Elegantly Carved Reclaimed Wood Pendant

Saw

Flex shaft

150 grit diamond burs

Supplies

Dust mask

Wood

Sandpaper

Finish of your choice

Start by Drawing Yor Design

Draw your design on to the piece of wood either free hand or
using carbon paper to transfer your design. By carving the roughest side of the wood you will save time smoothing the flat back of the carving. It is important to have a flat back on pendants, so that the pendant does not flip around while being worn.

Sawing Out Your Design

Saw out your design, as you can see in the photo you need
not be overly fussy about following the outline precisely. As long as you cut to the waste side you will be fine. You will clean up the edges as you go.

Begin Carving

Starting with the knife edge bur, lightly cut in the grooves
along the front side of the piece at an angle of 90 degrees.

Develope a Sense of Movement

To develop a sense of movement in your carving start rolling
the wood as you carve deeper with the knife edge bur so that the bur is no longer at a 90 degrees to the carving. Continue the lines down along the sides

Defining the Contours

With the large cylinder bur and the tapered bur begin
shaping the contours. You may need to switch between the various burs to get the depth and angles you want.

Finish the Shaping Process

At this point use the inverted bud bur to create the furrow
as shown in the photo. Continue with the different burs to refine your carving until you are happy with the results.

Sanding

At this point use the inverted bud bur to create the furrow
as shown in the photo. Continue with the different burs to refine your carving until you are happy with the results.

Finishing

Make sure all the sawdust and any other debris is removed
before applying your finish. The finish I have used with great success is two coats of satin wipe-on polyurethane and a coat of finishing wax.

Final Thoughts

Through much experimentation I have found that 150 grit
diamond burs offer the best results for this type of wood carving. There are numerous manufactures and hundreds of shapes and sizes to choose from. Stick with plated burs as the sintered burs are pricey and best left to gem carvers and to the dental trade.

Flex shafts are great machines, with minor maintenance they will last for decades.