Post #201872 by GMAN on Tue, Dec 6, 2005 1:36 PM

JP,

I was going to keep that last tiki because it holds some meaning for me (read pain), although it is/was for sale as they all are and all have been.

I have not been working on the shark and it has taken a back seat to some recent commissioned carvings. I hope to get back working on it soon.

The sawfish and Gman tiki are heading to Honolulu (sp?) in a container ship and will meet up with their new owners soon. I'll post pics as I receive them.

As for carving a bull mahi, there are several ways to do it. Depending on your selection of wood, I would find a 10 - 20 inch diameter log (strong dry pine, oak, or something else workable) and cut a 48" slab off one of the sides. Not a complete half of the log, but more like a third. Cut the profile with a sawsall (or sabersaw), Using the thick round edge as the display side/body and work the thinner edges in as the dorsal and anal fins. Flatten the round side a bit as the fish isn't round, but kinda flat. Be careful around the tail as mahi have long narrow caudal fins and the direction of the grain will cause them to be brittle. Using a chainsaw, sawsall, angle grinder, and a dremel, you should be able to knock out a nice bull dolphin in one day easy. Sand it up and hit it with a stain/poly mix and you are done.

If you can't pull it off, send them my way and I'll bang one out and give you a cut :) We can do that!

I haven't been posting my current work here because I've been working on marine life carvings and not "tiki".

Next up is a full body Maori, but it will have to wait until I catch up and finish some other carvings.

-Gman

"The saw is family"

[ Edited by: GMAN 2005-12-06 16:01 ]