A couple more weapons

Love it! Great Marq!

Daaa-yum! That ain't easy!!

Great work coconuttzo-your thread has shown big improvement from pg. 1 to pg. 7! Have you ever tried carving bigger wood pieces? I think your style would translate well to large format.

wow...that's some intricate stuff....

Nice Stuff, I foresee a Mermaid Hook in your future!

Nutzo! You out there??? Hellooooooooo.....

Howzit, TC ohana! WOW, It's been too long & unfortunately due to my hectic schedule, I've got little to show for it. Here are a few pieces I've been recently working on. Check'em out & let me know what you think. They'll be going to the marketplace hopefully soon. I'll also be posting some large authentic Tongan tapa sheets there as well. I'll keep ya posted.

Here is a tiki adorned fish hook pendant carved from cow bone. This was some hard work. At first I was gonna be lazy & do just one side but after I was done, the reverse was beggin for some carvin too. As if one side wasn't hard enough. I'm kinda glad that I went with it though. I'm still thinking if I should stain it and brighten the high areas with light sanding. What do you think TC?

Front

This next one is also carved from cow bone. It was inspired from a tshirt design & no, that isn't a bikini top he's wearing. The holes in the side of his jaw is where I will be lashing the necklace cord to. To stain or not to stain... that is the question.

Next is MY FIRST full bodied Manaia attempt carved from the bark of wooly mammoth tusk. This very well seasoned piece of ancient ivory was so beautiful before I cut it up that I was scared of wasting a lot of the textured features. I had to sketch a lot of potential manaia designs for months before I was satisfied with one that wouldn't take away too much material & yet not look too busy. I hope I did the ivory justice! The only thing missing are the eyes for the three heads because I have no paua shell. I do have sperm whale ivory scraps but am afraid that it'll look like cow bone. Any ideas?

Now for some unrelated tiki stuff but well within the era I suppose.

I thought it'd be cool to make a miniature Hawaiian weapon for a pendant so I accquired a small tiger shark jaw which measured about 7" x 3"

I got a piece of rare Koa'ia wood & proceeded to make a Hawaiian war club, "Lei o mano". I wanted it to look rather aged so I used the outer cambium section of the wood. As I was shaping & rasp filing the wood, I thought the natural texture of the cambium would give it that aged artifact look I was going for so I left it in my design.

After gluing the teeth into the carved groove, I was going to lace them down but they looked good as is & I didn't want to ruin it like how I've regretably done other works in the past(burnishing pendant incident). I also didn't want to drill another hole for the pendant tether so I came up with this single string lashing I had in my mind. It seemed impossible at first but as I started going at it, it just seemed to fall into place. NO DRILLING NECESSARY! As far as knowing how I did it? I haven't a clue because I can vaguely remember.

And finally, here are two fish hooks made from ancient wooly mammoth ivory tusks. Those spots are not mildew. They've been on since rough cut to final stage. I've tried sanding them off but I guess it's part of the mineralizing effect from being buried in icy mud for so long.

[ Edited by: coconuttzo 2012-11-07 02:07 ]

FINALLY more awesomeness from the Nutzo!! I want them all! That first piece is truly epic, I IMO you should stain it, along with the following piece. I just think the slight amount of color variation staining adds enhances all the detail.
The mammoth tusk is a beautiful color!
Whenever you put these on ebay, you should post the link here.

These are beautiful.

Hi Nutzo,

Not a lot to show but quality wise it is more than plenty enough :wink:. All of them are eyes candy...My favorite is the hook in the first picture...
Thanks for sharing. Don't stay too long without showing some more work....

Be Water
Christophe

[ Edited by: Cljha 2012-11-07 13:08 ]

like Cljha says, quality not quantity!

Excellent work...

Beautiful work coconuttzo, the tiki adorned fish hook is fantastic!

Thanx for the compliments & suggestions. I don't know why I even second guessed the staining. The intricate details always POP much better at a quick glance than being unstained.

Here is another Ku head I'm making out of Wooly mammoth ivory. These intricate details really take a toll on the hand muscles. I don't know how the master, Benzo does it. Are there any yoga exercises for your hands that I don't know about?

