Power Carving a Mythosaur Skull from Construction Lumber
Last Updated: May 2024
Some makers discourage rough, big-box store lumber for non-structural projects. I wanted to challenge myself to make something completely unexpected from some standard construction lumber: 2x4s!
I am also a massive fan of The Mandalorian series on Disney+. The Mythosaur Skull appears a few times throughout the Star Wars universe but is very commonly associated with the Mandalorians. It has the added benefit of being a very organic shape, which usually isn’t expected from 2x4s. I’ll use Power Carving tools to remove all corners to get this shape.
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Tools Used
Clamps (as many and as long as possible)
Kutzall Tools (see below)
Materials
2x4 Kiln Dried Studs
Steps for Build
Kutzall Tools Used
Provided by Kutzall
1 - Remove 2x4 Edges & Faces
Most 2x4s come from the big-box store in somewhat rough shape. I took my time picking through the stacks to get the straightest and driest pieces I could. Once back in the shop, I left them alone for a few weeks to continue drying.
For most projects, I use 2x4s. I refined the shape and cleared out some of the roughness. I start by ripping the short, rounded corners off. I take the first pass at the table saw, cutting about 1/4” off, then flip the piece around, cutting another 1/4” off the opposite edge. This leaves the faces rough but with clean, square edges.
I also remove 1/8” from each face. To be safe, I take two passes to finish cutting through the face, running the pieces through the table saw on the edges.
If you have a jointer and planer, you could get a better result by jointing one edge and face. Then, plane down the opposite face before ripping to the final width at the table saw. In either case, your 2x4 should be closer to 1 1/4” x 3” now, smooth and square.
2 - Cut 2x4s to Length
Now that the 2x4s have been cleaned up, we can cut them to the final length. There are a ton of pieces with many different lengths. To make the cut list easier, I simply listed how many pieces were needed for each length and sorted that list from longest to shortest. This allowed me to always try to cut the biggest piece I could, maximizing the amount of wood that was usable from each piece.
I made sure to mark each piece with the length since it will be the only unique detail about each piece. Usually, I write on blue tape so I don’t stain the wood. For this power carving project, I wrote directly on the wood because the surface will be carved away anyway.
3 - Glue Up Skull Slices
Before I glued anything up, I did a dry fit of the skull and am very glad I did. I wasn’t completely happy with the dimensions I had created digitally in Fusion 360. In reality, the skull was too tall compared to the length and width. I removed about 3 layers of 2x4s to drop this height down a bit.
Once I was ready to move forward, I marked where each piece should meet the pieces above and below it. I then pulled vertical slices out of the dry fit and glued each slice up individually. I ended up doing this in a few batches so I could get as many clamps as possible on each slice. The height meant I could not use any of my smaller clamps to help. I gave the slices over 24 hours to dry so they would be stable for the next glue-up. To make layer alignment easier, I taped each side with blue tape. This helped keep things together while I had time to tighten the clamps.
4 - Glue Slices into Rough Skull
Once the slices were dry and stable, I cleaned up the faces with chisels and sanded each slice smoothly. I used the pencil trick to try to keep them as flat as possible. They were tall enough that a planer would not have really helped.
With the slices flat, I could glue them all into an extremely rough skull. I thought about breaking this up into a couple of sub-glue-ups again, but it seemed easier to just get it all together. I moved as fast as possible and applied the glue as liberally as reasonable. I had a ton of squeeze-outs, but I would rather have squeeze-outs than run into any issues down the road.
I quickly threw every long clamp I had on for the glue up. I also made sure they were as tight as I could get them. This will lessen the impact of any gaps.
For the gaps I could not avoid, I filled them with offcuts from the face cutting earlier, wood glue, and sawdust from all the milling. This ensures that the filler perfectly matches the skull once everything is dry and carved.
5 - Carve Off All Corners
It's time to start power carving! I started with the angle grinder with the Extreme, Very Coarse Kutzall Disc, which let me remove material very quickly. Since the skull is a very organic shape with very few sharp corners, the first task was to remove all the sharp corners and make everything round, which included the back and bottom of the skull, although it was difficult to flip over.
Some of the inside corners between the tusks and main body were too narrow for the angle grinder to fit. For these, I switched to the die grinder and a combination of the Extreme, Very Coarse Taper and Ball Nose Burrs. Again, the goal here is just to get rid of as many corners as possible before giving it some shape.
6 - Rough Power Carve Shape
With the corners (mostly) removed, I switched back to the angle grinder and very coarse disc. We still have a ton of material to remove, but now it’s time to actually shape the skull more how we want it. Using the angle grinder proved to be a very time-consuming process, but it’s better to take some off, look at it, and take some more multiple times than take too much off.
