Tahitiki's carvings - new bone carving - 01/08/11 - page 22

Nice one and I'b with Jungle trader about the grain, it WAS Very beautiful to cover up, but the carving Still looks Excellent.

Jungle Trader, TIKI KAIMUKI, JohnnyP and Benzart hanks for all the good words.
For some reason I was stuck on making the Moai dark from the beginning, I guess you guys are right I should have keep the grain, I still have one piece of the same wood, so I might make another one one of these days.

TIKI KAIMUKI, I haven't found out what the wood is but I think it's some kind of pine maybe, not sure.

I finally finished the Tikilele I started a while ago, so here it is, enjoy,

Size wise, it's about 2 inches smaller than the traditional soprano ukulele so it's kind of fun to play for it's very small.

That's INSANE! I love it...I want one. I play the Uke. I've got 2. But I want YOURS!
What brand was that originally?

Surfintiki, I don't know what brand it is, it's a really cheap uke that I bought a the goodwill, I just wanted to give it a try, to see what I can to on the head, without worrying about messing it up.

Check page 2 of this tread for some progress shots.

Man, that uke is insanely good!!

That design would sure make a sweet guitar too! :wink:

After going to Tahiti about 5 years ago I always regretted that I didn't buy a Tahitian Ukulele. So I decided to build my own.
It's just a first try, I never made an instrument from scratch before.
So, I purposely choose really cheap material so if I messed up, the cost of trying would be really low.
I found a board out of a construction site by my house, my wife call this knotty pine. It's knotty alright.
Anyway, that will keep the cost really low cause it's free.

I traced my design on the board trying to make it so no knot would be on the neck - pretty hard

I cut the outline with a jigsaw.

and I reduced the size of the neck.

I used my carving chisels to create the sound hole.

I thinned out the head and carved the sides (I don't have much power tool), then I cut a circle out of a thin piece of plywood from the lumberyard

and sand it so it would match the sound hole

I glued the circle board and stained it.
Added the frets and drilled the holes for the tuner (a real mess, the wood is so soft I mess up most of the holes and I had to fill them up with wood putty, a pretty sad experience)

this is where I'm out so far, I will post some more images soon.

This is just beautiful work.. I think that lono carved on the last uke is killer. Great Stuff!

Thanks
I made a skateboard a while ago, I thought I would share it with the TC members.

it's about 4' long.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2007-09-19 21:47 ]

Awesome work! I love that finished tiki uke - gorgeous! What are you carving this and the little tikis with?

It's just a first try, I never made an instrument from scratch before.
So, I purposely choose really cheap material so if I messed up, the cost of trying would be really low

Do yourself a favour, and buy some decent wood! You deserve it! None of this puttying up crap!

Hello Tahitiki,

your Tikis are beautyful - great
the finishing is top and your idees with the uke are very cool

what kind of wood your take for the longboard ?

aloha
akuae

Thanks Hewey
I usually use a combination of small really cheap carving tool that I had to sharpen like crazy and 2 carving knife from Flexcut. Sometime a box cuter does the trick too.

Bonjour AKUAE
Thanks for the compliments
I use Oak (du chene) to build the skateboard, it's all I had then. Not the best choice but that's all I had. So I had to loosen up the trucks. The board make really wide turn, and can be ride just like a longboard surfboard. You can ride the nose and with enough speed hang ten witch is really cool. For the one that surf, it really have a great feel to it. Hardcore skateboarder usually don't like it.
I think it's a fun ride.

Cool looking board Tahitiki, looks like you can carve an Excellent what ever it is you want to make. Talented across the board!

The Tahitian Ukulele is really interesting. Please post more pics of the progress.

JP

Thanks Ben, I'm always trying new things, I'm carving the Tahitian uke now and I'll post some picts soon.

In the meantime, I've been working on a 3 footer palm log and I just realized that I haven't posted any picts yet, so here it is.
This is inspired by the KU carving that is sitting in front of the Traver Vic's in London I think.

So I started with the body:

and refined it

I always like the headrest that falls in the back of some tikis so I thought this is it, I'm making one. I've got to try it, or I'll never do it.

after some more work done on the face and the body:

this is what I've got so far.

I will post more soon.

Iorana

superb new piece !
Ben

Man that kicks ass! Tons of character on him. Thanks for the progress pics.

Wow that is a lovely piece. It's gonna be a gorgeous finished tiki.

