bigt carvings

TBT, all that spaulting will look really cool once it's sanded and finished, guaranteed. You don't see that too often. Nice start!

Nice progress , looking forward to seeing the outcome.

On 2009-07-27 21:07, Aaron's Akua wrote:
TBT, all that spaulting will look really cool once it's sanded and finished, guaranteed. You don't see that too often. Nice start!

AA!! Spalting - dude thanks! I didn't know what that was! Still don't know what type of wood this is. I'm sure it's something local to me like water oak, pine, hackberry, etc.

The last time I saw this was on a piece of pecan a couple of years ago. The tree was already dead for a year and a half before we cut it down. Then, like a dope, I left a bunch of it intended for carving locked up in the back of my truck which has a hardtop cover on the bed. When I opened it up, the wood was all moldy and had chunks of fungus growing all over it!

You can see some of the effects here on this pic that shows dark lines that look like stains and also remnants of the mold in the deeper saw marks. And notice how the wood is really, really white.

Looks Like your well on your way with that carve, great wood.
I personally prefer found woods as the crazy limbs, knots, mold, borers, termites just adds to the character of the carve, and in my opinion helps to shape what the tiki will be and helps you to develop better carving in the future.
I bought a milled log once...and i stared at it for weeks ...the tiki just wasn't there.

TBT, here's some insight from Mr. Benzart a long while back:

On 2006-03-08 10:53, Benzart wrote:
Spaulting is the term used for the coloring that wood gets as it is drying out. Usually is is only greyish streaks running through the wood, but some woods develop a Beautiful coloring made up of reds, yellows, blues and greens all in various shades. You can never tell what the pattern will be. It happens when mold spores begin the deterioration process of the wood. the spaulting gets deeper and covers more of the wood as time goes on, until the piece of wood is no longer good...

My advice is if you stain this piece, use a light stain that will enhance the grain, or maybe even a clear coat. You might want to save a few chips and experiment first. Good luck - nice log.

Still working on the spalted log (oak??).

There's the tall boy in the back still waiting, sadly, for finishing...

Of course there's a crack right thru the face! ugh.

Thanks for looking. Comments, help, suggestions, welcome!! :)

Great start. Go deeper with your cuts. I heard a rumor that wood goes all the way through to the other side of most logs.

Hey Big T your carves are great. That wood looks just like some spalted hickory I have lying around here after the storm. I do agree with the previous post about making your cuts deeper. It really makes the wood pop. But your style is great.

AlohaS, Bali_Dan: Yes, I'm striving to carve deeper and overcome some natural hesitancy not to. I don't think the pics show that very well - this piece of wood is so pale it's hard to see any depth at all. And maybe that's your point? Thanks! :)

still not positive on this log, but its looking more like hackberry to me with these latest pics, all the hackberry I've worked with at all, even fairly young fresh cut healthy trees, have a pale white almost grayish look to the wood as opposed to the more common yellowish glow of most white woods, and also hackberry has medium gray spots in it, big streaks or blobs of grey that just seem randomly distributed thru the log. you might check out my thread ive got a hackberry Ku going with more greenish spalting at the ends and a bit of the grey black streaks like yous in it thru the middle but if yours has large random areas of gray like the sides of my Ku's chin it may just be hackberry.

oh by the way looking good, can't wait to see all that spalting all cleaned up.

Does the wood have small holes, about 1/4 of a inch, running throughout the piece? If it does then it may be ambrosia. If not then it's definitely spalted.... maple? If it's spalted then it's a great find and much sought after type of wood due to it's grain color. Your tiki is coming along great and has a nice outline. Leave the sanding and detail to the last though. Keep up the great work and look forward to it being finished.

IF you post a pic of the leaf then we will definitely know what type of tree it is.

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything

[ Edited by: Tikilizard 2009-08-11 13:11 ]

Looking sharp both of those guys coming along great.

Hey BigT, its what all carvers gon through in the beginning, Carve Deep they are told and they think they are caarving All the way through the log when they are only barely scratching the surface. Your current piece is looking pretty deep but in time you will find yourself even going deeper. Don't sweat it for it Will Come. Pretty soon we will be telling you to "Leave a bit MORE Meat on" for that is how far it will go. You are doing Great and ar Far ahead of where I was even at 30 or more tikis.

