Hello all.  Like the topic states, I'm once again looking for suggestions.  Believe it or not, I was going for a Siberian Husky but obviously didn't mass it out properly and I found that out pretty quickly in the process.  Instead of throwing it in the scrap pile at that point, I decided to go ahead and finish the head to see how it would come out. So what animal does it look like and what should I do with it?  My friendly neighborhood S.O.B. (Sole Occupation Blacksmith) suggested a fireplace poker, but I already have enough of those.  It's currently sitting on the end of ~2 feet of 3/4" stock.  Thanks in advance. 

Bottle opener

It looks like Jar Jar Binks.  "Misha thinks it needs the ears"  ;)

Ouch!!! jm that hurt!! (as I slink away into the corner to sulk...)

knife handle?

looks like a Camels head ???  dinner bell ringer  ?

Almost resembles a lioness.

Yep Lion or panther, the weird back set ears are a little odd but the face other than that is pretty good... ;-)

 

I make coat hooks out of almost everything... YMMV;-)

Ask a four year old. Darryl Nelson, who does a lot of animal heads, has a 4 year old rule. "When a 4 year old can tell what it is, you're done!".

 

Got one handy? 

 

As to what to do with it, back pile. Can't say how many practice hooks, leaves etc are on bars too long to scrap and too short to go back in the stock rack.

Funny you mentioned Darryl, Michael.  I stopped by his shop this morning (I realize how lucky I am to live only a couple of miles down the road from him) and bought a copy of his Lynx head DVD and modified it a bit and this is what I came up with this afternoon.

I messed up the muzzles a bit (started to rush and also realized I don't have adequate lighting in my shop), but learned a lot about setting up the material and massing out the steel.  The JarJar Binks example was an attempt to use the technique I was taught for rams head.  This was a completely different method. I think I'm getting closer

 

 

That looks awesome, well done.

I think that it looks exactly like the art style in east asia several hundred years ago, excellent work!

Thanks Damion.  I'd recommend picking up one of Darryl's DVDs if you're interested in doing animal heads.  He does a great job of explaining how to set up the material and what to pay attention to.  Here's a couple of more pics, I ground off and redid the nose of the one on the 1" bar.  Getting closer still....

Reminds me of scooby do. Or maybe a friendly loch ness monster. I'd turn it into something for a work desk...business card holder, jar holder for paper clips, etc. To interesting to go to waste.

once upon a time I tried to make a pig. when done it looked sorta like a bat, so I called it a pig-bat.