KINO's carving thread....

Hey all !!
I found this site and wanted to say 'MAHALO !'
I carved some logs that I kept when I cut down my palms.
These are from oldest to newest. ( I like think I gettin betta )

What you tink ?

these da first few

these are the last couple I did

this one is a dead trunk my friend wanted me to carve.(still in ground)
its kinda rotten and hollow inside , so I couldnt go deep.
thats why I painted it for better depth

[ Edited by: Kino 2009-11-17 11:20 ]

[ Edited by: Kino 2009-11-18 12:08 ]

[ Edited by: Kino 2010-02-03 15:14 ]

[ Edited by: Kino 2010-11-12 12:18 ]

can somebody tell me why some post i go to i can not see the pics ?
this is very frustrating.

:(

Hello Kino!

Welcome on board! Nice palm carve you have!
The posts where you can't see the pics are too old, sure, it is very very frustrating...

Keep good time with carving and share your work!

J.

thanks, I'll be having some new ones soon cuz I got fresh logs

Kino,

Welcome to TC, Glad to have you here and Really happy that you seem to be Bitten by the Tiki Bug. Once you carve a few you are under the spell and can't get away. These first ones are Excellent for beginnings and it looks like you have done this before?

Yes, the older posts with the thumbnails or Tiny pic's are Aggravating but there's not much can be done. We Used to use Shutterfly a lot to store and post images. They suffered growing pains a couple times and renamed all their master files to the extent that all the stored photos were renamed and thus failed to show anything more than a red X or sometimes a thumbnail. Some artists posted links to shutterly as I did if you look on page one of my thread. But, alas, it isn't the same and would be nicer if the links actually worked...

Benzart, thanks for looking.
I just dabble with sketching and being creative, but these TIKIS have really bit me hard. Over the past 5 or 6 years I have made about 15 or so.
Just for my own enjoyment and for gifts. I never really did anything like this before that. You should have seen my first one, YIKES !, all the reliefs were backwards. lol. It looked like a 4 year olds scribble.

Now , I have a connection for some logs and want to make a whole army of TIKIS.

Aloha Kino! I can almost here the chainsaw rumble as i look at these toothy fellows. Where in NM are you? I spent ten years in the Burque where I curated a gallery on route 66. I sure miss the smell of green chile's roasting!- Hodaddy

Nice works Kino. Are they carved completely with the chainsaw?

hodadhank, I have to change my location, I was just being creative (although I did live in ABQ for 2 yrs myself)

I'm actually in - The Valley of The Sun

BigT, I wish I was that good with a chainsaw ! I use the Arbor Tech carving tool.

Welcome aboard Kino. Glan to have you joining TC. Your work looks great! You can't be a first timer? Great depth and nice flow already. Your a natural! Keep them coming and happy carving.

Thanks for all the kind words.
I have been looking at the work of others here and its making me feel like a real amatuer. But I will continue on the journey. Any and all comments and suggestions that will help me progress are greatly appreciated.

I have noticed that some have actually drawn lines on the palms. In the begining
I tried that myself , but had bad luck with the marker pens. Any suggestions for markers, etc. ? Also, does anyone carve palms when they are still wet ?

Thanks in advance

Kool stuff Kino,Look'n good!
Cheers Watango

On 2009-08-18 19:41, Kino wrote:
I have noticed that some have actually drawn lines on the palms. In the begining
I tried that myself , but had bad luck with the marker pens. Any suggestions for markers, etc. ? Also, does anyone carve palms when they are still wet ?

I use the Sharpie brand markers (they're permanent), but haven't drawn on palm. Don't think it would be any different though.

I use chalk or pencil since they both clean up easily. The chalk comes off with a stiff bristle brush and the pencil erases with a light sanding.
Palm is much easier to carve wet but for any details you want to add, you need to let it dry some after roughing it out. Each log and type of palm is different and you'll learn to get a feel for what you can do with them.

Cheers.

watango- thanks for looking and kindness

Big T- thanks for the input

Heath- I kinda found that adding detail was hard when dryer. (not that I have a lot of detail in the first place) It seems the palm wants to fray more the dryer it gets.

I am getting ready to start another piece and after browsing here on TC I have grown fond of the more traditional (?) styles of TIKIS.
The full body and headress types make me warm & fuzzy. I have wanted to do a full body for a long time and I say that time has come !!!

Stay Tuned......

Welcome! fine looking first tikis your a natural.

Aloha All,
Its been a while and I finally got some time to test out some new ( to me )
techniques.