Domin: I think you may be right about the Hackberry. There's plenty of it around here. I knew what it was when I put this log up but have since forgotten. :( Thanks for the comps.

Tikilizard: Thanks a bunch. Nope, no small holes. Plenty of large ones though as you can see from the pic below. Oh, this log was cut and debarked a long time ago so no more leaves around.

Seeks: Thanks man. Did some more work on the eyes and face.

Ben: Yep, you guys have been telling me to carve deeper for several carves now. :lol: Don't worry, I'm trying and hopefully getting better at it. I appreciate all the pointers!

Worked some more on the face. It has a real heavy set look that I kinda like. A bold look. I still have to put some decorations on the helmet.

Discovered a fair amount of damage as I go deeper on the back. Maybe I'll be able to cut through these bug channels and there will be solid wood underneath. I hope so. Any suggestions if there isn't?? I want to stain this dude a light color so I don't know how wood filler repairs might look on this guy. Luckily, it's on the back and not the front.

Thanks all for the input!

just a couple of old war wounds picked up on raiding trips. gotta get a wife, right? good work t.

bd

Hey BigT, it looks good. They make this stuff called plastic wood made by DAP. It takes a stain well but you can still tell its there when used on larger holes. I usually leave the holes, just coat the inside of the hole with the stain. Makes the tiki look more old and ancient. Give it some character. I wouldn't do that on a museum type piece, but the ones I make for myself or my friends I just work with the imperfections. In fact one guy that I carve for actually prefers the holes and cracks. He says it it adds that antique looking quality. Keep the chips a flying.

Noooooo.... Don't use a filler! It won't match the original color of the wood when stained. Unless you are going to paint it. Leave the tiki as close to the original wood as you can. The holes on the back side are just fine just smooth them out when you sand him down or add a chisel texture to the tiki that comes close to the holes. I think tiki's look good with a crack or blemish.

I Agree, no fillers, they just fall out anyway and the holes will Always Look filled.
The bug that makes those tunnels in the wood are some type of beetle larvae/worm and look like a big Hammerhead type thing on the end of a fat worm. Most likely they are still inside the log chewing away and will emerge some day. Easiest way to kill'em is to let the log spend a day or 2 in a freezer. probably not a big deal though. Lookin good!

That spalting looks excellent, great looking tiki, did you do anything to treat any borers that may still be inside?

On 2009-08-23 05:50, nomolos wrote:
That spalting looks excellent, great looking tiki, did you do anything to treat any borers that may still be inside?

No, didn't treat it. Didn't like the idea of carving into a log that's been soaked with insecticide. Nor do I have a freezer large enough to freeze em. Was just hoping to carve em out as I went along. Any remaining beetles will just have to be sealed up in there when I finish it up.

Switched gears and started working on this guy again. Carving is all finished up and have the first coat of stain on.

Great face BigT, and I really like the simple body lines. Looks like you
have some nice grain in this one.

great detail, love the face, very nice!

Amy

Looks fantastic any more updated pics? I love that stain what is it?

Conga: thanks! Yes the grain does look kinda nice now that it's stained. I'm not usually a fan of pine grain so I had meant to cover this all up. Although I don't have quite the staining skills I might attempt to leave a little showing through now.

Queen: thanks, appreciate the comps. Just kiddin ya about your sink ya know! :)

Nomolos: thanks, the stain is MinWax Red Elm. It's a gel stain. I don't think they have the color available in the regular stains. I'm finding the gel stain wasn't quite as helpful as I thought it would be. Maybe should have used wood conditioner plus gel stain. This pic doesn't really show the color that well. I'll try to drag this thing out of the garage for some better pics.

Finally finished the Big Tiki (well the largest one I've done). :) He's 5' 5" tall. I took these pics yesterday when it was overcast (still is) and the color in the pics didn't really come out right in contrast to my white gravel driveway. Anyhow, the color is closer to the deep brown shown in the 2nd pic.

