Holy Family rework

I have a good friend who had a little problem. She had a figurine of the "Holy Family" which was carved from Jerusalem Olive wood. Her dog got to it and left teeth marks and bit off Joseph's head, which was then lost. She loved that figurine. I love the wood. She didn't want to just throw it away and I thought I could make something out of it. Joseph seemed to be long and wide enough for a pen and the rest for a wine bottle stopper.

So, after she got a replacement figurine she reluctantly parted with the original. Of course, she called me a "heathen" for what I wanted to do, but I reminded her that it was a BLOCK OF WOOD. It could have originally been carved into anything. I then called her an "idol worshipper" and she gave in.

Here is what I've done so far.

Original damaged figurine.


Cut apart with bandsaw.


Useable parts cut and drilled.


Wine bottle stopper mounted on lathe.


Started turning it down.


Continuing to remove what it once was.


Now just a block for final shaping. Need to decide how to make it look.


I still need to get a pen kit and a stainless steel wine bottle stopper part to finish these off. But it's easy work from here on.