Basically, I took an older TIKI I had and added a little more detail and put a headress on him. I call him Winker.
When I was originally carving him I messed up one of his eyes , so I just let him talk to me and this is what he said.
I know the symetry is poor and there are a lot of mistakes on him.
This is because I was testing out some different things.
I learned that when you dont have a smooth surface to stain, it doesnt work to well.
Speaking of stain, Winker is real dark cuz I just used some stain I had sitting in my shop. I did buy some other colors and will be experimenting more.

Any way here are the before and after pictures.
Enjoy

Here he is before the remodel. Originally I did no sketching on the log,
just freehanding it.

here is the remodeled Winker

The logo on the back is my signature (initials)
I will be creating a new and smaller signature in the future.

sanding=nofun

Sanding is your friend... along with stain. Keep 'em coming!

On 2009-09-15 07:08, Kino wrote:
sanding=nofun

LOL, I second that! Good job.

On 2009-09-15 08:05, TikiMango wrote:
Sanding is your friend... along with stain. Keep 'em coming!

I'm trying to find the time to get started.
When I do, I'll be hard to stop.

Thanks BigT, but I have a lot of room for improvement compared to
you guys here on TC. I keep browsing at all the great work here and
cant wait to get chopping again.

Kino Thanks You

[ Edited by: Kino 2009-09-17 00:05 ]

I'm back.
Here is another piece I did last year and just stained him
this week. He is so dry that the teak oil just soaks right in.
I am still experimenting with my finishes before I start a new carve.
Not to mention waiting for the temps to cool down.
I pretty sure I'll have better results if I stain and seal right after I'm
done with carving , instead of waiting a year, ha,ha.

• last year, fresh after carving
  

--before stain

-taken this week after some stain

-

• flash went off for this pic, somehow it shows the colors better
  

Kino, Every tiki looks Better and better, Keep up the progress. I wish my first few were as good as yours but I had to do MANY to get half that good!. Just keep carving and posting, thats how you learn.

Thanks Ben, and everyone for da kind words.

Those first ones ( about 15 or so total ) I just look at the log and get a vision
for what is there and then freehand carve with an arbor tech carbide bit. I would be in such a hurry to finish, I got to the point where I could turn one out in about 6-8 hrs total.(but I had poor detail work and no finish)
Only using the arbor tech my detail was 1 dimensional.
After looking aroung here for a while, I have dedicated myself to better quality stuff by :
learning more techniques,
being patient,
planning things out better,
adding tools to my arsenal,
and sanding(ugh) and & finishing.

[ Edited by: Kino 2009-10-09 21:50 ]

I set up a shade area so I could start something.
It's not much , but it's all mine.
Jeez, its still hot here !

This weekend I prepped a log and got a layout on it.
I have to squeeze in time here and there with my 6 yr old.

Put your 6yr old to work on that tiki! I've let my 6yr son use a chisel and mallet on the non-critical areas of a tiki, help strip-off the bark, and even let him decide on some design elements. We both ended up having a great time. Just remember that your child is 6, so the attention span, strength, etc won't be there, but it is definitely one way to spend some quality time with your tiki... I mean your child.

So here's my progress report.
Even bought myself a REAL chisel, its slower than my power tools but I
am impressed with what I can do.
I hope Santa brings me a whole set !!

getting going on the face was easy cuz I have done those before

Roughing out the body was a bit slow. I didnt want to mess anything up.
The legs really through me off and I had to stare at them alot. lol
Once I dug into the legs, I thought 'OH NO, I screwed up the feet'

Then I knew I had to go buy something....
Came home with a Flex-cut, one size fits all.

Prest-o ! Change-o !
Feet that Barney Rubble would be proud of.

There's a couple things I could have done better during the rough cut,
but I'm still learning. Those mistakes are forcing me to create 'fine-tuning-fixes'.
This guy is my learning curve and I bit off quite a lot.
I sure wish I could make it to SD for a chop, it sounds like there is a wealth of
knowledge and help at those. Until them I'm stuck at the school of hard knocks (and chips).
Thanks for looking.

[ Edited by: Kino 2009-10-09 21:51 ]

Nice work on this one so far Kino, I think he's gonna be
your best one! Shows a nice progression from the earlier posts,
which were fun and fine too :)

[ Edited by: BIG tiki scott 2009-10-10 18:42 ]

oops! hes realy lookinsweet man! your growin by leaps and bounds!!!

p.s. barney called and is vry proud of them feet!! way better than mine!!

