A-A… Some Stuff I'm Working On

Aarons, Excellent Work Space and tool setup. I can see a Lot of tiki coming our way, and Soon I hope?
Those Cherry chunks have me Drooling all over the desk here, can you get some close-ups of that burl looking grain so we can Drool some more?Nice to see you updating your thread! :lol:
HappyHappyHappy

awesome workspace, aaron! and your yard looks AWESOME!!! that's going to be a nice spot to chop away the hours (sure beats the easy-up!)

Lookin' forward to what you got planned...

Looks great mate! cant wait to see you back into the carving thang :D

Two months? Show us some love, man!!!

Aloha seeksurf, bennella, Benz, Polynesiac Jim, hewey & Big G!

Sorry for the late reply, but my night classes have been seriously cutting into TC time.

Benz, here's a close up for you:

That's the best my little camera can do - not too sharp for close ups. It would help if the wood was all sanded up, but trust me, this log has some real wavy-gravy burl action, and this part shown below that bumps out from the rest was pretty much nothing but burl. The whole thing weighed about 800 lbs - about 30" diameter, so we sliced it down the middle to make it manageable to move.

Actually, I just moved these out of the middle of my garage floor to the new carving area to appease my wife. I have no idea what kind of tikis they will become, but I have about 4 or 5 projects in various stages of uncompletion that will have to come first.

Sorry GMAN, 2 months is actually pretty optimistic. Too much stuff going on, too many house projects, career & kids sports competing with carving. I'm still not sure how the rest of you guys manage to get so much carving in. I used to have a lot more time back when my wife & I were DINKS (Dual Income, No KidS)... It's a good problem to have, though! :)

I will definitely give my thread a bump when I have something worthwhile to show!

Peace & Aloha,

A-A

Aloha, carver pals. Long time no post!

Summer's on its way, we're headed off to Kauai soon, and I gotta get back in my carving zone.

This Monsterra leaf got me started again...

Here's another project started...

It feels good to break out the chisels again! :D

(Missing my old TC days!)

A-A

You're alive!?! :wink:

Love that leaf, how big is it? The sign is lookin' sharp, too!

Awesome stuff, Aaron.

Did you carve the sign by hand?

that Leafs off the HOOK VERY NICE !

4WDBill,

The Monsterra leaf started with a 24"x18" piece of Bloodwood(?) from Rockler, so it ended up just a bit smaller than that. I wish I had some pics of the raw wood, which had an intense purple-red grain. I used some ebony stain to get that darker look in the deep spots, then sanded the high spots back down to near bare & hit it with some varnish, then a few coats of glossy lacquer.

Hi Kate,

The sign so far was mostly done with router for starters, then chisels to get the smaller parts in between the letters and Moai pieces. I'll probably use the Weecher with a parting tool for the frame lines, and then the Foredom with burrs and maybe some sanding drums to shape & clean everything up.

Aloha Jimmy,

Thanks for the comps! It's was a quick & simple piece, but I needed something easy to jump start my carving again... All router on that one, with a little chiseling for the stem line up the middle. Glad you like it!

A-A

Aaron is back!

Old School!

Good to see you posting again!

Love the leaf!

I did some palm leaves last fall and it is a lot of fun to carve nature in a natural material. :wink:

Love the sign too... get down in it!

your Detail is Insane WOW so clean , the Sign is Beautiful , Love ur Shop tools ect , Very clean realy neat . ur Rockin !!!

AARONS????
WOW, It's been awhile but I can see you have been busy around the house. It's great that you decided to find the time for a bit more carving,We have Missed you Sir!
The leaf is nice and it shows how only you can take a simple job and turn it into a masterpiece. for the folks here who haven't seen your Real stuff, I suggest they go back here a few pages to see what you are all about. The sign looks to be typical Perfection/Heavy detail you are good for.
Welcome back my friend, hopefully you will find so time to carve a bit more here in the future but as for me I'll take what I can get, a Feast for my eyes and my heart and my soul.
HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY!

Nobody told me there was a Class Reunion!!!!

Welcome back Aaron!!! sure missed you around these parts.

The leaf is very well done and combined with the sign shows us that you are simply picking up where you left off. nice, clean, smooth lines!!!! Carved the Aarons Akua way!!!

Great to see you posting again, I honestly thought you had left for good.

Enjoy Kauai!

Lake - Mahalo, glad to be back!

Jimmy - Thanks again!!

Benz - Thanks my friend! I'll try to live up to that (I'm still a bit rusty though, I think).