Here's a problem I always run into when working with mammoth ivory. I notice that the ivory I work with are not comletely solid but have a few layer seperation within. How do I fix the ivory so that the cracks don't expand any further. I've heard of super gluing the crack but won't that only treat the surface? I've done that on other pieces which have to be sanded down for buffing, only by then, they're too thin to seal the seam which cracks again. I wonder if the grade of ivory makes a difference meaning top grade would be solid throughout with minimal surface cracks only & the ones I have are like substandard grade.

Finishing off with more Hawaiian Weapons of Lua. I am learning some Lua techniques from a friend of mines who suggested I make these type of pendants. Ancient Hawaiian Lua warriors were vicious in the art of war. I was told that the main purpose of the shark teeth in the weapons served as slicing or severing arteries type of implements & not for slash clubbing as depicted in Spike tv's deadliest warrior episode, Shaolin Monk vs. Maori.

The Lei o Mano's broad side, like the Hoe(canoe paddle), was used as a deffensive shield which doubled as a counter attack weapon. Some had a sharp spike at the butt end as to impale the opposition.

Here is a Pahoa 'Oilua o Mano, double edged dagger with shark teeth knuckle duster. The life-sized dagger points are either carved out of the same wood or lashed with a sharp marlin bill. This blade however, I used wooly mammoth ivory. The patina actually makes it look like a marlin bill. I've used this pendant's teeth to cut a piece of cloth, paper, fishing line and twine & the dagger, as a letter opener. It's like an ancient muti-tool survival knife.

I really like the look of this Koa'ia wood which is pretty hard wood. I just wish I had a mini grinder to grind these small pieces. Being that this is hard wood, hand rasping them down takes a lot of elbow grease & patience, two things I don't have a lot of.

Excellent work.

Love the ivory and the lei o mano is very cool.
There is a TC member MajikImaje who lives in Alaska and works with fossil ivory. He hasn't posted in a while but he answers him PMs. Maybe he has the answer to your question.

Wowwowwow!!! SO glad you're carving again, or at least posting what you're carving!

Thanks guys. I appreciate the tip maddogmike. 4WD, you finally made the move! I'll comment on your post.

I've just posted the stained ones and the Hawaiian Lei o Mano weapon in the marketplace. I also listed some tapa sheets for those interested in tiki decor for the winter.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=36635&forum=12&start=last&11

:tiki: HAPPY THANXGIVING EVERYONE! :tiki:

[ Edited by: coconuttzo 2012-11-21 13:04 ]

LOOKIN GOOD

On 2012-11-19 16:03, coconuttzo wrote:

Nutzo, I looked at your ebay link for this piece, and see you call it Tahitian. Can you tell me anything regarding a difference between Tahitian tiki and Marquesan tiki? Is Marquesan a 'subset' of Tahitian? Or are they interchangeable terms? Or, what??
Thanks for any clarification you can give.

I LOVE this one, BTW!

Stunning details guy.
I believe Ben relied on surgery to repair
his beat up fingers.
A friend watching me carve the other day
commented about me getting arthritis.
I try not to grip my tools so hard.

BEAUTIFUL!!! Try to post more often.

The artritis is a bitch...just have to keep going...

Wow, it's been awhile. I've been so busy with work that I've hardly had time or been too exhausted to do some actual carving. I'm sorry that I don't have much for show & tell. I've had a couple of commissioned pieces which I took pics of in the middle of the projects but I apparently forgot to take pics of the finished product :(

The first is a antique elephant ivory cue ball. Client wanted me to do anything tiki themed & I wasn't sure what I'd do so I decided to do a Polynesian tribal tattoo design, to keep the spherical shape intact. This was very hard to do because I was trying to measure out even panels to work within and it is hard to take measurements on a small 2.25" ball.

This honu carving is the opposite side of the first design. I colored some of the carved lines to show what it could look like after staining because it was hard to see the design without color, as you could see from the first. I did eventually carve out the black paint.

I drew this as a guide for me to carve out the tiki face. The dark lines are intended to be carved away. On the opposite side, I did the same face but instead, was flipped upside down.

