambitious carving project I've ever done (only my second, lol) so we'll see how it turns out but I'm having a blast.
Really happy with the curves on the banner so far. I learned a lot from the recent article by Mary May in Popular Woodworking on carving linen folds in wood. Now I need to work on my lighting and photography
Thanks for looking and if you want you can see the blog I'm writing about the progess here.
wpid-img_20130830_141258_258.jpgwpid-img_20130830_150339_816.jpgIMG_20130831_121541_792.jpgIMG_20130831_151644_049.jpg