Post #225613 by Basement Kahuna on Fri, Apr 7, 2006 6:18 PM

Hi, Ayden...I was up to my ears in seminar and catching up after...sorry...here's the photo sequence: STarting with your blank, you want to first use a long straightedge and draw a "target" line in pencil directly down the center of the sides and front/back. These will be your shaping guides. You can work this down with a small handplane or spokeshave or both(that's how I do it.) You want an even, balanced taper from top to bottom, and don't begin rounding the tip edge yet. That comes last. The tinana should taper from the full diameter at the top to a round where it meets the whakarehu. The whakarehu should be approximately the length from the tip of your middle finger to your wrist. Next, you want to begin the shaping. Make sure that you look down the tinana from each tip ever so often so that you can read any anomolies in the blade (lumps, depressions, etc.)These will throw the Taiaha off balance. In balance it will practically float in your hand. Off and it is just a clumsy decoration. The point of balance on a taiaha should be dead center. You want to use long, even planer strokes and calculating spoke shave strokes. The plane is best for this stage. Once you have the club shaped in the basic form, some emery cloth pulled crossgrain in the shown manner around the base of the blade will get you a perfect round. You can then trim the top corners of the upoko with a standard chisel by just giving it an even 90 degree cleaning cut. Now you can begin shaping the whakarehu. For a uniform face I like to use a paper or cardboard template for the upoko. Just fold the paper, cut a half of the mouth and when you fold it back out, well, you get the picture. All of my shaping at this stage is done with a flat chisel and palm tools. Be careful not to "pinch" the arero to too thin a taper, as this will reduce it's strength. To cut the upoko, just use a standard flat palm chisel with a depth mark drawn on the blade in magic marker so your depth is even all the way around. Once you have a basic shape, sand the corners into a round. This will also strengthen the joints as the "cleavage points" where the wood can shear will be graduated. When your whakarehu is shaped, now is a good time to check the tinana for anomolies again. I don't know if you see it in the first photo, but there is a slight left side rise in my tinana that had to come out. At this stage in your work you want this club perfect (you can really get a feel for it once you have shaped one). Having your Manaia around your neck will call back the spirits of the ancestors to guide you in perfecting your Taiaha!! Now you can trace out your moko with pencil, and complete your Taiaha! Keep a piece of 320 grit sandpaper with you as an eraser. This is a difficult thing to pattern evenly as the space is confining. first start in pencil and then overtrace with a technical pen. I hope this is helpful, and if you need anything else just drop a line here. Kia kite ano! BK