A-A… Some Stuff I'm Working On (16 years later... finally retired and carving again!!)

Aloha Aaron!

Thanks much for sharing the story! A great read and a great adventure!

Nice start on the Bumatay tiki!

A perfect shaped log for it, and I can see you've got the ins and outs of this one figured as usual.

Always the perfectionist with you, and that's a good thing! :wink:

Good luck with it, I look forward to watching the progress!

Love your travel stories mate, very cool. Although I wonder what Uncle Larry would make of all this CAD voodoo stuff :lol:

"The Koa Store" - I can just see you doing a double-take driving by! Only in Hawaii!!!!

Those Monkeypods look like great shade canopy trees, wonder if ya can get them in San Diego anywhere...

Keep rambling! I might find or lean something new.

The tiki is looking sharp! Way to go about it.

Sweet! What a great trip to Kauai! Next time I'm there (and there will be a next time), I hope I get to visit Uncle Larry. His mallet says it all. A favorite tool for him for many years.

Just by the way, I asked a carver in Honolulu where he learned to carve, and he said in the state pen. He also said that's what they do in prison instead of making license plates. I suppose you've got to be on your best behavior before they'll let you have sharp chisels.

Nice work Aaron!

Great new statue coming along. Thanks for the How-To's and step by step's!! Much appreciated!

Hey Aaron, Iook what I stumbled on, it was filed in a wrong folder:

Dave - yeah, I'm a perfectionist, sometimes too much! I might make it to Oasis for a day trip, will try like hell to stop by & say Hi. I'm gonna be working that weekend on wrapping up construction docs for a huge project. My luck... :(

Hewey - Yep, I think Larry's definitely in the old school class of carvers, which made him all the more interesting to chat with. Not too many of his generation out there carving these days, if any... at least in Hawaii. Now, the CAD thing... It's funny, I've often wondered how many out there are using computers to work out their designs (CAD, Adobe Illustrator, Sketchup, etc.), how many on paper with pencils, how many just grab a log & start carving? It seems like there's a little bit of a stigma thing? Just like the old carvers were reluctant to break out the chainsaws for demonstration, cause the paying customers all wanted to see "authentic" tikis being carved with chisels. For me, I guess I just gotta use whatever voodoo works best!

Cammo - Double take for sure... almost caused an accident!!

Seeks - will do! Thanks for the comps :)

TGap - Long time (Coontiki Alumni Association)! Look him up, I'm sure you'll find him if you follow my general directions. There's only one Subway shop in Waimea, can't miss it. Funny story on the State Pen... Did you check your wallet when you walked off?

Big T - More updates to come, thanks for the comps.

Sven - That lamp is beautiful. Did it come from the Tahitian, or was it simply inspired by it? I see what you meant, they used a clever design to avoid interpreting the back & side views. Thanks for digging that up for me! :D

A-A

Aaron,awsome stories and great pic's thanks for share'n
them with us,the tahitian peice looks like it's com'n
along great cant wait to see more.Cheers Watango

Mahalo, Watango! Here's my half day Friday's progress...

More profile cuts...

The part that looks like a mouth is actually the indent for the neck with the chest jutting out below.

Next I've gotta rough out the arms that wrap around down into the lap.

Cheers,

Aaron

Wow! It's so good to see you carving here again. Happy happy.
All the cuts look great. (I'm trying to avoid the word "perfect", It seems to be the adjective I ALWAYS use for you!) :D

Look'n good Daddyo!!

YES, it IS great to have you back carving with your precision layout and attention to detail. No one does it better! this guy is no exception! keep us posted with lots of progress shots? Thanks!

On 2009-07-23 19:15, Aaron's Akua wrote:
It's funny, I've often wondered how many out there are using computers to work out their designs (CAD, Adobe Illustrator, Sketchup, etc.), how many on paper with pencils, how many just grab a log & start carving? It seems like there's a little bit of a stigma thing? Just like the old carvers were reluctant to break out the chainsaws for demonstration, cause the paying customers all wanted to see "authentic" tikis being carved with chisels. For me, I guess I just gotta use whatever voodoo works best!

AA, yep I've wondered the same thing. Like, how "authentic" is one method over another. And, if I was super cool, shouldn't I be able to just hack into the wood and come out with something really nice?? LOL So far, that latter method ain't workin too good. I've mostly made rough sketches on the log and then cut in. But lately I've been sketching/practising them on paper first, then sketching it out on the log.

Actually, I think that all the tikis seen here are "authentic" because you can tap it with your hand! But I also raised many questions about the "method" and technique of ancients carvers.
Some things are certain: everyone has adapted his sculptures with means available to their time... Historically we know that the océanic carving, but also the tattoos, are more quickly progress with the arrival of iron tools led by explorers... When they did not burn and kill everybody...
It is a vast and complex subject, but I think what do with the means of his time is not heresy.
Then free to everyone to use a computer or a knife of obsidian,it is just to do with the heart and to enjoy!

