Post #809304 by BlackWater on Mon, Jun 5, 2023 7:05 PM

I was going to wait until I was further along to document, but what the hell this might keep me going and maybe someone can give me advice along the way.

Most of the time I'm hosting people in my home tiki bar, they're sitting at a crappy old folding table, possibly with a tiki tablecloth thrown over it. A long time goal of mine has been a tiki dining table and that's going to be the summer project. Four tikis will form the legs, and the top will have some carving inspired by Tiki Diablo's bar design at Undertow. I'll start with the tiki legs and move on to the top when they're complete. I don't have a wood shop, just hand tools but I might need a table saw to finish this project.

Fri 5/26/23 Bought two 6” x 8’ posts from Home depot. Split pine but pressure treated and I couldn’t find anything better after calling around to lumberyards all over for days. Someday I’ll try carving with wood that isn’t awful quality. Also bought 2x4s and hardware to create the X-shaped carving jigs. Made a stop at Rockler and got a new rubber mallet and honing oil.

Sat 5/27/23 Used some pics of an OA Marquesan post and Photoshopped a carving guide. Cut the legs to 29” long with chop saw, not perfect but worked OK. Built the X-shaped carving jigs.

Sun 5/28/23 Started carving the top head of the first post. Used a router where possible. Switched between chisel and dremel for the rest. I’m better with the dremel but it can cut very fast. I think the eyes are too small on this top one. I made my carving guide using a 2D pic of a 3D column and didn’t account for the eyes wrapping around the sides. I’m carving four legs for the tikis, and this one might end up on the back of the table. Got as far as roughing out the hands of the top one.

[ Edited by BlackWater on 2023-06-06 09:08:55 ]