First Tiki Attempt

I was bitten by the Tiki bug awhile ago down in Maryland at Solomon's Island for the renowned Tiki Bar Opening. It was my first time attending the bar's spring opening along with another 2,000 people. Ever since I got back I've been researching and reading up on tikis. This website is the best resource for everything and all things tiki.

So I set out and created my first tiki. I've been itching to get the pics up and get some feedback. I'm on the east cost so I don't have access to palm trees. This wood was a limb we cut down from a tree at my beach house years ago and I stumbled upon a whole pile of it drying out in our garage. The chisels I purchased off Ebay - one of those 15 chisels sets in a pouch. They suck..... period. Does anyone have any advice for sharpening chisels? The set came with a flat bench stone and 2 shaped slipstones.

Anyways, onto the good stuff....

To get the black inside I tried torching the log but it burnt the face of the tiki faster and darker then the inside where I cut so I ended up spray painting it black and sanding the front off.

I'll give credit where credit is due, I took the inspiration from http://www.buytikitorches.com/totem-poles/atp-24# titled "the Jester."

So couldn't wait too long to start a new tiki. I drew it up the other day and made the decision to invest in a Flexcut MC150 starters set. Carved for about half an hour today and I have to say that was the best decision I've made recently. Compared to the ebay set I got for $25, these Flexcuts cut through the wood like its no body's business. Here are two progress shots.

This is my second tiki attempt and first attempt at carving out a body. Hopefully I didn't aim to high by including the skull (inspired by Tiki65).

Any advice on going 3-D with the body?

Here are some progress shots. Going 3-D with the body for the first time has definitely presented some challenges and made me wish I thought ahead more often but once I get the mallet in my hand its chisel first, think second.

Here is a shot from the back. Can't wait to get started on a headdress.

Shot from the side.

I Decided to drill out between the legs and I'm going to add toes but this a rough start - the drill battery died out on me.

As always - advice and feedback are much appreciated.

So far you are off to a good start. The legs look great. It appears that you are improving from #1 to #2, and the fresh chisels help. What type of wood are you using on #2? Usually the wood will dictate how much detail you can achieve. I'm not sure about others, but I use 120 and 400 grit sandpaper on a clip board, one sheet each, and touch-up my chisels on that continuously (every 20-30mins of carving) as I work.

What are you burning the tikis with? Some use a propane or MAP gas torch, and some throw the whole log in a fire and let it cook, while others only use spray paint. It depends on what look you are going for. Thanks for sharing, as it looks like the tiki gods have claimed another victim.

Aloha!

Good to see another beginner on here. You're definitley off to a great start with your first one and the new full body. I'm also attempting a larger full body tiki. My advice to you about the features is to just either sketch them out or do very shallow cuts on the surface of either the tiki itself, or on a piece of scrap/firewood just to gauge it out. Hope this helped.

-LT

Putitiki, Welcome to the "Bitten" and to TC. Your second guy Really shows what a good set of chisels can do as this guy is really looking excellent so far. Personally I would prefer not to see the burning of the detail but rather a stain on the whole piece, letting the detail speak or itself.

Welcome your coming along nicely! Good job on these early guys
stick around you will be a pro before you know it.

Thanks for all the warm feedback and welcome. I was starting to worry that my work wasn't up to par since I didn't get any hits after awhile.

TikiMango - The wood for #1 and #2 are from the same tree, I think it's some sort of maple. It grows down at my beach house in NJ but its been sitting in my garage drying out for at least two years. It cuts real nice. My next project involves one of two 4 foot white cedar logs with a 10 inch diameter I got from an Amish guy. I used a propane torch but will probably skip the torching on #2 since there's more detail.
Lounge Tiki - Good luck on your larger full body tiki. I'm going to try my hand at a 4 footer when I finish #2.
Benzart - I think I'll take you up on the advice for staining #2. Any advice on brand/color? I read various posts and it seems like everyone does different coats of different products to achieve an amazing overall look.
Seeksurf - I'm hoping to pull off that tall Lono holding the surfboard you did. Someday.... Need to start little and work big down the road.

Hey PutiTiki, welcome on the addicted to carving tiki forum :)
Good job on your first creations.
I don't burn my details, I give them 1 or 2 extra layers of stain to make em dark.
Now stain should probably have it's own thread or magazine or something but since it's all secret resepies and formulas it just won't happen.
But seriously, just go to the shop and pick a color you like.
Get water based for things you are gonna put indoors. You can put it on in thin coats to get it as light or dark as you want it, and they dry real fast.
After stain you can put on a transparent coat of lacquer to deepen the color.
For more spectacular effects you can stain, sand, lacquer, stain, sand, lacquer etc.
The multiple layers breaks the light and makes magic when it reaches the wood.

