Post #401809 by Alii Tiki on Sun, Aug 17, 2008 4:16 PM

I've been lurking here for a while now, love what you guys&gals are doing.
Recently I have had the chance to take a Pahu {Hawaiian drum} making class with respected Kumu Kala Rodney Willis, who provided the rough-out piece of Coco Palm w/ a Koa Base to start off with.
I know it's not particularly a Tiki carving - but it is very Polynesian.

So, without further boring you with woids - I present to you -

My first carving ... progress photos provided free of charge.

The roughed out piece as I received it

Giving it some shape - at this point I was hand pushing with a 1" chisel - slow progress but it allowed me to feel what the wood wanted to do.

Sipping a few refreshing Maui brewed Toasted Coconut Porter to help bring things into focus ...

Ran into a soft spot that caused some adjustment ...

Nothing that a little lubrication couldn't cure ...

Moving forward with a regained sense of focus ...

And at last - great success ...

After this project I moved on to a 4'+ log of Silver Oak that I procured a few months back, first phase = peeling the bark off ...

then stripping away the inner layers ...

After this step I swept up for the day and started scheming on what I was to do next, but the next day I broke out in a serious rash. Maybe I'm allergic to something in this wood, not sure. This was the only activity that I can think would have exposed me to anything to cause a reaction.
With that in mind, I have left that log as it is for a couple of weeks, not wanting to get that fiery itching inflamed feeling again.
My wife has harped on me to NOT touch this piece again, so I need to drag out another of the bits of wood that I have been gathering for the past year or so.
I will follow up with progress of the next project as it unfolds.

The lot of you here have provided much inspiration and information through the course of sharing your works.
Many Mahalos