Post #520505 by Tamapoutini on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 2:31 AM

Big BenZ - thanks my friend, its been too long. Ill email you soon..

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On 2010-03-27 12:43, riki tiki tavi 1 wrote:
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.

Kia ora Riki Tiki Tavi! Your name is familiar from TMe too. Mean skills brother!!

Thanks heaps for the info above, I really mean that. Ive only recently started using rubbing sticks and rasps again (after dropping them in an effort to 'streamline' operations many years ago, a bit of a leisure lover myself) - yep, you just cant beat those old techniques. You pounced right onto the eye-thing & I fully intend to give your dowel technique a go. If you havent guessed already I create my eyes with small ball burrs and go round and round and round.. rather than the more common core-drilled sockets, ugly things eh? Really its just one more step but a vital one I can see. Ditto, getting into some of the tight/deep lines - doesnt matter how they are created, there always seems to be a slight 'ripple'/bounce from the tool that doesnt want to come out with rubbing sticks (I have small 'ceraton' sticks in a couple of grades). Half the time the sticks seem to accentuate the problem. Do you have any tips to clean up those areas?

There is a thread here somewhere, 'Stone Carving Q&A' - any info you wanted to add there would be very helpful to the carving archives. Not so many stone grinders here but certainly an interested few. Ill be watching anyway, thanks again for the above.

Chur,