Post #61886 by Basement Kahuna on Mon, Nov 24, 2003 12:52 PM

Cookolossu's carving sequence: Here's the opening chisel volley on a huge 7 1/2 foot, 22-inch Marquesan...Kahuna in work duds! Can't decide to go full body single (easier) or a double godhead pole. White pine...carves like fresh drawn butter...very oily and full of resin, which should mean a clean go of it as this wood continues to dry. It will get about 4 coats of tung as well. We got face.... We got choppers..... Cutting in the chest and arms. Getting the chest contours right is pretty hard on a Marquesan this size...the geometric features should sort of "flow" into the more organic ones. I use a single cardboard template for each feature so it will be the same on both sides. The red marks on the straight chisel shown are for different plunge depths. This is a chisel I use all the time that I have ground down the first 1 1/2 inches of the tip on a bench grinder to about 1/16th of an inch thin, tapered like a duckbill, which allows me to cut guide grooves quite deep without cracking the wood. It makes the work go faster because you usually don't have to plunge grooves twice. The ear protectors keep my rather Roger-Miller-like rock band induced tinnitus from getting worse from all that hammering. One may also note that I changed the design a bit to better porportion the arms. Well, folks...here is the basic tiki, minus base decorations and general neatening and cleaning up. It's one hell of a big Marquesan, my first 7-foot pole. Certified pure, 100% chainsaw free. :) If I don't win, Cookollosu The Great jumps in! (I had to borrow Geck's Aka to have something to fight with!)