Post #520356 by riki tiki tavi 1 on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 12:43 PM

Hi Tama I have been enjoying looking at your wonderful carvings on trademe for a while now,good to see an extended range on tiki central,love the finish you are getting lots of hand work!The style and feel your work imparts is a window into your soul.
Being a leisure loving person (lazy)I have worked out many ways to streamline the labor intensive problems that come with hand finishing (all my work is totally hand finished too)without comprising the work,some time ago I handmade a tiki the old way with the old tools and was rewarded with some techniques that have been adapted to help eased the time spent finishing.One I see that would help you is making the eyes the old way with a modern twist,carve the eyes with diamond tools as you want them,before you do any hand work get a piece of dowel (round wood)that is the size of the channel or bigger (sand or whittle one to shape)grind a concave dome in the bottom close to the shape of the pupil you want,put the dowel into a chucked drill, I use a battery powered hand drill, tighten up the chuck enough to hold the dowel without slipping,too tight will crush it,get some silicon carbide loose grit 120 or so (crush up a slip stone )I use tumbling grit,put it in the channel,put and over the pupil with a bit of oil or water,put the piece of dowel over the pupil and into the channel and with a relatively low speeds finish away!the wood will conform to the shape you have carved and with the grit embedded in it grind nicely away all the irregularities and tool marks,add more grit ,oil or water as needed,to fast it will heat up and flick the grit away, put finer grit in after you have the desired shape or finish if you choose,all over in a matter of minutes and perfect without and ripples or tool marks just like an old one!keep the dowel for the next one.Our ancestors were no fools and didn't waste time nor energy needlessly, their knowledge is written in their work,a glimpse into their heart.