That said, I follow the progression of this piece with great interest...

J.

Mahalo - Surfin', Watango, & Benz! :D

TBT & laojia: All good points! I love discussing this kind of thing and getting everyone's ideas & opinions.

I guess my own personal philosophy is that it doesn't matter how you get there - what matters is how the carving comes out when you're done. Everyone has a different approach that works best for them. I know a few guys around here use Adobe Illustrator to figure out their designs before they start carving. Some others use pencil and paper. I think Ben does it all in his head, which blows my mind. Whatever the method, the important thing is knowing what you want it to look like before you start carving.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who uses CAD around here. It's my tool of choice because I've been using different versions of it at work for the past 20 years or so. These days, the architecture and engineering industry is moving towards Revit, which is a fully 3D building modeling program, and super complicated. For tikis I just stick with straight old 2D CAD. All you really need is lines, circles, and arcs. Any generic CAD shareware program will do these basics.

Back when I first started carving, I really spent a lot of time trying to get everything exact.

The carving came out pretty good, but the method was way too complicated!

So, like everyone, my method is evolving as I go. I still use CAD because for me it's 10 times easier than trying to sketch by hand. Easy is good! What I'm doing different is this - I do it quick and I don't plot out full size templates anymore. The CAD drawing is just a map to figure out where I'm headed. Once the design is drawn up at any scale, I can turn all of the lines and arcs into a single entity and scale the whole thing to fit the proportions of my log. At that point it's in real life dimensions in the computer. Then I just throw some dimensions on it at the obvious cut points. The big difference is that I spend a lot less time trying to get things perfect in the computer. This was done on my lunch break one day:

From there I just transfer cut marks & stuff by hand using tape measure, sharpie & straight edge. The CAD drawing gives me the measurements that I'm trying to stick with to keep everything proportional.

I try to keep centerlines on the log, marking it back up after cuts. Usually I'll draw one half on the log, then use some tracing paper to copy it. Then I cut it out, flip it, and draw the shape out on the other side. Cardboard templates are good if you plan on making several pieces from the same design, but this on-the-fly method works well for one-off's.

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

Okay, this log is really starting to give me trouble. Turns out the core is rotten, and with this deep design, I'm starting to cut right into it. The middle looks and feels like grey styrofoam. Here's the neck...

I had to break out my secret weapon, the "BK Duckbill Chisel", just to keep the cuts sharp where I plunged down into the chest. It's really starting to get stringy on me.

The BK chisel is ground down to about 1/16" thick, and the sides are sharpened as well. This allows you to plunge deep into the wood without getting the chisel stuck. Not that that would be a problem with this soft stringy part.

I really wanted to copy the Tahitian, but it looks like I'll need to change the design a bit to deal with the wood. If I taper these arms back into the shoulders, it's gonna fall apart on me. And if I don't, it's not gonna look right.

Thinking.... :-?

Aaron,tahitian guy is com;n along nicely.
Cheers Watango

Aaron thanks for all the progression pictures, it is so helpful for us amateur carvers. I love your work.

Good to see more of your design/transfer process. I have used some paper templates similar to what you are doing here. On one of the tikis I am currently working on, I wanted the hands to be the same size and have the same appearance so after i drew the first one on the log, I traced it and made a pattern to draw it on the other side of the body.

Aaron, looking good. Glad the logs got you motivated again to get some carvin done.

You da man!

bump

A-A,

I stumbled upon your thread and really enjoy your work !
Your step-by-step posts have given me great help as well as ideas and inspiration.
I have a long way to get to your level, but after reading your thread
my learning curve just got cut in half. Now if I can find the patience to step up my game.

Thanks, and keep the posts coming !

Peeps - Hate to post when I really got nuthin' to post, but... Coming off a marathon of many weekends at work, and now I'm trying to get all the stuff done at home that got neglected in the mean time. Maybe some carving time this weekend? Fingers crossed!

Mooney - thanks for the bump! Sometime you think you can drop down a few pages unnoticed... Thanks for helping me get my priorities straight!

Kino - Glad you found some useful info. Yes, I've been around TC for a little while, but as you can see I've not got a huge amount of tikis done. I just try to do my best on each one. Everyone's been moaning about how slow they are lately, so I just gotta laugh and chime in. Yes, work on being patient and have fun! Someday we'll all retire and then we'll have all of the time in the world to carve tikis. Of course then we'll be moaning about the high cost of sandpaper or lacquer or some other thing!!

BK - Mahalo my friend! No, YOU da man!!

Andy - Thanks, hope all is well and hope you are finding time to get all set up for carving in Kansas. Yeah, the fresh logs got me plenty motivated! More carving soon, I promise.

BigT - There's always some way to improve the process or make it easier. You learn from me & I'll learn from you. It's a nice tiki co-op Hanford's got going here. Thanks!

