i'm gonna include a picture please be kind ,it looks like the work of a six grader i know but help if you can
I'm not trying to be discouraging, but I would most likely rasp it out & rid of it. The carving could be cleaned up.
But the placement of the design is completely out of place on the rifle, IMHO. The cut on the rear of the wrist & nose of the comb I would leave alone & work from, but take the remaining off & recut it. Do it on paper first til it is correct. Then draw it on the rifle til it is correct. Then cut lightly & work it.
Don't feel bad, I have see ALLOT worse & some that only a fireplace would fix.
One should look at old photos rifle & contemporary rifles on here or in books, & see design & placement of the carvings. Basically every design you will see came from Someones something inspiring it. Be it a carving, limb, vine, leaf, sea shell, drawing, whatever.
Most builders try to stay with a carving that fits the style of the rifle school. It helps place the rifle in their minds. Few like a RenaltChevroFordiac. They may say they do. See if they own one.
Also, always practice on a scrap piece. Now some people think 10 min with a exacto knife is practice
No, that is tinkering. Practice is carving on a scrap piece for a week or two, or 12, until you get it Correct. Then you apply it to the rifle.
I once had a rifle sit for 18 months because I couldn't decide what to carve behind the cheekpiece. I must have drawn on that rifle 100 times, look at it a week or two, erase it off & start over. To this day when I look at photos of it & want to change it.
