Basswood or butternut are good wood choices for carving.
Carved beards come in many shapes and textures. Personal preference guides the final details, but the basic form follows the contours of the human face. Carving the beard with the mustache helps combine both areas with the face planes. Beards can be designed with "S" and "C" shaped curves or short straight lines to simulate little hairs. A good pocket carving knife with a short blade is essential to carving success. Try to find a knife that feels comfortable in your hand and see what type of beard portrait develops.
Instructions
1. Draw pencil lines to indicate the lips and beard. Do this after the nose and eyes are roughed into the face.
2. Cut a deep indentation under the bottom lip to start the beard. The bottom lip is thicker and protrudes less than the thinner top lip.
3. Distinguish the mustache and beard outlines and carve them with a stop cut to indicate their rough positions. A stop cut is an outline groove.
4. Lower the cheek in back of the upper line of the mustache by whittling away wood to contour it in toward the mustache area.
5. Carve the lines of the beard and mustache with a v-gouge.
6. Cut a groove between the lower edge of the mustache and the beard to make the beard appear to go under the mustache. Remove some wood in this area to lower the beard plane.
7. Round the beard as it moves to the sides of the face.
8. Smooth the flowing hair forms with a spokeshave, bench knife and short-bladed pocket knife. Texture is created in this way.
9. Form some hairs so they extend into the face area, especially where the beard lines meet the hairline.
