Instead of tossing large pieces of scrap, let your imagination loose and turn these unusual blanks into functional door stops

By Barbara Milliken

When I made a Wolf’s Head Stapler Cover (see Woodcarving Illustrated Winter/Spring 2016), I bought a 4″ by 4″ by 8″ piece of wood. After I cut the perimeter of the wolf’s head pattern on the band saw, I was left with an irregularly shaped section left behind. It looked like it had doorstop potential to me, so I turned a couple of the pieces into animals that would hold doors in place. Shown here are an alligator and a hippopotamus.