SurfinTiki - A reunion, cool idea. We just need to get Octane and Raffertiki on board! Who else...?

Jim - Good to hear from you too!

Picked up a few logs courtesy of T-Mec yesterday, should help me get started...

Thanks, Andy!

Cheers!! :)

A-A

Aaron, when you comin' up norte? Glad to see you still around with the passion.

Welcome Back Aaron! And what a comeback - I love that leaf and your sign is looking great - as is your patio - what a great space to work in!

So this is what you've been up to. Your PM didn't give me any clues other than something flat. Beautiful leaf!! AA always impresses. SUPERB The sign is gonna rock big! You gonna paint it or use stains ?
Oh btw, I am mailing that thing I promised you tomorrow.
8FT

Aloha, Vic! We've actually been up in the SF area quite a bit the last while, just not in your neck of the woods up Hwy 99. Thanks for the warm words! Let me know next time your planning a trip to F.I. and maybe we can make something happen...

Mieko, Musubi Queen :) - Thanks for that! I just checked out your website & was fairly blown away... WOW, you were just starting out carving back when we met at Chop No. 1 at your place! Amazing!! (BTW, your husband should have never intoduced me to Zaya rum :wink:)

Eight Foot Paul - Mahalo! Still working on the sign, or hope to at least this weekend. Just got your package & waited till dinner w/ the family to open it. Too funny! We all had a good laugh!! Thanks, your the best!!!

Aaron

The leaf looks very cool great color and wood.
Man the sign looks very in-depth and labor intensive way to
go at it.

Nice stuff Aaron, and good to see you back into it :D I think we need more pics of your leaf!

Aloha Aaron! It's good to see your stuff again. It's all looking real nice. I can't wait to see what else is in store.

Mahalo, everyone. Input appreciated!

8FT - Sorry, forgot your question - paints or stains? Yeah, both I think...
Seeks - This is the first sign I've done, but it's not been all that labor intensive. A lot of it was roughed out real quick with a router...
Hewey - That Monsterra leaf pic was chosen for optimum looks - best viewed from a distance!
Hi Finky - Yeah I'm not sure what I'll carve next. Maybe Kauai and that new pile of logs will inpsire me?

Here's the weekend's small bit of handiwork. Letters & stuff all carved out, frame lines all done w/ the Weecher, bulk of the sanding done:

Next up: Some torching and wire brushing to rase the gran in the background, some creative staining to make it look old...

...and maybe some of that "crackle" type faux antique paint for the letters for that old school look.

Anyboby used this stuff? If so, any tips would be appreciated!

Aaron

Really like your stuff. Great sign!

Why, thank you leleliz!

You know, back in the day (and by back in the day I mean about two years ago, which is like a decade in Tiki Central time), it seems like everyone was doing step-by-step posts showing how they went about doing their projects. So, in an attempt to revive that tradition, I'm going to do one here. Why not? Hope no one minds... :D

Okay, so where was I?

The sign was pretty much all sanded up with the orbital and drum sanders, ready to go.

But these "jaggies" were bugging me. This is a pretty cheap piece of pine board, and my little V chisel is dull as all get out. Here's a bad spot where I had to cut cross-grain.

Also, my Tormek is till in the box. Duh! Gotta find time to set this thing up & watch the DVD to figure out how to set up the chisel jigs.

So, short of actually sharpening my chisels, I had to break out the Porter Cable. I wasn't too impressed with this thing when I bought it a few years back, but it worked out pretty good for cleaning up the frame lines.

It has these rubber tips that you wrap stickky back sanding paper around like so...

Next, torching. Like any wise spouse, I picked up an old spatula from the thrift store rather than face the wrath of my wife by destroying her kitchen utensils. Besides, it was a good excuse to scout for mugs. No luck...

I've never done this before, but it looked like a good way to avoid burning up my lettering & stuff.

Well, mostly...

What I was looking to do was get that raised grain look in the background parts. Another benefit is that after wire brushing, all of the little router marks were gone. Seriously, I'll do anything to avoid hand sanding. I HATE sanding!

Next, hit it with the orbital sander to get rid of the excess charring.

And voila!

At that point you'd think I'd hit it with some light stain and call it a day.

This is where you say "Dude! That's Ebony stain you're slathering all over it!!" Yes it is! There's a method to my madness!!

Like a big hershey bar...

Here it is after rubbing & clean up with rags..

That's the beginning of my staining process - more to come in the next installment, whenever that is.

Cheers!

A-A

Nice! Very good work on this sign panel!!

Mahalo, Laojia!

