A small carving and a Memorial project - Tiki Carving

8T 8FT Tiki Tiki Socialite Kansas City, MO Joined: Nov 30, 2003 Posts: 1411	8T 8FT Tiki Posted posted on Mon, Dec 8, 2008 9:01 PM Well now that you went and bragged on me, I guess I better explain what you meant. OK folks, I really love the vintage carving at the mini-golf course. It was made from a piece of an old telephone pole. These days we've all learned how unhealthy it is for us to be carving on that stuff, so I was just filing the image of that carving in my mind until I found a suitable log to try my hand at creating an homage to the vintage god of the golf course. Early this summer my neighbors were having a new deck built. One of them popped his head over the fence and said hey Paul if you want any of this old wood it's yours. I couldn't believe it. There were 4 of these redwood 6" x 6" support columns each about 8 feet long. All I had to do was remove some old nails, screws and bolts and carry them home! I couldn't afford to buy this lumber today. I think this wood has been outside in the Midwestern elements for about 20 years and they show no more deterioration than a graying of the outer surfaces. Inside it is as fresh and bright as when it was milled. SO now I start thinking I might be able to coax a cousin of the mini-golf god out of one of these columns. I found a clean section and cut off a piece to start working on. I quickly learned that it was so dry that it was splintering very badly as I used the chisels so I changed to....X-acto knife blades. It kept me from removing too much wood at once and thereby helped me avoid the damage. However, it took a LOT longer to complete the work this way. I was anxious to complete it so I could give it to Silverline but I HAD to go slowly to get the details I wanted. Sometimes, (as all carvers know) the wood tells you what to do and you'd better listen. It was fun seeing the Silverlines reaction when I uncovered the carving in their home. It isn't an exact copy of the original nor was it meant to be. I just put my spin on it and tried to inject the spirit of the old carving into the new generation. We had a nice visit too. Our hosts had a delicious meal prepared and played some of the oldest recordings of Hawaiian music I've ever heard. We told some stories and traded some mugs. As we were leaving, Silverline gave me a nice Hackberry log to start working on. SO that's the story. I'm glad that the old deck post now has a new shape and a great new home! Thanks again for the comps. 8FT

Well now that you went and bragged on me, I guess I better explain what you meant. OK folks, I really love the vintage carving at the mini-golf course. It was made from a piece of an old telephone pole. These days we've all learned how unhealthy it is for us to be carving on that stuff, so I was just filing the image of that carving in my mind until I found a suitable log to try my hand at creating an homage to the vintage god of the golf course.
Early this summer my neighbors were having a new deck built. One of them popped his head over the fence and said hey Paul if you want any of this old wood it's yours. I couldn't believe it. There were 4 of these redwood 6" x 6" support columns each about 8 feet long. All I had to do was remove some old nails, screws and bolts and carry them home! I couldn't afford to buy this lumber today. I think this wood has been outside in the Midwestern elements for about 20 years and they show no more deterioration than a graying of the outer surfaces. Inside it is as fresh and bright as when it was milled.
SO now I start thinking I might be able to coax a cousin of the mini-golf god out of one of these columns. I found a clean section and cut off a piece to start working on.
I quickly learned that it was so dry that it was splintering very badly as I used the chisels so I changed to....X-acto knife blades. It kept me from removing too much wood at once and thereby helped me avoid the damage. However, it took a LOT longer to complete the work this way. I was anxious to complete it so I could give it to Silverline but I HAD to go slowly to get the details I wanted. Sometimes, (as all carvers know) the wood tells you what to do and you'd better listen.
It was fun seeing the Silverlines reaction when I uncovered the carving in their home. It isn't an exact copy of the original nor was it meant to be. I just put my spin on it and tried to inject the spirit of the old carving into the new generation.
We had a nice visit too. Our hosts had a delicious meal prepared and played some of the oldest recordings of Hawaiian music I've ever heard. We told some stories and traded some mugs. As we were leaving, Silverline gave me a nice Hackberry log to start working on.
SO that's the story. I'm glad that the old deck post now has a new shape and a great new home!
Thanks again for the comps. 8FT

Post #422762 by 8FT Tiki on Mon, Dec 8, 2008 9:01 PM