How Long Do You Wait?

Aloha Everyone,

Sorry for starting a new post but searching turned up nothing (gave up after 20 mins). I am not new to tiki but I am new to the carving of tiki. I have laid my hands on some palm (no pun intended, really!) and was wondering if you could carve while it is still not dry or is it best to wait? If it is best to wait, what are some techniques to help in that drying process? Thank you all.

Secos Sam

http://www.tikicentral.com/search.php?term=drying+palm&submit=Search&srch=both&frm=all&usr=&srt=newest

have fun! read read read!!! learn learn learn!!!!

Just carve.

Typically, if it has substance vs grassy internals, You can carve it wet or dry. What kind of palm tree was it? Oh, and welcome to TC. Please post your work here so we can be stoked.

McTiki

I've never waited, but that's just me. I'm not much for wasting time. Chop it up I say. You'll have plenty of carving time ahead of you, so why waste time now worrying about waiting for the perfect log to learn on.......

[ Edited by: Tiki G. 2006-04-27 08:43 ]

Aloha All and thank you for the responses to my questions. I have posted some pics of my carvings (firewood?) below. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

This is #1. Seemed like it took forever using only chisels.

This is #2. Carved from some cherry wood from a tree in my backyard that I had to cut down. Yeah, I know. He looks like Abe Lincoln!

This is how #2 looks now 3 weeks after carving (waaah!) His new name is Split Daddy-O.

This #3 (right) and #4. Carved from some Jacaranda branches I had trimmed off.

This is #5 that I am currently working on. Also Jacaranda.

I wish I could take credit for this work in progress. I guess I can. It is #1 by my 11 yr old son. Makes a Papa proud!!

Neat style, Definitely something to be proud of. Split Daddy-O still looks good.

Split Happens. (I think I am going to use that as JohnnyP's tiki brand name)

The little guy is on the right track, his tiki has some nice personality. Keep your son carving.

JP

Thanks JohnnyP. I went back and looked at some pics you had posted of your patio in Mich. Great job!! Compliments coming from someone who creates as you have really mean something. Again, Thank you.

Ok, I'm now confused....you carved all these in the last two days since you posted 2-days ago about how long you should wait to start carving on your first palm log? Must just be me, but I'm feeling like I'm missing something here, or maybe I just hit the kegerator one too many times tonight.

Tiki #1, Tiki #2, Tiki #3, Tiki #4........This sounds kinda familiar?

WOW!!! Someone has issues. If you read my descriptions and looked at the pics you could see that the first tiki is still wet inside. I went with another medium using cherry and then jacaranda wood. I was only asking for some insight. I have seen your work and hope to someday have a fraction of your talent but the attitude you can keep. Let me guess, you number your tikis #1, #2, #3 and so on? Is this exclusive to you only? If you can't be positive please do not respond to my questions. Thank you.

Man that check in the cheery is bad! Abe Lincoln or not! I have the same problem right now - started a piece of cherry and got blowed up on the cracks. That is such a bummer when you work on it for a while and it blows up.

I number mine. 1, 2, 3, etc. You prolly should do that too. I've been drinkin mai tais tonight, so I didn't notice the attitude here. Maybe point it out to me...?? I'm pretty sure that no attitude was / is intended... I'm a noo-bee and I didn't get an attitude from any of these guys yet. They are your friends! Really, I think? Now you have me wondering!?

PS Your stuff looks great - and never apologize for starting a new thread. Computers are cheap.

[ Edited by: tikigap 2006-04-28 23:26 ]

Maybe your right Gap. I could have jumped the gun. Drinking Margs myself. You think if we were in Florida that Gary would let us belly up to his kegerator? I say the hell with it!! I am gonna start hacking away at that palm tomorrow!! There are no damn waves so what else am I to do?

On 2006-04-28 23:37, Secos_Sam wrote:
I say the hell with it!! I am gonna start hacking away at that palm tomorrow!! There are no damn waves so what else am I to do?

Agreed! I would do the hacking anyway. Go for it! (I have to confess though, I've never carver Palm, wet or dry.)

You're lucky to have palm, and if you have a lot of it, experiment!

You'll find out real soon if you should carve it wet or dry, I guess! Good Luck!

HEy Sam,, Really nice job on your tikis, that #1 is really excellent. By now you have seen that different woods work differently. Palms. you usually don't need to wait more than a few minutes to carve. When it comes to hard woods like the Cherry and Jacaranda, it usually helps to prevent cracking (or Checking we call it) to wait awhile and let the log dry out. Usually a few months stacked and covered outside beside the house works. If you don't let the moisture escape SLOWLY, then when you carve it, the moisture escapes so fast that the structure of the wood changes and giant splits happen. We hava ALL had those things happen to our carvings and it is no fun.
Hope this helps and your Son's stuff looks like he has a ton of potential. Good Man..

Wow. Quick on the defensive side there huh.

Secos, it seemed to me that from your first post that the palm was going to be your first carving. Guess I just read into it wrong, but I re-read it again this morning and it still appears the same. Thanks for clearing this up for me so that I can understand your post better. You did not have to have the attitude about it though in your reply. I do not think I'm the one with the issues here.

And, the #1, #2, #3, #4 thing, honestly, it was just a way of saying that it reminded me of another member here who post his tikis in chronological order. You got a problem with that? I dont. I personally do not number my tikis, I just guestimate the amount. Nothing wrong with numbering though bro'.

Seems to me that before you come on here and start throwing around haste, that you should understand how easy it is to misunderstand or read into someone's post the way it was not intended.

Sure, you can belly up to my kegerator anytime;) Thanks for the nice comments about my work. I appreciated that. Your stuff is looking good. Keep it up.