Traderbob's carvings, new stuff, june 17

Aloha,

I made my first attempts in carving this weekend while being bored at work =)

Nothing fancy, as I've seen in other first carving posts, but thought I'd share this with you.
I took the photos late at night with bad lighting.

I made this one only with the small blade of a swiss army knife, the wood is from an about 2 inch long toy sailboat:

the second one is made of the same wood, but I went to buy some carving tools:

Then I started this, which is far from finished (and I'm not sure if I'm going to like it yet):
Note the small blood stain =)

Since all of this was more or less a quick start without any plan or sketches, I am going to look for sources for better (larger) wood and find more advice and inspiration.

Oh and, I'd like to seal these 2 small tikis, do you have any recommendations ?

Mahalo,

Bobo

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2007-10-23 03:56 ]

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2008-01-02 16:01 ]

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2008-03-18 17:28 ]

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2008-05-20 15:40 ]

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2008-05-25 19:10 ]

[ Edited by: Traderbob 2008-06-16 15:57 ]

cool man, your boss must be proud ,lol.

Definitely good stuff man YOU must be proud, I know I would be if they were my first. don't stop now keep looking for more wood. I would stain this guy and get a can of spray lacquer and finish it with that. It dries fast and you can put stveral coats on in a couple hours, sanding in between. Excellent!

Thanks benzart, I am going to get some stain and lacquer. The 2 small ones are about the size of a lighter, so it will probably hard to sand the details. What tools are people using for sanding small tikis ? I though about getting a dremel, but I am going to wait until I'm back in Europe, since the ones they sell here won't work with 220volts.

Well, I did a little bit more carving on the bigger one, but I had no real concept for it. I made no sketch, just started carving the head and had no idea about the body etc. So I abandoned it for now.

But after 4 hours of carving and 1 hour of sanding with paper I almost finished this guy. This time I took the time to make a sketch from the front and the side. It's made from a block of bass wood. I really like it and I never thought how relaxing it is to carve :wink:

I am going to sand it a bit more tomorrow.

nice work, and a big jump in quality too! Yeh, its nice and realxing isnt it? :D

He's my preferred look for a tiki.
Really good job!

Thanks for the feedback,

I finished this guy today after some more sanding. I stained it and will decide to put lacquer on it or not when it's dry tomorrow. I don't want it to be too shiny in the end. I'll post some pictures of the final version.

This is getting addictive, I prepared another block today and have some ideas ...

Oh YEAH it's addicting! More more more.

traderbob: nice progress! Great idea for the backgrounds too. U kinda made your own tiki photography studio. :lol:

Aloha!

Thanks for the feedback. I am moving overseas in a week, so I didn't have much time for carving.

But I got some new tools and couldn't resist to try them out:

First an update, the finished "enchanted tiki" after some more sanding and staining:

Then my flexcut "detail knife" arrived and in a hurry, I had no idea what to do and pretty much copied Benzart's lesson tiki. I a, not really satisfied with it, except with the mouth, but learned a lot:

Then I had a very small block of wood left over (less than 2 inches) and started this at the office. Now I have to figure out how to get the cord through the rest of the small holes I drilled. I also have to find some artificial hair. I've read that people use horse hair, but that's not an option being vegan. I'll probably just start all over again an carve a better head soon.

Here's what I started yesterday, I now have the small flexcut 11 piece set and love it so far:

I hope I can finish it before I leave, will post some updates soon.

Cheers,

Bobo

Beautiful work Trader Bob. Keep tehm coming.

Benjamin.

Absolutely amazing stuff. My opinion is, you got it right from the start.
I like it much, very straight.

It all looks like basswood, or have you tried some other recently? Basswood is my favorit, too. Although there is less grain to haul out, its easy to carve. I still haven´t found a cheap source for that wood here in germany.

Thanks for noticing my post. To answer your question, I live in NRW, bit too far from Munich. But you have the chance to easy visit HAIKAI, his hut will be much closer when you are back. I thought about that a couple of times myself, but we never had contact . I thought, I was unworthy with my pair ofs, but hey, he read my post an replied. That is a nice start.

Keep on, and feel free to post me a PM.

tok-tok

Thanks for the comments.

tok-tok:
Yes it's all basswood, I like it so far because it seems to be beginner friendly :wink:
Too bad that it seems hard to get in Germany.

What kind of wood do people in Germany use to carve ? I'd like to carve some bigger tikis soon, but have to wait until I'm back.

You got it down brother, let the chips fly.

Looking good there Traderbob! You got the itch!!!
Keep em coming......
Notch out...

