Carving the Cove

We use the carving board to support the peghead during this operation. Shown here is the state we want to get the peghead to in this step.

We begin by making an exploratory cut, to see which way the grain is going to react to the cut. For this, I use a No. 8 gouge, and this curve will be carried right up onto the top of the scroll's first rank.

We now further rough out and define the flow of the small gestural scroll at the peghead's heel, and begin working up to define the lower boundary of the peg alley.

Now we define the cove into the scroll, changing to shallower gouges as we progress toward the top of the scroll's first rank. From there it becomes steadily flatter, until at about where to scroll crosses the top of the peg alley, the cove has become completely flat, simply a lateral slope in the floor of the spiral.