Hiltiki - From one amateur to another, thanks you're too kind!

Watango - Thanks for the encouragement.

Cheers,

Aaron

Looking good hope you can manage a bit of carving this weekend

This sucker is looking great!

Kino - Glad you found some useful info. Yes, I've been around TC for a little while, but as you can see I've not got a huge amount of tikis done. I just try to do my best on each one. Everyone's been moaning about how slow they are lately, so I just gotta laugh and chime in. Yes, work on being patient and have fun! Someday we'll all retire and then we'll have all of the time in the world to carve tikis. Of course then we'll be moaning about the high cost of sandpaper or lacquer or some other thing!!

Slow ? What if you had to wait for the temp to drop below 100 degrees before
you could stand to be outside carving ?
Phoenix summers = gallons of sweat

Aaron,look'n forward to some more pics of the tahitian.
hope you've had some time to yourself to get chip'n.
Cheers Watango

Hi Folks! It been 16 years since I carved (or tried to carve) anything. It was one of those things where work responsibilities begin to take over to the point where you're left with little to no free time to pursue the hobbies and activities that you love. For years now, I've been daydreaming about it and thinking that as soon as I retire I'll have plenty of time to carve again. Well, that day has finally come! So I thought I'd poke my head in here and see what's up... who's still around from the old days, and who's joined since I dropped out. Looking forward to sharing tips and discussing carving methods like in the old days.

I really just got started again but thought I'd share something that I'm working on - it's a large wall clock, about 32" diameter using reclaimed wood from a wooden cable spool. I'd say it's not tiki-specific like most of my other carvings, but more of an island vibe (sea, sand, and flora) inspired by our many trips to Hawaii, with Monstera leaves, some mosaic style inlay using seashell chips, and sisal rope. Some of these items are strategically placed over the fasteners, holes and other features of the spool-top that I wanted to cover up.

Here's some pics... At the moment I've got it all roughed out with the palm router, and chiseled up a bit with the Foredom wood carver. Lots of sanding and cleanup still to be done before staining and applying the mosaic and rope. I'm still working on the design of the clock face, which will be fastened over the middle parts.

[ Edited by Aaron's Akua on 2025-06-20 16:12:53 ]

[ Edited by Aaron's Akua on 2025-06-20 16:13:50 ]

That's looking good. Welcome back.

16 yrs. Wow. Welcome home n have fun. Looks great so far!

Massive clock, can’t wait to see how it turns out. I love the mixed media of the piece.

Thanks hang10, GROG & Blackwater! Got everything sanded up on the clock base, and finally figured out my design for the clock face. That's next...

Kick n ars bro

More progress to share... got the clock face all carved, sanded and ready to go, so I decided on applying a staining technique that I've used in the past, but having a senior moment I couldn't remember exactly what type of stain I used - only the color scheme. So, following the sage advice of the paint guy at Lowe's, I used a gel stain for the deeper parts. The color is "coffee", which looks dark brown on the label but in reality is almost black (which is ok for my purposes).

The thing about gel stain is that it's the consistency of pudding, and tends to gob up in the deeper parts so it's hard to smooth out. Might be great for flat vertical surfaces (goes on like thick paint), but really a pain for relief carving. Once I finally got it all fixed up and dried, I sanded off all the flat top surface parts, leaving some dark grain for effect.

Interesting look, and my wife thought it would be cool to just apply a natural finish to the light sanded parts... but since I'm going for a different look I applied a second coat of "provincial" color penetrating stain.

Lessons learned - penetrating stain doesn't work well with gel stain, which effectively seals off all the wood pores and keeps it from penetrating and drying. I used rags to get as much as I could of the penetrating stain off the darker gel stain parts and set it outside in the 80 degree weather with the fly fans running overhead. Pretty happy with the color scheme so far, just waiting for it to cure up so I can hit it with a lacquer finish.

Next steps - lacquer, mounting hardware, mosaic, more lacquer, then add the rope and clock movement.

[ Edited by Aaron's Akua on 2025-07-11 15:58:00 ]

Here's the final progress pic on this piece... painting is done and most of the broken shell inlay is complete. Only need to finish the outer shell ring, add the rope and clock movement and it'll be good to go. I'll post the final piece tomorrow on my FINISHED PROJECTS PAGE.

I'm so glad we connected on fb and that brought me here. This table should be a family heirloom treasured by generations. It's truly beautiful.

I love the monstera pattern and the finish. Wonderful work.

Beautiful work

Hi, I'm able to post so it's back up.

Thanks all... apparently I got temporarily banned on a false positive spam identification, but our illustrious webmaster Leevi Graham got it all fixed in short order. Shoutout to Leevi - really appreciate all you've done to get this website back in ship-shape condition!

OK - please check out final pics on my FINISHED PROJECTS, PAGE 3.