It was time to separate the tusk tips from the body. In glue-up, it was easier to keep them connected for strength. I used a handsaw for the first tusk, but I quickly changed my mind and used a reciprocating saw, which saved a ton of time.
I did switch back and forth between the angle grinder and die grinder a good bit during this process. The tusks proved to be the most difficult areas to carve. In fact, both tips ended up breaking completely off while using the angle grinder.
7 - Re-Attach Tusk Tips
Breaking the tips was pretty soul-crushing and almost made me quit the entire project. Fortunately, the way they both broke off, It was pretty easy to get them back in the correct place. I glued them back on with a combination of wood glue for strength and CA Glue + accelerant for speed. I really just wanted the CA glue to keep everything in place while the wood glue dried. I also put a decent amount of tape on since they were difficult areas to clamp. I did give the glue at least a day to dry and at least a week for me to mentally recover from the failure.
8 - Rough Refine Shape
Taking some time away from the project helped me realize that I just had too much material on the skull and needed to remove it more quickly. Rather than waste time turning all of it into sawdust, I turned back to my reciprocating saw and the extra-long blade. I used this to carve off big chunks of material. Not only did this save a ton of time, but it also helped me get the shape much closer to what I had originally envisioned.
9 - Round Overall Shape
The only downside to using the reciprocating saw was it left sharp corners all over the skull again. I switched back to my angle grinder and very coarse disk to re-round over all the corners. I also refined the shape while I was at it. Like before, I kept my die grinder close by so I could get into the tight inside corners.
10 - Refine Large Components
With the material removed and things starting to (finally) shape up, I switched from the very coarse disc and burrs to my fine disc and burrs. These leave a much better finish and remove material more slowly, which allows the shape to be refined with more precision. I went over the entire skull with the fine-angle grinder disc, including re-flipping for the bottom.
At this point, I made a few additional decisions that were outside my digital design. The real-life skull looked too bulky, so I added some additional sunken areas under the eyes. This really made the eyes stand out, and the entire thing felt more skull-like. Before moving to the details, I made sure I was happy with the overall shape and didn’t want to make any more adjustments.
11 - Remove Detail Material
The next big hurdle to jump was removing material for big details like the eyes, nose, and top crack. I drew these out with a pencil to get an overall shape, then outlined them with a chisel and re-drew the lines with a sharpie. This let me stand back and see how things might look once the material was removed.
Once I was happy, I used my oscillating multitool to plunge-cut into the skull. I’m no master with the chisels, so this seemed a safer route to give my chisels a good stopping point. Once the outline was plunged, I started chiseling out tons of material. Having a set of chisels with pretty wide, medium, and very narrow widths was helpful for removing bulk material and getting into narrow corners.
Other than the edges, I wasn’t too worried about how the inside surface looked. We’ll come back and make everything smooth in the next step.
12 - Refine Details
I switched to my die grinder and the fine cylinder, taper, and ball nose burrs. The combination of these let me flatten and smooth everything out while also getting into all the tight corners.
I also took this time to add the roundness to the teeth. This had been largely neglected till this point. For strength, none of them are separated, but I rounded the tops, then came back with the cylinder burr to add small gaps between the teeth.
13 - Add Subtle Wear Details
The very last power carving step was to add some deeper cracks and lines that real skulls have. I did a large crack down the center of the skull to simulate large growth plates. I also added lines between the teeth so they looked separated. Finally, I added a ton of scratches and gashes to the tusks. In my mind, this simulates both the growth of the tusks and any battle damage they would have received if the mythosaur was “alive”.
14 - Burn & Finish
Time for fire! With everything complete, I wanted to add some much-needed contrast. I used my map gas torch to char the eye, nose, and crack cavities. My charring them once, then coming back a second time, they got this burned-out look as if the skull had been on fire from within.
Once I charred the cavities, I switched to my propane torch for the rest of the skull. The propane doesn’t burn as aggressively hot, which was more forgiving. The extra forgiveness was greatly needed since I wanted to add some color to the rest of the skull. By moving the torch around quickly, alternate growth rings burn at different rates, giving the skull an almost tattooed look that I liked.
With the skull burned, I still needed to seal it. The clear coat also helps keep all of the char in place, especially in the cavities where the char is most extreme. Off camera, I sanded very lightly after a few coats to knock down the roughness a bit, then gave a final couple of coats for a nice, smooth finish.
I am super happy with how the Mythosaur Skull turned out! There were more than a few points before and during the project when I thought I had been too ambitious and was not sure if I could finish. Multiple times, I nearly quit because I didn’t like how it looked. Ultimately, I am thrilled with myself for how it looks and for not quitting.
Power carving is another skill I want to try incorporating more into projects. It can really set a project apart from what you can buy in a store because it adds depth and curves where flat angles are the norm.