Have Fun and keep up the good work,
Pat

Any good dark stain will work great, dark walnut, ebony even too.. Minwax is good and I use cabot when I can

Have not been getting enough time to turn this tiki out as fast as I'd like but here are some progress shots.

Here is the back side. The fork is tightening a rubber band I rigged in lieu of a vice because I was working around his upper lip and chipped two massive chunks out.

Here is the front, a vast improvement from the first shot of his once club feet.

Although no one can see under his feet I thought it looked cool carving out actual feet and not leaving a complete round base.

I plan on buying the Black and Decker Mouse for detail sanding, it comes with 33 attachments. Anyone have any advice as far as sanders go?

Looking good! Your carving skills are developing nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Your stuffs lool'n great.I use a mouse sander and think it
works a treat.

Nice work he is coming out great. I see you have run into the glue
fixes already. NICE WORK!

Welcome to TC. Really nice start on the tiki. Takes some guts to carve through on the just your second tiki. Great start on the feet as well. Nice design and nice use of the space, although it does look familiar. Anyway, keep up the great work and look forward to seeing the rest of the progress shots. Happy Carving.

Not going to be able to post any progress pics for some time because I'm studying for a certification test for work. However, purchased the B&D mouse sander with 33 attachments with advice from Watango and man, that thing works great for its price. Didn't bring my chisels down to the shore for the 4th so I just sanded for the weekend off instead.

Not sure what to do with the teeth. After sanding it out, it looks almost comic book style with one solid tooth and I love how smooth it is. Not sure whether to make individual teeth (partially afraid I'll mess it up or make it look worse). What do you guys think?

All that's left is the hard stuff - face/eyes/headdress. I take the test at the end of the month so hopefully I'll make up for lost tiki time and crank this bad boy out before winter rolls around.

Push yourself or you'll never try anything new... so I say make teeth! It's only wood (and your time, sweat and maybe blood), if you "mess up" you can carve a better one next time!

I agree. Go for it when you just start carving. That's where the developing of skills comes in but stay within reason. As an analogy, you wouldn't want to paint the Mona Lisa in your first art class.

i agree with the 2 previous posts. he needs teeth. right now he looks like he'll gum you to death. he's looking good though. nice work.

bd

Definitely needs teeth, I Know you can do it, just Go for it!

Again much progress here!! And quickly! Congrats!

J.

Looking great! way to sand like a mad man!

Not much to report on. This summer has blown by and I haven't had as much time as I'd like to carve. I am determined to finish this, my second piece, by the end of August. I carved for awhile a few weeks back but never posted any progress.

Here is a start to the eyes and "face mask." I wanted to do a headdress but the way I carved the body, the face mask design stops at his lips.

By far my favorite part of this piece is the skull. My favorite holiday is Halloween so I think I did this skull some justice. I originally had all the fangs the same length but it looked stupid so its now a vampire or some kind of monkey skull with fangs - go figure.

I'd love some feedback on what to do with the back of his head..... Originally there was a large chunk running from his upper back to the top that I had some cool ideas for but when I drew the eyes, that large chunk was completely off center so I lopped it off with the chisels. Now he has a completely flat back and it looks boring. I have all this blank space to work with between the eyes and above his shoulders but no ideas where to go with it......

Thanks for checking in. This will be finished, do or die, by the end of August. I even purchased some Mahogany Red Minwax finish for it.

Still looking great you cant go wrong on this guy.

YES, Definitely looking Excellent. The back can be covered by the headdress that should be all the way around, It's There you just gotts uncover it along with the Teeth :o :) .
Whatever you do it will be good even As-is.

Two questions looking for some advice on:

1. Want to get a urethane mallet because my bargain $4.99 ACE hardware one is going to break any day. Any recommendations on size. I've seen 12, 18, 20, and 30 oz.
2. Want some larger chisels for taking out a lot of mass in my next piece. On the fence about whether to invest in the FlexCut MC175 set of four mallet chisels. Compared to my Flexcut starter set, they look too large to be of any practical use. I don't plan on carving 10 foot pieces but something 4-6 feet requires a substantial tool. Anyone have this set and use it on a regular basis?