Next steps:

I sanded down the high spots once again. Now all of the detail lines and spots down inside of the letters will have a nice dark contrast.

Next, I restained the exposed wood with a lighter color, Minwax "Provincial". I only left it on for a short time, then rubbed it down using rubbing alcohol to lighten the stain as much as possible.

Next I need to pick up some spray-on spar varnish which should really brighten it up and bring out the finish.

A-A

Wow coming out fantastic.

I really like it with the lighter and darker areas. When you posted the pic of the all over dark stain I was hoping you were headed in that direction.

I really like your style. Even though people do amazing work in 3D totems and standing tikis the flat relief pieces are always my fav.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I love the way you worked out the shapes of the heads. ´That´s a clever idea. And reading through your last posting was like a tutorial. Thanks for sharing.

Many thanks Seeksurf, leleliz, & tok-tok!

leleliz - I really like to try to get some type of aged look in my finishes. This method works well for me because it turns all of the flaws into assets. The flatwork was a new thing for me, but I enjoyed it because I was able to get things done a bit quicker, and I also liked working with the router.

tok-tok - The head shapes were a snap because all I really did was copy my TC avatar which I designed a long while back. I'm glad you liked the step-by-step. I like doing them and I like reading other carver's step-by-steps even better...(!) :)

So here's the done deal "in situ"...

...and in its final resting place hanging above my workbench in the carving grotto...

If y'all want to check out some of my older stuff, I posted the new stuff in my "finished stuff" thread here. Did that make sense?

Thanks for lookin'!

Aaron

Looks awesome AA, very nice work. Im a big fan of the multi step ageing process, she came out a treat :D

YAY! Awesome, as usual AA. I love the burning technique underneath it all, it gives it that extra edge.

3

Hewey - How's everything? Yeah, trying to get some "old" into the finish definitely helps, but I think I like it most because it covers up all the nicks, gouges and flaws - or- at least makes it look like they're supposed to be there. Now, if I was really going for an authentic old look, I would not use gloss. But I can't help it, I love a nice glossy finish on wood.

Surfintiki - Long time! Thanks, yeah I never tried torching till now, but was reading someone's post (forget who) about using the torch/wire brush combo to get the same raised grain effect as sandblasting. Seemed to work pretty decently, so I'm sure I'll be doing more.

Ben - 3??? :-?

Thanks, folks! Now I gotta dream up the next one...

Cheers,

A-A

Great Thread!
Love your finishing techniques.

May Great Tikis fire forever burn!

Thanks, El Stingray - glad to share.

- Talkin' Story -

So one day in Kauai we decided to drive up and see Waimea Canyon...

It's a really beautiful drive with lots of lookout points along the way. Well worth the trip.

Driving back down the grade, we found a shady picnic area where we could sit & have some beer & grinds from the cooler. All the other covered picnic spots were taken, and everyone there appeared to be locals (no tourists but us). One spot had a family gathering, and deer meat was hanging in bags off the rafters. At another spot was a small family cooking on a hibachi, and the other had a group of Hawaiian guys in Cammos & t-shirts drinking beer, cooking stew, and listening to country music playing loudly from the truck stereo. The truck had a wild boar sticker in the back window. They looked for the most part like redneck hunters, except, well... Hawaiian.

By that time we had been used to being surrounded by Haole Tourists like ourselves, but figured what the heck and grabbed a nearby table. Everybody said Aloha, Howzit, etc. as we walked by. Very friendly.

We're having lunch and one of the hunters walks over with a big bowl of Mulligan Stew (with portugese sausage - tasty!) and says hey, you gotta try some of this. So we started eating and talking and a few others came over and soon everyone was drinking beers and talkin' story. These guys come up the canyon to hunt wild boars and goats, but today they were just there to hang out and beat the heat. It's a good 10 degrees cooler up in the Canyon vs. down at the Beach. I asked the first guy (named "Chief") why I hadn't seen any Hawaiians carving tikis in all of our island trips, only Tongans. He got a serious look for a moment and said that they saw it as bad mojo, kind of like voodoo. He said in the old days the tikis were very powerful and could ward off bad stuff. In the old times there were powerful Kahunas that could kill you just by staring at you, he said. The tikis eventually lost their potency, though. You could surround your house with them and they would still would not protect you from evil.

(I'll insert my own theory here, which is that Hawaiians are a largely Christian group now, and the original Missionary taboo placed on idol worship is so ingrained now that carving tikis, even to sell to tourists, is generally distasteful. The Tongans have no such qualms though, so they are the only game in town. Of course I could be totally wrong on that. But I digress...)