It´s not impossible to get basswood. The best is to know a forest ranger ,lumberjack or farmer. Just keep the eyes open around your neighorhood. There is always someone how knows someone. Some guys even sell it on ebay.

I like to carve cherrywood, birch, got some logs of cottenwood, too. I also tried beech and ash, but its much harder to go deep. I know a traditional carver, who only takes oak wood . He swears on oak.
If you like softwood, than red cedar ( not easy to get) and larch could be a god choice.

I looking forward to your next pics.

tok-tok

Happy new year TC!

I'm still kinda in the progress of moving, but over the holidays I found some time to carve and thought I'd post some new photos.

Sorry in advance, the photos could be better and also, my exotica records for the background are still in the container on their way to germany. Hope Sandy Warner is not catching a cold :wink:

The pineapple tiki is almost finished, it just needs to be sanded and stained. I think I'm going to stain it in a darker color, like the moai below.

When I arrived in Germany I wanted to start carving immediatley but had no time to look for wood, so I got a piece of fir from a home depot kind of store. Turned out to be not the best choice, at least for the smaller size tikis, because it crumbles easily on the details (the eyelids in my case). Even though I like this tiki a lot, I might not finish it, since the eyes are a bit messed up. I'll have to do another one with wood for sure.

Then I carved this moai while staying at my parents house over xmas, it's made of cottonwood. I drilled a hole through it to use it as a lamp. Currently I only have some cheap parts from ikea, but I am planning to make my own shade and get rid of the base plate and lower the shade.

I also bought another cheap lamp at ikea which I started to "tikify" today =)

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Oh and does anyone have a good source in Germany or Europe for tiki/hawaiian/bamboo... fabric ? I found some online stores in the US, but it would be cheaper to buy it over here. I also thought about figuring out how to get my own patterns on the fabric, if anyone has done that before, I'd appreciate some hints.

Cheers,

Bobo

Hey TBob, you are making Excellent Progress ! The diff between your first one here and this last one is Remarkable. WAY Cool!

Hi Trader Bob, very nice carvings you have here. Are you working on something new ? Have you dark-stained your piece ?

Show us more,

Ben.

Thanks for the comments Benz and benella, I appreciate it.

benella: I haven't stained the pineapple guy yet, because I haven't found a convenient location to sand it so far (after living in California for 3 years, I can't get used to the cold...). But I started another tiki in the last couple of days, which needs some small corrections and details and then ...sanding ...

I call it the bloody tiki, cause yesterday I got a nasty cut between the thumb and index finger right after sharpening my widest flexcut tool,it's actually the 4th this year, but by far the bloodiest (on the photo it's hard to see the blood stains). It's made from a block of cherry wood.

This weekend I also got some bamboo and have some ideas for lamps and furniture enhancements.

This guy:

will be perfect !

Very good design.

Is the cherry hard to work ? I have a few of cherry by my mother that is drying for 6 month :wink:

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Benella,

the wood is good to carve, it needs a bit more force with palm tools than the other types of wood I have carved so far, but since most of it was basswood, that's not hard.
Looking at your photos, the logs you have seem bigger, I think with a mallet it will be pretty smooth.

Hi Trader Bob,

Thanks and indeed, with a mallet carving is very smoother than with the "carving Jack" that I used for small pieces. The logs I have now are from 40 to 70 cm (15.7 to 27.5 feet) and with those, big chisels are essentials.

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Nice carves, the bloods just a bonus maybe he
wished he was a cannibal?

Sooo, the Bob is back.
Mahalos, and you have been busy, very nice.
I would leave the moai-lamp as it is, it is perfect.
I am really enjoying your business.
Watch out your hands.

Aloha Tikiholics,

sorry for not posting for some time. My move took 3 months in total (shipping company lost my packing list...) and I've been busy with work and other activities most of the time.

However, I found some time to carve and made a little progress. I'm still looking for a place where I can carve bigger stuff and don't have to worry about the dirt and dust. Currently I carve in my kitchen and sand in my bathtub :wink:

Here's the stained pineapple tiki. The basswood soaked up the stain a bit too much than I hoped, which is not that good on the corners, but makes the deeper parts look like I had burned them:

The "bloody" tiki is finished as well. Cherry wood with dark stain:

Yesterday, I found some balsa wood, and since easter is around the corner, I love it, because you can get a result pretty fast.

I made this small moai and the skull of the leftovers (which is less than half the size of a lighter)

Here's my current work in progress, same cherry wood as the bloody tiki above, but still a lot to do:

I also made 2 picture frames from parts of a broken cheap shoe shelf and I'm working on a hanging lamp shade. I am going to post some photos soon.