Thanks all!

Applause!!

Congrats on this 5' 5" God. He looks awesome, all 'way 'round.

Thanks for sharing.

Nicely done T. Are you gonna keep him inside or out?

Very very good work on the last one BigT!!! Me too I applaud!
The sharpness of its curves contrast very well with the design high figured of wood...

Very well done!

J.

Flippin awesome.

That's superb

Great piece! The wood grain, finish, stain, sanding... great.

Hey Big T....really nice job on the big one. The face is great...and
I mean this in a good way...I dig the simple lines of the body and arms.
In fact I like your hands so much that I'm gonna steal 'em.....they're
pretty close to what I had planned for my "moon head" carving.

Nicely executed, clean and sharp. I really like this peace, well done.

Thanks all for the kind replies, TikiG, laojia, putiTiki, nomolos, tikiMango, hiltiki! :)

Conga: Greatly appreciated! I'm flattered you want to "steal" something from me! LOL I think the hands were an evolution of other similar, simple styled hands I've seen. I was sketching different ideas and when I went to draw it out on the log, that's how they came out. :)

8FTtiki: Thanks and I'm planning on him being an inside tiki. After finally doing something this large, I don't see how I could ever expose one of these dudes to the weather. LOL Anyways, it's just a lacquer finish, so definitely meant to be inside.

WoW! BigT! That is awesome. I love the facial features, he's got a mean glare to 'em. You don't want to make him angry! Just ...walk...away...
...and carve another one!

Excellent! I love the grain it has a lot too.

BigT I love this guy the face is killer you nailed it my man.

looks Great!!!! Love the finish!!Keep em comin,Aloha, Mooney

You can be very proud of that one. It's got a nice assembled geometry look that projects a real "classic-Hawaiian/mid-century" vibe. In other words, "Tiki"! Very well thought out!! :)

Okay, so what's happening with that other spaulted log?

A-A

I'm sorry because I thought I post some comment on that beauty.... but not !
Outstanding piece you got there man. The finishing is simply perfect and the stain's a very good choice because it doesn't hide the grain of the wood that is eally really cool.

Mahalo,

Benjamin.

surfin: thanks! Much appreciated. Yeah, that one was fun. I want to do another one!
clarita: yes, the grain came out good, and too think I was originally going to cover it up!
seeks: very much appreciated! The face was what i worked the hardest on.
Mooney: much thanks! The finish was new for me so I was very pleased with the results.
AA: Thanks, got some updates on the spalted log below.
benella: Very glad to see you dropping in. Glad you liked it!

I finished putting a pattern on the headdress of the spalted log and am doing the finish sanding now. Here are some closeups.

Nice nice nice! Love the pattern on the head, cool eyes.
Looks like some of that Birch wood?

very nice headress !
its gonna look sweet when finished.

Seeks, Kino: Thanks a bunch for looking in! Seeks, I think the concensus was that it's hackberry. ??

So, I'm pretty bad at posting regular updates. Here are a couple of photos from over a week ago after the 1st coat of stain on the spalted log. I first started with a wash coat shellac thinned 10 to 1 with denatured alcohol. I didn't really notice how much it raised the grain until I put the first coat of (thinned) stain on.

It came out waaay darker than I wanted to I had to sand it smooth again.... that sucked. And it was pretty nasty looking overall.

So here's the finished pics after re-sanding, staining, finishing. Still darker than I intended it to be, but I just got tired of sanding this dude! :lol:

Really nice Job Big T.
This is a great carve from top to bottom, love the posture and the
finish. And the "pocks" in the wood....or whatever you call them...
give it a nice vintage sorta look.
Sweeeeeeeet!

On 2009-10-06 12:58, TheBigT wrote:

WOW

what you did with this spaulted wood is simply wonderful and the pix I quoted is beautiful with the stain and the sandings you've done on this part. This is Art with a big A.

B.

Really sweeeeet stuff. Stain color is perfect, wood looks great and the tiki, as a whole, flows really nicely. Keep up the great carving! What stain did you end up going with?

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything

[ Edited by: Tikilizard 2009-10-07 12:25 ]