Claq50 Two carves Finished. 04/21/11

Decided to finally start my tikibar for my backyard. After working on my dads bar, i came up with a few ideas. But first things first, i needed a tiki go to watch over the work. I found a peice of coconut palm truck and decided to take a try at it. HEre are a few pics of the work.
The wood was wet at first

A little more detail

Carving Done. I got a few finishing touches to do, but all in all i think pretty good for my first attempt.

Cant wait to start the next. I found out that coconut wood seems to splinter very easy when carving and is very hard to do any fine detail work to it. Any recomendations for what wood i should look for.

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[ Edited by: claq50 2011-03-04 16:53 ]

[ Edited by: claq50 2011-04-21 05:36 ]

"but all in all i think pretty good for my first attempt."

Sure! well done and welcome aboard! I'm not qualified for advise on palm wood but I'm sure you don't miss of that here...

J.

Cocoa nut palm can vary so much, I stay away from it. If you give your location other members will be able to tell you what might be more available in your area. I'm guessing FL, so try getting your hands on Sable or Cabbage palms, probably more common.

Yeah, Im in Florida. Ive heard that sabel is a better wood, however, coconut was the wood i had at the time. After doing some sanding, it came out alot better. The wood seemed to get easier to carve as its been drying. After doing some reading, i think im gonna let the other two logs sit for a month and dry before I start on them.

Nice work claq!Cheers Watango

Looks good. don't know about Coconut but since this is your first, perhaps you can master coconut more with your next attempt? For me, I've just been carving whatever is laying around. :wink:

Well I started work on a second tiki. Using Coconut palm again, ill see how it goes this time. Posting pics soon.

today...i start to carve my first tiki object...i have an idea that may be new...or it may be a disaster...

Here are some of the latest pics. So far just some ruff cuts, gonna do the detail and sanding after. Ran into some soft spots on the log, had to actually wood glue one peice back into his mouth(sucks).

Striping the bark

Work on the mouth

Side Veiw

Thought i would add this pic in here to, its of a mask that my dad picked up for me in guatamuala. Its hand carved, alot of good detail work

Some classic looking first tiki there.
The guatamuala work is really cool.

Been busy latly, but finally got around to working on the second tiki a little more. Still need to do a bit more sanding and more detail in the carving, but so far so good. Right now im working with only one chisel, its a 1/2 flat chisel. I think im gonna need to buy a good set. What would you all recommend as a good starting set?

I'm fairly new to TC but I asked the same question you did about purchasing chisels awhile back. Let me tell you, you get what you pay for. I first bought a set off Ebay - thought I was getting the deal of a lifetime. 18 chisels, sharpening stones, and some accessories for like $30. They suck. I've heard time and time again that Flexcut, although pricey, is the way to go. I bought two sets of Flexcuts, the starter set and the large Mallet set. They are so sharp I cringe at the thought of one falling off my bench onto my foot. But the thought of chipping one is even worse.

• PutiTiki

Your 2nd tiki is looking Excellent claq, and the coconut seems fine. Some Coconut can be very Hard and great to carve and some rots away before you can touch it. It must have something to do with the variety of the coconut palm as there are Many and also how it was cured. Always expect a good carving log with coconut but always look into the log as much as possible before oing too far.
Keep up the good work and again Welcome to TC

Thanks. The first attempt was pretty much on a fly, not really much planning went into it. The second one i took a little more time and thought about the cuts before i made them. Thanks also for the info on the chisels. I want to make about 6-8 tikis for my patio/backyard. Its gonna be a long process but i think the end results will be worth it.

I also noticed that letting this log dry for about a month seemed to make it much easier to cut. I have another three logs drying out right now, hopefully they cut just as easily.

Looking good on this guy lots to work with still.
I use Flexcut. Buy something that is Quality.

Finally finished the second tiki. The stain i used came out a little darker then I anticipated, but i think it still looks pretty cool. Now gonna have to start work on the next one!

cool stuff claq50! keepem comin all these guys are sweet! and even w lots of experiance w staining it almost always seems to come out darker!! lol! cheers!

Yea, I think next one i will try to use a lighter stain or possibly just oil it. I was also thinking of torching one, but still not to sure how to do it so i might wait. Now to start work on the next one.

aloha! oil is cool but if the tiki's goin outside its realy not the best. as far as burnin the cuts use a small propane torch and burn your cuts it prob wont go all the way on deep cuts. i use a homade black stain mixed of black enamel and mineral spirits/paint thinner applied w a small brush and rubbed w my finger or cloth etc... to get it even. as for burnin a whole tiki a roofing torch used VERY sparingly on the entire outside of the tiki then LIGHTLY sanded to blend and even.if needed repeat to get desired look. hope this helps! cheers !

