Post #594805 by pjc5150 on Fri, Jun 24, 2011 6:08 AM

wow. I'm feeling like Speedy Mc Racer at this point.

I can do a decent 2 to 4 ft Moai in an hour or 2 and a decent similar tiki in 3 to 6 hours. When I say "decent" I mean presentable...not super-detailed & gouged out to the extreme. Obviously that figure can go up drastically depending on size and detail. I have about 20 hours into what I consider my best piece, which is a 3 ft Hawaiian lono I did recently.

I would say that I'm pretty damned fast with a chainsaw & grinder. I can bust out a rough piece in pretty short order with a saw & grinder. It really just comes down to how much time I want to spend with a hammer & chisel detailing it (which, to me, is the most rewarding part of the process).

But then, I've only been doing this for 2 years & I'm completely self-taught. No one ever showed me anything...I wanted to do it & just kinda figured it out. I still don't know what half the chisels I've seen are even used for! I'm hoping to get out and meet some of the more experienced guys here on the forum who live here in FL so I can learn some more (specifically about using chisels) and improve my process.