Thanks for the help.

racer x is looking mighty good there. like the fangs on the skull. good job.

my 2 cents...as for chisels, well i use cheap, sharp flat ones to knock off major pieces then use my better ones to shape and refine. also use a dremel on some small pieces for outlining and sanding. i know that several people use grinders and chainsaws on bigger pieces to remove the big stuff. i started using a hammer and was given a mallet for xmas (best gift) and don't know the weight on my mallet but after about 1 hour of swinging the damn thing it does feel like about 10 pounds, but a whole lot easier than the hammer. certain that you will get more and better feedback than what i've given you and don't know if any of what i wrote will help you but good luck finding what you need and/or want.

bd

Urethane mallets - the majority of the time I use a 20oz. mallet and for smaller detail I use a 12oz. I also have some smaller wooden ones that I made myself that can be used for very small detail.

I just bought the Flexcut Sculpture set from Timberline for $92+ (as seen on Amazon). Having a good all-around set is a great way to start.

On 2009-08-15 12:38, AlohaStation wrote:
Urethane mallets - the majority of the time I use a 20oz. mallet and for smaller detail I use a 12oz. I also have some smaller wooden ones that I made myself that can be used for very small detail.

I just bought the Flexcut Sculpture set from Timberline for $92+ (as seen on Amazon). Having a good all-around set is a great way to start.

Did you receive the set yet? I'm hesitant to buy if they normally sell for $124 -> $30 savings seems too good to be true. If you have them and they are genuine, then I'm buying.

I actually called and they told me the price was $120. I told the guy i saw it on Amazon for $92 but did not see the set on their website. He told me they were out of the set but would give the the individual chisels at the Set price (no box). I paid and the package followed a few days later. Great service! The individual chisels came with a price tag on each of $62! Just started playing with them this weekend.

On 2009-08-15 19:18, AlohaStation wrote:
I actually called and they told me the price was $120. I told the guy i saw it on Amazon for $92 but did not see the set on their website. He told me they were out of the set but would give the the individual chisels at the Set price (no box). I paid and the package followed a few days later. Great service! The individual chisels came with a price tag on each of $62! Just started playing with them this weekend.

I actually went ahead and ordered them earlier today. I started freaking out when I read your last post. Did they contact you about the $120 price? Do you have someone I can email about it or should I just wait to hear from them? I could care less about a box, I just don't want to get charged the full $120 when the site listed it at $92.

On 2009-08-15 10:41, PutiTiki wrote:
Two questions looking for some advice on:

1. Want to get a urethane mallet because my bargain $4.99 ACE hardware one is going to break any day. Any recommendations on size. I've seen 12, 18, 20, and 30 oz.
2. Want some larger chisels for taking out a lot of mass in my next piece. On the fence about whether to invest in the FlexCut MC175 set of four mallet chisels. Compared to my Flexcut starter set, they look too large to be of any practical use. I don't plan on carving 10 foot pieces but something 4-6 feet requires a substantial tool. Anyone have this set and use it on a regular basis?

Thanks for the help.

I'm currently using a rubber mallet, 16oz. Works pretty good. I'm sure the urethane mallet is better but haven't gotten yet.

As for the chisels I have one small wood carving set, palm sized, that I bought a long time ago. I basically just use the gauge and straight chisel from that set. The rest of my chisels are straight chisels of good quality bought from the local hardware store. Then I'm using a variety of dremel bits in addition to that.

Your tiki is coming along great! You could continue the headdress around the back or carve out the flat part currently in the back to make the two lines of the headress currently shown stand out better. Then you can make a dividing line between the head and back. Might be a compromise between doing a full headdress if you don't want to go there.

Well, as promised I finished Tiki #2. Overall, extremely happy with my results. I managed to get my first head dress finished which I free-handed on the fly since my original plans went out the window when I took a large chunk off his back. I look at tikis all over this website and love certain features in each and tried to incorporate a few of those on this piece: 1) Had to have a skull = BADA$$ 2) The criss-cross "face mask" of Tiki God Kane 3) Deep cuts in the mouth 4) Full 3-D Body. As far as the stain, it did not turn out how I liked. I was so happy to finish carving/sanding that I had to stain it before another day passed so I did so in poor lighting and put the stain on wayyyyy to thick. I'm currently deciding whether to sand the entire thing and leave the dark stain in all the crevices and inlays then go over with a lighter stain or just leave it as is and move onto #3......

Thanks for checking in.

PT, It's hard to tell from the photos, but it looks a bit washed out without some type of clear coat to go over that stain. If the stain was applied too thick, you may want to rub it down with a cloth and rubbing alcohol or something else to strip it down a bit. Or maybe a quick sand on all of the high spots like you mentioned, then a light stain over that. I think it's a killer tiki and definitely not ready to give up and move on to the next.

Good luck!

Aaron

Great tiki - I think a rejig of the stain would work wonders!