I have a small MAPP torch, ill try that out on my next tiki. What do you use to seal your tikis? I live in south florida and rain is a pretty common thing down here so before i place these outdoors i want to make them as waterproof as possible. Ive heard deck sealer works good. Is this true?

claq50! a mapp torch is perfect for lines and larger dark areas around eyes in nostrils etc... as for sealer i use spar urethane at least two coats in either satin or semi gloss depending on finish shine. as for deck sealer that works pretty well if you soak it dwn good and dont forget the bottom!!! sealer will give you a very natural look and you can get it w stain in it but i think it would go to places you realy dont want stain so.. it could work well espescialy in clear but remember deck sealer states it needs to be recoated every 6 months to a year. i too live in south florida and i have had great luck w spar urethane and marine urethane also,spar bein a little cheaper. hope this helps and holla anytime if i can help i wld be glad to and there is a wealth of info on this site as well!!! cheers!

Yeah there is a ton of info on here. So far ive gone from never carving before to actually getting two tikis done. Thanks for the info on the urethane. Im gonna go out this weekend and pick it up. Ill post pics after.

no prob dude!!! anytime just holla! cant wait to see some mo!! cheers!

Claq50, Excellent stuff and Especially for only doing 2 tikis so far? Man you are gonna be a Natural, just let it Flow!

Thanks. I plan on doing alot, hopefully i get to the skill level that some people on here are. There are definitly alot of impressive work to be seen.

Started to put the urethane down. So far looks really good. I'll post pics soon. Also work on the third tiki is going good.

Put the urathane finish on it. The pic isnt the greatest quality, so ill try to post a better one later.

Right On! you are on a roll. Nice for #2

good deal!!! he looks sweeet!!! whatcha got in da bckrnd!? he looks great and flashes can be pesky w a shine! cheerz!

Final resting spot.

Here are some updated pics of the first tiki. Finally got around to finishing him

I took the advice from some of you guys here and torched some parts then sanded down.

there it is!!! sweeeeettttt!!!! that came out awsome!!! good color and tight burns!!!! keepem rollin !!! cheerz!

On 2009-10-24 13:11, claq50 wrote:
Final resting spot.

I like this. Cool stuff. Nice color.

Oh, and are you still working with coconut? Looks like you're doing pretty good with it!

Thanks everyone. Yea, im still working with coconut only. Its been kinda a pain. I ended up tossing some logs due to exsesive rot. The biggest part that ive have to over come has been the soft pockets in the wood. It seems almost impossible to know where they will be, but every now and then ill end up hitting one and then have to rethink what i want it to look like. Ive been trying to find some sable, but so far no luck. I also was thinking of looking for some pine. The third guy is coming along nicely. Should have some new pics posted soon

I finally got around to start working on the third tiki. So far fo good. Hit a couple of snags here and there with the quaility of the wood, but ive been able to manage around it so far. I decided to go a little more simple on this tiki and try a different style. Im thinking i might add a guatemalen style head dress on him. I saw a similar head dress on a tiki in guatemuala last time i was there.

Rough cuts and before first sanding.

After first sanding

My wife caught a pic of me sketching the head dress.

I like the long schnoz. Many of my carving are also well endowed in this area.

Yea I went with a different style all together the time. It's much more basic, but since I havnt tried anything like this I figured I would try.

Update on head dress. Just doing some of the minor cuts right now. Im going to do the deep set ones later this week, but it will give you an idea of where its heading.

Awesome third carve !!!
nice detail and character.

claq!! this guy is realy takin shape!!! luvin this guys charecter!! gonna stain and thane? gitter duun!! lol! cheerz!!

Another update of the work. Alot of small cuts in the head dress so its taking me longer then i thought. But im pretty much done with chiseling now, so on to the sanding. After the sanding im planning on torching some parts and then stain and spar it. Might add a couple of smaller designs into the head dress but we'll see.

Finished carving, sanding, and staining the third tiki. I just put on the first coat of spar today and it altered the color a little, but it still looks reletivly the same. I post some pics when its finished later this weekend.

Finished the sanding and torching

Stain applied

The extra effort you put in this one shows. I like the crisp lines and contrast. What's next?

Thanks, After i put the two coats of spar on the color looks much better. As far as my next tiki goes, i was thinking of either an Moai or full bod tiki of some sort. I got to look at the logs i have right now and see what will work better. Ill post pics tomorrow of the finished tiki.

Here are the finished pics.

My daughter likes this one

Close shot of head dress

claq!!! very cool glad i caught your finished pics of tis one !!! he awsome!! loooooovvviinnn the headress/crown thats the shiz right there!!! keepem comin dude were waitin!!! lol! cheerz!!!