All we now have to do is scrolls, and to that end, I planed the scroll block and cut out the outline for my Peter- Guarneri-of-Venice-model head. I have been trying, with varying success, to stay a half-step ahead of the students in order to be able to demonstrate each new process, but with the LSF traveling I got a little behind. No matter! This is what weekends are for, I thought, as something caught my eye and I discovered, to my horror, a couple -- three -- four, actually -- small holes in the end grain of what is to become my neckroot.
OH, NO!!!! Woodworm!
I poked at the holes with a tiny scriber , and a small pile of sawdust fell out. I probed some more, then employed a drill bit. Situations like this present a tough call. On the one hand, you don't want to waste a scroll block, if you can help it. On the other hand, it would be more wasteful to carve a lovely scroll on a foundation rendered spongey by the voracious attentions of small invertebrates.
It turned out the cavities weren't very deep, and I was easily able to fill them with small bushings, but I was left to puzzle: If no holes are visible anywhere on the outside of this piece of wood (which there weren't), then where did the creature go?