I asked Chief if he knew of any Hawaiian carvers. He thought for a moment, then said "Go see Uncle Larry". Uncle Larry, he said, was an old Filipino carver that lives in Waimea town, who carves tikis. "Go down to the low income housing just behind the Subway sandwich shop and ask for him", he said. "Everybody knows him..."

The stew was delicious, so we returned the favor and gave them some cookies. They offered us some mangoes, but I told them we had just bought some at a stand up at the Canyon Lookout. They all cracked up and said "You paid for those? You can pick 'em!!!" We all laughed & said our goodbyes before heading on down the windy canyon road. I felt a bit bad leaving so soon. These folks were genuinely nice.

We had stuff to do that day so we headed back to our side of the island. My wife, who knows me well, said "You're gonna go find Uncle Larry, aren't you"?

He-he! You know it!!

So a couple of days later we found ourselves alone with a whole day to kill (my son was at the "Keike Aloha" kid's program at the Sheraton that day). Of course, you can guess where I was headed. Nina looked a bit dubious about asking around the low income housing complex looking for Uncle Larry, but she's a good sport and generally humors me when I get on a roll.

So we found the Subway shop, and I asked the lady who worked there. She said "Sure, I'll show you where he lives". We walked around back (leaving the store unattended), and she pointed out the place.

Well, it didn't look so bad. Pretty homey, and not the type of place you'd associate with "low-income housing". And the beach was just a block down. I could live there!

There was plenty of evidence of a carver, but evidently no Uncle Larry.

Some old ladies sitting outside their units across the way said "Go walk down to the beach. Uncle Larry said if anyone stops by tell 'em he's down there".

Okay, now we're in business! So we strolled down to the beach, and getting closer, heard that familiar "tok-tok-tok" that can only mean one thing.

Uncle Larry's a kindly old soul. We walked up and introduced ourselves, told him that I'm a tiki Carver of sorts, and that Chief had sent us over. Old Larry didn't mind us stopping by at all. We talked about carving and how we both like to do different stuff, tools, sharpening, etc. Larry has been around for 70 years and has been carving tikis for about 50 or so of them. He's missing a few teeth but seems pretty spry for his age. He says carving keeps him young.

He's got a pretty nice spot where he carves outdoors on the beach. He says he gets his inspiration from the beach, the sky, and the scenery. He say's he wouldn't live anywhere else, especially not the other (busier) side of the island. "You can hear yourself think here!"

He's got a bunch of Monkeypod wood laying around and nobody messes with his stuff. I gotta say, Kauai seems like an especially laid back and friendly island.

Dig these tools. How many tikis has that mallot seen? He fabricated the chisel himself - it's homemade! Nice.

That was a monkeypod bowl he had just started. I asked him if he had any finished tikis to show, but he said they all sell as soon as he carves them. Nowadays he only carves here and there, when he feels like it. He doesn't get much done very quickly. (Hmmm, sounds like me!).

One of his friends chimed in. "Go down to the Museum down the street - he's got one in there".

His other friend told us about a really big tiki that Uncle Larry carved which sits out in the park at the Public Beach in Kapa'a (That's on the other "busier" side of the island).

So we said goodbye and promised to stop by next time we make it out to Kauai.

Next we headed down the street to the Museum which is also a visitor's center. Here's Larry's tiki. I'm not sure how long ago he carved it, but it is a showcase piece. In fact it was in a showcase, but I tried to get some decent pictures for you guys in spite of the glare on the glass.

A few days later we were driving over to Hanalei Bay on the opposite side of the island. We were driving past Kapa'a Public Beach so we took a side trip to see Uncle Larry's big tiki. Here's the beach.

And here is the big tiki out by the beach park pathway, nicely weathered. It looks like it's been there a while.

I always try to look up the local carvers when I visit the islands. You can learn lots from them, and Uncle Larry was no exception. If ever in Kauai, visit Waimea Beach and look him up. He loves to talk story.

That's the end of my longwinded tale, hope you enjoyed!

Aloha!

A-A

Very cool. thanks for the pics and read.
Way to hit the back roads. The tikis are incredible.
The weathered tiki was my fav.

WOW. Uncle Larry was a Terrific find, there aren't many like him around. Thanks for taking us with you to meet him but I still have about a thousand ?'s for him.. :lol: :D

Great stuff AA. Thanx!

Now go back and get a shot of the bowl when it's finished!

great story and wonderful pics.

bd

Seeks, yeah those were some interesting day trips. Super cool to meet some real Hawaiians and trade stories with them.