[ Edited by: Kon-Hemsby 2007-10-01 14:45 ]

Tahitiki,I just looked at the whole thread and everything you have done so far is excellent. You are a great carver, designer and a great artist all around.

Benella, TheBigT, Kon-Hemsby and Hiltiki thank you for all the kind words, it's highly appreciated.
Here some more progress shot, I couldn't find those images yesterday and I finally did.
I'm getting ready to start the detail work on that guy.

Classic stylings there Tahitiki. Really nice work.

That tiki has been on my to do list for a while now... I've got a few photos I've been studying. You did it proud.

Wow! That's coming along beautifully. Pefect so far!

Nice clean great shape and what a ass.

Hey Tahitiki, thanks for showing that great progress pictures. Nice wood and clean carving.
I especially like the expression of the face with a great comic style. Exaggerated forms!
Hats off! I´m looking forwart to see more.

Thanks all of you for the great feedback.

Lake Surfer, surfintiki and haikai, I always like everything you guys are doing, every single new carving that you guys come up with is always amazing, so I really appreciate the positive comments.

This week-end I didn't have a lot of time for carving but I managed to start some of the detail work.
Check it out:

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2007-10-08 06:54 ]

Beautiful and great work! Congratulations! I want to see more of those carvings. Go, go, go....

Inspiring stuff Tahitiki. It looks perfect in every way.

I got some carving done this week-end but I forgot my camera, so I'll be posting more images next week-end.
In the meantime I finished a bamboo pendant that's been on my desk forever.
I got the piece of bamboo from one of those "trendy" pot to store kitchen utensils.

Beautiful pendant, very good work.

Some great carves going on in here!

Keep it up.

That is a gorgeous carving, I love the style you have there. Very nice! The bamboo pendant is simple and sweet too.

your work is soooooo great, thanks for the pictures
I love the head of your last Tiki good inspiration for my new project
hope we can see more very soon
ciao
Akuae

love everything on this thread, especially the progress pics. you got serious talent man!

keep it up.

Tahitiki, How are you this great new year? Haven't seen any of your Fine tiki carvings recently, are you hiding from us. Need another shot of your Awesome tikis like this one!

Hi Ben,
Yeah, I've been kind of busy, but, I found the time to finish the "big" Ku. Because of the crappy weather we're having in San Jose the past 2 weeks I haven't had the occasion to go out and take some final picts. At the moment I only have a shot of the staining.
So here it is: (this week I'll taking some new shots and hopefully I'll post them soon)

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2008-01-10 20:01 ]

Thanks for that update Tahitiki your Big Ku is really looking Great. Looking forward to seeing the finished pictures. What stain are you using, it really looks good and Dark?

Nice work!

This is the first time GROG check this thread. GROG go through whole thread and GROG think your carvings are AWESOME. Nice and clean. Deep cuts. Awesome, awesome. GROG like.

Tahitiki you are one very talented and creative person! Your carvings are really cool my friend, and I really love your ku on your latest post . really sweet carving thanks for sharing,aloha , Mooney

That is one outstanding looking carve!
Love everything about him.

Yes sir, that is excellent!!!

Craig

Alright, this is it, it's done.
Ben, this is how I did the staining:
First I covered the whole Tiki with a ebony stain
then I sanded leaving some area un-sanded
then I apply 3 coats of black walnut oil
and 2 coats of urethane egg shell
for the finish I lightly sanded all of it with a ...
then I waxed it.

Thanks to all for the nice words,
BK and Mooney your carvings are amazing, love your work.

Going Home!

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2008-01-15 08:26 ]

Perfect piece tahitiki !
This way to finish it seems a bit complicated for me but very interesting, thanks for the explanation.
Can't wait for the next piece :wink:

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

Sublimely superb, you should be proud.

Incredible Pictures, Wow did he finish up GREAT!. The stain and finish jobs are just Excellent, Just what the tiki deserves. Perfect Tiki! I'd love to see another Dozen Just like him.
Thanks Tahitiki for taking the time to post updates for us.

The big ku finished up NICE! Thanks for explaining your finishing steps... I need to start writing all these finishing tips down somewhere! :lol:

You're hired!!!

Nice! love the stain and topcoat job looks
fantastic great carve.

wow, the symmetry, precision and finish are all outstanding - none of which are easy but you make it look so.

good job, can't wait for the next one!