Looking Great Kino, and I'm Loving that you are started down the right path. A FLEXCUT, Big Major step however the first big Step wasTHIS..... ""I have dedicated myself to better quality stuff by :
learning more techniques,
being patient,
planning things out better,
adding tools to my arsenal,
and sanding(ugh) and & finishing. """"""

With goals like that you are sure to advance in no time, however your pursuit of perfection is only a Lifelong journey because the Better you get the more you realize you need to be Way Better Yet! Congrats on taking the first Major steps, and pretty soon there will be No Looking back Welcome to the Club I Know you are going to enjoy it! :o :D

congatiki- I want him to be the best, otherwise I'm not progressing

Big tiki Scott- mahalo, and the feet were born out of neccessity

Benzart - Before I landed here, I thought I was doing OK with my tiki's.
But,my decision to step up my game was easy after seeing all the great carvers here on TC. I know now that I'm a guppy in the Pacific Ocean. One day I'll be able to swim with the rest of you TC'ers.

Once again, Mahalo

and what a great nescessity they are luvem!!! keep it up!! cheers!

with every new tiki theres something new keep it up awesome

Hey all,
First - tikigodz and Big tiki scott, mahalo for da kind words.

Now, I need some Tiki help.
I am pretty satisfied with this guy so far, and I decided that I like the chiseled edges look, but I am not happy with the tight areas. I cant figure out how to get these areas smoothed out and/or sanded nicely. These spots are going with the grain and if I try to just chisel, the grain rips apart and does not cooperate with smoothness.
I am really anxious to finish this one, but this hurdle is getting to me.
Any one have suggestions ?

here are some pics of the areas I am talking about.

Can you get at those areas with a dremmel? Maybe a sanding disc at medium-low speed?

I use customized pieces of molding that I wrap sand paper around.Kind of like mini sanding blocks with angled edges to fit in the tight spaces:

rotary dremel won;t work that well on flat planes.It'll end up all bumpy and uneven.Good for a start, but not so forfinishing it up.

Buzzy Out!

i agree w buzzy. hand sanding and sanding blocks or sticks if need be are about the only way to go. i have also "softened" areas by burning lightly then sanding. but this is only good in an area where you will burn or darkin the same area when finishing it as it will dis color the wood. hope this is helpful. lookin real good from what i can see cant wait man!!! cheerz!

Yep, good tips from Buzzy. Over the last couple of tikis I've also gathered a handful of scraps from my scrap bucket to help with sanding. Mostly small straight pieces for getting into and flattening tight spots. Also I have a curved block of wood thats been pretty handy for sanding concave areas.

Great idea with the custom sanding blocks... hadn't thought of that. I'm going to make some tonight. :D

Buzzy, Scott, Bigt - thanks for the tips
The blocks are working better than my fingers, lol.

Mahalo

Here's my update...
I have been working hard on this guy, Ku ? I couldnt decide
which way to go with the headress so I combined both ideas into one.
He's almost done except for some touch up here and there and then varnish.

Whatcha tink ?

There is no finish on him yet , I just lightly sprayed him with the garden hose
to get a feel for what he will look like with some varnish.
What I haven't decided on is, if I should burn or darken with stain or paint
some of the areas for shadowing.

I am open to suggestions.

Excellent looking Tiki Kino, Personally I would just put several coats of varnish or poly and be happy. great Job

Great job. He looks awesome.

Lovin the flames Kino!!! great idea.

Benzart- I personally like the natural, 'ancient' feel also. Thats why my earlier pieces were pretty unfinished. I read somewhere on here to sand between coats, what will happen if I just put on 2 or 3 thin coats with no sanding ? (lazy)

SDshirtman - thanks for the kind words , I love your sanding and finishing, but I haven't figured out how to do that very efficiently so I opted for the rough, hand chiseled look.

Tikigodz - much thanks for looking, I was thinking you to be an amateur like myself, but from the looks of your fence and living room, me thinks you are many moons ahead of me. very nice stuff !

I am ready to put a finish on my latest piece, but I have some questions before I make some stupid mistake. I found this advice on a thread and would like to try it out on my carve ;

" I used to brush on spar varnish, let it dry, and sand in between coats - pretty labor intensive process. Later (on Benzart's advice) I started using spray shellac first, then spray varnish second. I know those two work well together, and using spray instead of brush cuts way down on time. You can do the whole thing in one day with the coats totally dry in between applications, and no sanding. You'd have to try really hard to get drips with this approach. "

Can any of you more experienced guys answer these questions for me ?

1- if I'm not sanding my piece will the above technique still have a nice look ?

2- how many coats of each product should I use ?

3- I carve palms, do I need to let them dry completely before the shellac/varnish ?

3a- if I seal them when they are still wet, will the moisture eventually dry out ?(slower maybe)

4 - what should I use to seal the top and bottom ?

Thanks in advance