Kool look'n peice!I'd be give'n this guy a rough once over with the mouse and
restain'n him with a few coats of various stains that compliment each other then
maybe a wax.(just a thought).Cheers Watango

Your details are really excellent. It had to have taken some time to do. I have had the same problem with the stain several times. It is has be a leraning process for me as I spend a great deal of time carving. Then when you think you are finished and all that needs to be done is throw on a quick coat of stain, you find that it is not the way you hoped. The finish will usually highlight the rough spots. I have to force myself to bear down and bite the bullet. To go back and sand it really sucks, but it is a small time invested compared to how long you will have it.

I like it! I think it came out great. Even the stain looks good to me - but is the color in the pics just caused from the indoor flash? It has kind of a silvery sheen to it. Is that not what it really looks like? It also looks like it already has different highlights on the edges - like wear. Did you do this or is that just the staining issue you're talking about?

Tried the mouse on this guy to tone down the stain but even the finest grit paper took all the color away so I ended up scrubbing him with some steel wool. Re-stained after the steel wool with a very light pine color and used some spray varnish. I'm very pleased with how he looks after the seal coat because in the last pictures I posted, the finish looks horrible.

My friend just called because he is cutting down a monster pine tree so #3 is on his way..... Check back later.

-PutiTiki

The refinish job was the ticket, looks great! I like to see the detail of the wood come threw.
Keep it up.

Nice refinish! Way to not concede to a piece until you're happy with it.

Excellent refinish and very nice tiki! Keep up the great work.

Atomic, Mango, Lizard - Thanks for the compliments, I'm glad I put some more time into the piece.

General question to all carvers - Just cut down fresh pine, not sure what kind. I sealed the ends with a spray on varnish but its seeping sap all over the place. Anyone carve fresh pine before? I'm looking for a recommendation on drying it out and when to carve it.

• PutiTiki

Puti, I love the final finish on this tiki, Excellent work and follow-through. Good on'ya for not chucking it and starting new. Those lessons are the Best ones, when you take the time to figure out the problems encountered while carving Anything. Way to GO!
Here is a group of "Lessons" you can download for free which all are wood carving related including 2 for sharpening. They are called "Slipstones" and come from Chris Pye, an English True Master Carver and teacher. He even carves for the Royal Family. anyway
HERE are the downloads in pdf form. Hope you get them all and that you will get something from them.

Yes! He looks fantastic right now with that finish.
I hear you. It kills me when i saw a black crappy finish on one of
my early tikis.

So after many moons I have returned to TC. I started a new job in the fall and I'm sad to say I have not channeled my tiki passion since the warm days of summer. However, the tiki fire was recently re-ignited after booking vacation for the grand opening of the Tiki Bar in Solomon's Island http://www.tikibarsolomons.com/Home.aspx a recent tradition I started. So I return to TC with some questions before starting things back up again.

I have 4 nice sized logs in my garage - 2 white cedar and 2 some sort of pine. The cedars are bone dry and unfortunately cracked all over but still carve-able while the pines are rock hard and sap covered.

The temperature are mid 30s around me and my garage isn't too much warmer - is that too cold to carve? Will cold wood damage chisels? I want to let some chips fly this weekend but the pines are like rock (I doubt they are completely dried out despite being cute down in June) while the cedar is dry and cold.

Anyone carve in cold temps? Any recommendations? I've been scouring TC posts the past few days and the creative juices are flowing.

-PutiTiki

On 2010-01-29 07:47, PutiTiki wrote:

Anyone carve in cold temps? Any recommendations?

----Wear a coat.

The temperature are mid 30s around me and my garage isn't too much warmer - is that too cold to carve? Will cold wood damage chisels? I want to let some chips fly this weekend but the pines are like rock.

----Go for it, it won't hurt your chisels. I carve outside in the winter all the time, even below zero at times (admittedly not for long)

Well I've been a stranger to any sort of progress on my carvings since my last tiki but not to TC. I visit on a daily basis and truly love what I see. I have a pile of logs in my garage and the tools but can never find the time. Today I got fed up with seeing all your work and not having anything to contribute so I grabbed a dried out log and free handed more or less.

Definitely learned some things working on the fly. I still have plenty of work left on this carve but I knew another beautiful day would go by with no carving if I obsessed over drawing it out. Being this is #3, I wanted to try my hand at a Marquesan.

Looking for advice - do the teeth usually go around 360? As of now, he has no lips so I'm unsure of what to do with the space between his hands and his teeth. After working the eye out, I'm getting a 'creature from the black lagoon' look from his gills.

I have a wood burning soldering iron thing, so I plan to do some cool design/tattoo on him once he's done and use a light stain to let the grain show through.

Thanks for checking it and keep the tikis coming.