My first tiki - Tiki Carving

TF Tiki Filippi Member Lafayette, LA Joined: Jul 27, 2004 Posts: 13	TF Tiki Filippi Posted posted on Thu, Jul 29, 2004 6:01 PM Aloha everybody, I've been lurking around here for about a week and decided to try my first tiki carving. I gotta say I can respect you carvers out there, it isn't easy but I'm pretty happy with my first attempt. I carved it from a piece of my neighbors tree that fell into my fence during the last hurricane to plow through here. I don't know what kind of tree it is(was), maybe some type of elm? The wood wasn't too hard to carve, considering I did it with a hammer and two dull chisels. the one thing I'm unhappy with is that it got really darker than I wanted when I polyurethaned it. What's the secret to keeping the wood lighter upon finishing? I like the contrast of whiter wood against the burnt black. Anyway, let me know how I did on my first try:

Aloha everybody, I've been lurking around here for about a week and decided to try my first tiki carving. I gotta say I can respect you carvers out there, it isn't easy but I'm pretty happy with my first attempt. I carved it from a piece of my neighbors tree that fell into my fence during the last hurricane to plow through here. I don't know what kind of tree it is(was), maybe some type of elm?
The wood wasn't too hard to carve, considering I did it with a hammer and two dull chisels. the one thing I'm unhappy with is that it got really darker than I wanted when I polyurethaned it. What's the secret to keeping the wood lighter upon finishing? I like the contrast of whiter wood against the burnt black.
Anyway, let me know how I did on my first try:

Post #105003 by Tiki Filippi on Thu, Jul 29, 2004 6:01 PM