Instant digital download · Commercial use included · 4.8★ from 776 reviews
Carved wood relief of a crocodile head with a small bird perched between its eyes, deep scale texture
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Pet Lover Carvings

Crocodile Head and Perched Sandpiper Wood Relief STL Carving

$7.99 $8.88 10% off

$7.99 here, $9.99 for the same file on Etsy · 12 sold this year · 36 people favourited it

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  • 📦 Instant digital download (STL file)
  • 🛠️ Tested in Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, ArtCAM, Fusion 360
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📐 Design facts
Carving it at your size
Carving size
8 × 8 in (203 × 203 mm)
Relief depth
1.2 in (31.1 mm)
Board thickness
1.5 in or thicker
Rough with
1/8 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/16 in tapered ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 7 h 40 min (roughing 2 h 50 min, finishing 4 h 50 min)
Carving size
12 × 12 in (305 × 305 mm)
Relief depth
1.8 in (46.7 mm)
Board thickness
2.5 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/8 in ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 7 h 45 min (roughing 2 h 20 min, finishing 5 h 25 min)
Carving size
18 × 18 in (457 × 457 mm)
Relief depth
2.8 in (70 mm)
Board thickness
3.5 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/8 in ball nose, 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 20 h 10 min (roughing 8 h, finishing 12 h 10 min)
Carving size
24 × 24 in (610 × 610 mm)
Relief depth
3.7 in (93.4 mm)
Board thickness
4 in or thicker
Rough with
1/4 in end mill, 40% stepover
Finish with
1/4 in ball nose (1/8 in for the finest detail, about twice as long), 10% stepover
Estimated carve time
about 29 h 50 min (roughing 19 h, finishing 10 h 50 min)

Estimates for a mid-size hobby machine (Shapeoko, X-Carve, Onefinity class). Scaling all three axes together keeps the depth in proportion; for thinner stock scale Z on its own. Hardwoods with fine grain (cherry, hard maple, walnut, basswood) hold this detail best. Check your exact setup in Will it cut, free, nothing uploaded.

How we estimate carve time

Finishing is one raster pass over the whole carving with the ball nose shown, at 10% stepover and half of a 1,800 mm/min (71 in/min) feed. Roughing assumes about 45% of the block above the base is waste, cleared with the end mill shown at 40% stepover and 3 mm per pass (1.5 mm for the 1/8 in end mill) at the full feed. The model leaves out acceleration, tool changes and moves between passes, so a real job usually takes somewhat longer. Times are rounded to 5 minutes.

File format
STL only decimated high-quality mesh, binary STL
Model size as supplied
280.8 × 280.8 × 43 mm
Shape
square, 1:1
Carve depth
15.3% of the width
Mesh
2,029,950 triangles · 96.8 MB
Base
flat and sitting at zero, ready to machine

Opens directly in Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, ArtCAM and Fusion 360, and in any slicer for 3D printing. For a laser, the relief is first turned into a greyscale depth image, which our Laser Studio app does from this STL. STL only, no OBJ or DXF: the DXF files used in CNC work hold 2D outlines, not the 3D relief surface. Scale it to whatever panel you are cutting. Scaling all three axes together keeps the depth in proportion; scale Z on its own for a shallower carve. How to open it in your software.

759 five-star reviews from carvers
"Nice finish carving with nice detail. I will get more."
— Verified buyer
"Excellent STL model with outstanding detail and clean geometry. It machined perfectly on my CNC router, and the finished piece carved from solid European beech wood looks fantast…"
— Verified buyer

About this design

A wide reptile stare looks straight back at you, scales cut deep and a slender little wading bird standing calm between those two heavy-lidded eyes. There is tension in this one, predator and small bird sharing the same piece of wood, and a finished carve in walnut or oak reads like something pulled off a swamp cabin door. The grain texture in the background only sells the illusion further. This is a high-detail bas-relief STL built for clean machining. The crocodile snout, the cracked scale pattern, and the soft feathers of the perched sandpiper all hold their depth, so your toolpaths stay crisp instead of muddy. It is ready for Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, and ArtCAM, and it runs well on a CNC router, a 3D printer (FDM or resin), or a laser set up for deep relief work. For the cleanest result, rough it out with a 6mm end mill at 40 percent stepover, then come back with a 3mm ball nose at 10 percent stepover to pull out the fine scale and feather detail. Cut it in hardwood, MDF, or acrylic and you have a piece worth hanging. Wall plaques, lodge and cabin decor, wildlife signs, or a one-off gift for the gator fan in your life all work. You get an instant digital download the moment you check out, with commercial use included. Carve it for your own walls, batch it for a craft booth, or sell the finished panels. Add it to your cart and put it on the machine this week.
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Have a laser too?

Burn this design, or burn onto it

Laser Studio opens this STL with zero conversion and turns them into a ready-to-burn 3D-illusion engrave. Carving on your CNC instead? CNC Match lines up a name, a date or shading on a photo of the finished piece, so the laser burns right onto the carving.

Windows desktop app · $40 once · free updates · it prepares the files, your laser software burns them

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Total for the selected designs
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$7.99