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Bas-relief wood carving of a great blue heron standing in a marsh among cattail reeds with ducks on rippling water.
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Ducks, Owls & Birds

Great Blue Heron in the Reeds Bas-Relief STL Carving

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  • 📦 Instant digital download (STL file)
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📐 Design facts
Carving it at your size
Carving size
5.4 × 8 in (136 × 203 mm)
Relief depth
0.53 in (13.6 mm)
Board thickness
1 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 4 h 5 min (roughing 50 min, finishing 3 h 15 min)
Carving size
8 × 12 in (204 × 305 mm)
Relief depth
0.80 in (20.4 mm)
Board thickness
1.25 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 4 h 20 min (roughing 40 min, finishing 3 h 40 min)
Carving size
12 × 18 in (306 × 457 mm)
Relief depth
1.2 in (30.5 mm)
Board thickness
1.5 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 10 h 30 min (roughing 2 h 20 min, finishing 8 h 10 min)
Carving size
16.1 × 24 in (408 × 610 mm)
Relief depth
1.6 in (40.7 mm)
Board thickness
2 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 12 h 50 min (roughing 5 h 30 min, finishing 7 h 15 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
191.4 × 286.2 × 19.12 mm
Shape
portrait, 0.669:1
Carve depth
10% of the width
Mesh
2,026,230 triangles · 96.6 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
"Turned out beautifully. Thank you."
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"Easy down load and a quality file making it easy to setup and carve"
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About this design

A lone heron stands in the shallows at dusk, tall cattails leaning over the water and two little ducks drifting past. There is a quiet to this scene that comes through the moment the bit clears the wood. The carved grain texture in the background looks like an old plank someone planed by hand, which makes the bird and the reeds feel even more alive against it. This is a high-detail bas-relief STL built for clean machining. The depth is layered well, so the reeds rise crisp off the surface while the water ripples stay soft and shallow, and the edges hold sharp without chipping out. The file is tested and ready for Aspire, VCarve Pro, Carveco, and ArtCAM, and it runs nicely on a CNC router in hardwood, MDF, or acrylic. You can also send it to a resin or FDM 3D printer, or take it to a laser for deeper engraving work. For the cleanest result, rough the panel with a 6mm end mill at 40 percent stepover, then come back and finish with a 3mm ball nose at a tight 10 percent stepover to pull out the feathers and the fine reed detail. Think wall plaques, cabin signage, framed wildlife panels, or a one-off gift for the angler or birder in your life. You get an instant digital download the moment you check out, with commercial use included. Carve it for your own walls, cut a batch for a craft fair, or sell the finished pieces under your own name. Download it, load your toolpaths, and let the heron come out of the wood.
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$5.20