Hopefully it's getting warmer here soon, so I can start carving some bigger stuff outside.

Mahalo for looking,

Bobo

these are really lookin' good bro. so much progress keep posting pics

Hi TraderBob,

Your pieces finished very nicely.
The marq you've begun already looks like a great piece.

Keep up the good work,

Benjamin.

Nice work bob! I 2nd the weather thing.

These all are lookin' great. I really like your take on the Moai. Cool stuff!

Nice job! Can't wait to see the next one

Aloha,

first of all, thanks for all the nice comments on my last photos.

Here are new photos:

The moai lamp I posted earlier has a mount for the bulb. I still don't really like the ikea lamp shade, when I find the materials and time, I'll make my own one.

It's standing on my new project, a 40cm block of fresh smelling basswood.

Tonight, I finally finished the cherry marquesan, which was a pain to carve with palm tools. I just stained it in walnut and will post some more photos when it's dry:

Then I made this small balsa moai yesterday:

And here's one of the frames I carved, glueing the parts together was quite hard without the tools, so it's not even. But I ordered some clamps and already carved the parts for a bigger one.

I hope you enjoy them. I am also planning to visit the Wassermusik festival in Berlin to see Waitiki and Don Tiki, it would be cool to meet some carvers over there.

Greetings from Munich,

Bobo

Woah, Excellent stuff BOBO. I Really love the different tikis you are doing. Keep it up.and take More progress shots so we can see the steps you go thru!
Thanks for sharing!

Some very fine works of art going down there.
The marquesan and the moai are fantastic.

HI Bobo,

You got some super work here.
I love the lamp but how did you do the hole for the cable in a long piece like this one ?

The marq is very good and will be even better with the stain.

Benjamin.

Aloha and thanks for the replies,

here are some updates from the tropical shores of the Paulaner brewery :wink:

The marquesan is stained in walnut now:

Then while it was drying I took a leftover piece of cherry and made a pendant for my sister's birthday. It's stained with magahoni color:

While the cherry was drying I made this quick moai pendant, I have to stain it once more and then put laquer on it, because it is so soft.

And here's the frame I carved a while ago. Now I have a clamp and it was much easier to glue:

And here's a building I can see from my window. I don't have to go to Trader Vic's to see Tiki in Munich :wink:

I hope you enjoy the photos !

Benzart, thanks for the kind words, you are right, I should take more progress shots. Here's what I just started:

Seeksurf, thanks for the nice comments.

Benella, the lamp moai is not too big, it's 20-25cm. I borrowed a very long drill from my dad, which went almost through. I drilled from both sides, so the hole is not perferctly centered. I also carved a small "tunnel" on the bottom from the back where the cable comes out.

Time to go to bed now, I'll try to post some updates next weekend.

Cheers,

Bobo

Thanks for the reply Bobo.

Your new pieces are very nice.
The piece of wood you've drawn will be a super cool one for sure.

Benjamin.

Aloha,

time to post some stuff I made in the last week. The weather here really sucked recently so I didn't have the chance to work on the bigger one much more. I wish I was back in California...

So I made these small ones in my living room:

basswood tongaroa. Btw, is this the correct word, or is it "tangaroa" for the Cook Islands god of the sea/fishermen ?

Then I made a Ku head from a smaller piece of leftover basswood. It's almost finished, just needs some more sanding and then stain:

And tonight I started a smaller version of the full body Ku. I had to stop, after I got a nasty cut on my palm through the kevlar clove :(

I hope the hand is better tomorrow so I can finish it.

Does anyone know an alternative to stain for basswood ? When I stain it, the wood soaks it up too much in some places, would it be better to use wax or oil ? Or should I maybe be more gentle with the stain ?
Talking about wax, are there alternatives for wood which do not contain beeswax ? I am a vegan, so I don't want to use animal products.

Greetings from rainy Bavaria,

Bobo

The stuff looks great!
i like the little red guy

NICE all 3 are looking great.

Thanks for the comments, I probably won't be carving in the next days, the cut on my hand is worse than I thought.
I hope it will be ok until the weekend :(

Aloha Bobo,

hope your finger is OK
Your Tiki's are great, i love the new basswood KU Head - great lines
for staining basswood Tiki i use normaly this french Broux de noix/Nussschalenbeize and
after than the wood had the right darkness i finishe with Bienenwachs for the brilliance
try it out
thanks for your reply on my topic - i will take a big look on the Wedding Aku:-)
I'm german too and i knew this crazy wedding game !!!

keep on the great work
bye Akuae