White-tailed Doe Carving

One time when I was on a hike in the woods, I came upon a branch or small trunk that had been gnawed down by beavers and left behind.  The exposed wood was light colored and seemed to have a nice, even grain, and I took the piece home and put it in the basement to age (dry gradually).  A year or two later I was looking at it and decided I wanted to carve it and leave part of the log intact.  I planned the carving and cut it out as well as I could - the awkward shape meant I couldn't even use a bandsaw for most of it.  As soon as I started working on it, I realized this was a very very hard wood.  It look far more effort to carve than my typical basswood.  Later on, I was able to identify the wood as white ash - which is popular for tool handles due to its strength.  White ash is not a popular wood to carve.
It took a long time, chipping away at it very slowly and it didn't take woodburning well.  But on the plus side - it would take a real effort to break it!

Carved from one piece of white ash, woodburned, painted with acrylics.