Ben, I agree. I felt like I scored just on meeting this fellow and spending an hour or so talking with him. You don't often meet someone that's been around and carving for so long. If he's really been carving for 50 years, that's longer than I've been alive. And by the looks of that mallot, it's looks quite possible. I wish I could just take a month off work & go hang out & carve with Uncle Larry on Waimea beach... :) POP Okay, daydream over!

SurfinTiki, Yeah I'd love to see that bowl when it's done.

Thanks, BD!

So what gets me about Hawaii is all of this awesome wood laying around. It's no problem to get wood over there. Everything grows like crazy and I guess all you've got to do is hook up with some tree trimmers. Monkeypod, Milo, Hau, it's all pretty easy to get. Unfortunately the airlines are charging a bundle for checked luggage, so it's hard to bring back. Here's a monkeypod tree out in a parking lot. There's tons of these trees around the island:

I was given this piece of Hau (Wild Hibiscus) by a friendly Tongan carver a couple trips back when we stayed on Maui:

I didn't know what the tree looked like till we had some pointed out on a tour on this trip to Kauai. After that I noticed it growing just about everywhere, along rivers, roads, etc. so I had to get some pics. It's more of a really big bush than a tree, but it grows pretty tall and some decent diameter pieces can be found.

A close up:

Another nice score - Koa. I saw this place one day while we were driving around.

Notice the sign above the door: "Koa Lumber - Short Lengths". Okay then, quick U-Turn!

I learned some about the different grades of Koa. Here's a sign that explains it all.

The top of the line is "Ultra Premium Curly", but it costs an arm and a leg. The grain is wavy and translucent with a beautiful 3-D effect when you look at it from different angles. This rocking chair is made from Ultra Premium Curly.

A little rich for my blood, but they had these prepackaged boxes of "Bargain" and "Super Bargain" Koa that were ready to ship. I picked up a box of 8 pieces for $31.41 + $10 shipping, and it arrived home the same day we got back. Some boxes were $25, some $ 40 or $50 depending on the board foot and the grade of the pieces. What I got wasn't premium Koa, but it ain't no pine either! Beautiful color and grain, just not the super bitchin' curly stuff.

I also picked up one nice board of the Premium Curly for a special project. That piece we brought back on the plane.

I talked to the manager and learned that you can just call them and they'll review the list of boards, sizes, etc. with you over the phone if anyone here is interested. Contact Candice Agustin store manager at The Koa Store (800) 245-7917. It's in Lihue, Hawaii. Unfortunately this would be "sight unseen", but all of the pices were good and seemed pretty straight up in line with the grades listed on the sign on the wall.

Okay, I'm ramblin' again! Thanks for the replies...

Aaron

You, my friend, are a true dedicated tiki-phile! Thanks for stockpiling that info for us!

Aaron, nice finished logo board!

It's always great to hear and see more of your Hawaiian adventures so that I can live them through you. (it's a lot cheaper for me). Keep 'em comin' my friend. 8FT

SurfinTiki - Sure, my pleasure. Always on the lookout for good TC info. 8)

Thanks Paul! Hopefully we'll be back to Hawaii in a couple of years. Maybe the big island or Kauai, but we're pretty fond of Maui so we may be headed back there again next time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, I decided on my next project...

I tried to figure out dimensions, etc. by hand based on the BOT pic, but decided to take the easy route and drew it up at work on the computer one day at lunch.

The tough part is figuring out what the side and back should look like. I thought there might have been an actual tiki that the Logo was based on, so I asked Bigbro about it and this was his take:

"Nope, sorry. I assume it existed, but no photographic record has appeared so far. There is that table lamp, but I don't own one, and as far as I remember it is not an accurate depiction, probably just an interpretation from the menu rendering... I peg this Tiki to be a Andres Bumatay carving, mainly because of its eyes, and his arm position. But then again, Milan Guanko used those arms-in-the-lap too, and the chin lines are found in some of Guanko's work. It's a puzzling piece, and I bet it'll be a challenge to have it make sculptural sense in 3D. It's not very "pretty".

It does sound like a challenge. I chose this weathered palm log that Tikimecula gave me right before he moved. It's 5 foot 2 and about the right shape.

It was a good powertool day, just roughing out to do, so I got to use pretty much everything: grinder, lancelot, dime tip "Kieg-erator" and my trusty old Makita.

It doesn't look like much yet, but most of the big profile cuts are done and it's past the "where do I start" stage. That's always my biggest hurdle.

You won't really see the Tahitian tiki yet even if you squint. Lots more cuts to do...

Cheers,

A-A