This is a piece of walrus ivory which had a scrimshaw on it but client wanted me to erase it & make something tiki so I decided on a tiki bust. That hole was for the scrimshaw necklace cord which was a cheap nylon cord. I had to incorporate the
tiki around it & braid a decent durable cord. Too bad I don't have the finished pictures of both of these items. After staining & all, they turned out pretty cool looking.

This is what I am currently working on for the previous client. It's made out of walrus ivory which was cut from a cribbage board. I had to cut off all the drill holes for the score pegs & made this out of the remainder. I still have a bit more to finish it. Hopefully I'll remember to take pics of the finished pendant.

This is one of my favorite weapon pendants I'm most proud of. It's a book match of the last leiomano made from extremely curly Koa. I especially love how light reflects back, revealing the tiger striped curls which cross the grains of the wood.

I was thinking of how soldiers nowadays take their emblems of faith with them to battle as protection & thought the same thing could have happened with Hawaiian Na Koa. I carved a Lono head on the butt end. The eyes are 5mm x 4mm oval, 3mm thick inlaid sperm whale tooth ivory which I cut out of scraps from a previous project(never throw away rare scraps). After carving out the cavity for the inlay, I super glued the eye in. Then I drilled a hole through each eye about 5mm deep & snugly stuck a toothpick which I made of Koa, cut, shaped, sanded, polished & VOILA. I also double lashed the teeth which is the traditional way. Makes it look like a real club. The thing is, this is still considered an actual weapon, those teeth are razor sharp.

I had gone to Oahu a couple months ago & was fortunate to meet Sione Tu'ione Pulotu, the master himself at his home/workshop.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=37597&forum=7&hilite=pulotu

Coincidentally, my older brother is lucky enough to receive tutelage/apprenticeship from him during free time because he lives about a mile away. When I arrived at his home, he was busy making this masterful base of a Pahu drum.

Looking elsewhere, I saw this guy.

Here he's holding a calabash bowl made from Norfolk Island Pine. He says he roughly carves them out with a chainsaw then sands them down. No lathe was ever used & I believe him because I walked the entire workshop & never seen a lathe anywhere. That's what I call precision.

I have more awesome pics of his projects but I will save them for later & post them on the post featuring him, which I posted the link to earlier.

Coconuttzo!!! What a coincidence~ just this morning I was admiring the Lei o mano I got from you.
The ivory ball is amazing, I'm sad there is no finished pic :( The chainsaw bown is incredible too.

Masterful work by all...

Beautiful work. GROG like!

A lot!

sweet bro... I'm diggin' it...

Why isn't your brother on here!? That work is great! (As is your's, of course. But that goes without saying...))

Oh, and your work on a cue ball (A CUE BALL, PEOPLE) is inspired.

On 2012-11-19 16:03, coconuttzo wrote:
Thanx for the compliments & suggestions. I don't know why I even second guessed the staining. The intricate details always POP much better at a quick glance than being unstained.

Here is another Ku head I'm making out of Wooly mammoth ivory. These intricate details really take a toll on the hand muscles. I don't know how the master, Benzo does it. Are there any yoga exercises for your hands that I don't know about?

Here's a problem I always run into when working with mammoth ivory. I notice that the ivory I work with are not comletely solid but have a few layer seperation within. How do I fix the ivory so that the cracks don't expand any further. I've heard of super gluing the crack but won't that only treat the surface? I've done that on other pieces which have to be sanded down for buffing, only by then, they're too thin to seal the seam which cracks again. I wonder if the grade of ivory makes a difference meaning top grade would be solid throughout with minimal surface cracks only & the ones I have are like substandard grade.

Finishing off with more Hawaiian Weapons of Lua. I am learning some Lua techniques from a friend of mines who suggested I make these type of pendants. Ancient Hawaiian Lua warriors were vicious in the art of war. I was told that the main purpose of the shark teeth in the weapons served as slicing or severing arteries type of implements & not for slash clubbing as depicted in Spike tv's deadliest warrior episode, Shaolin Monk vs. Maori.

The Lei o Mano's broad side, like the Hoe(canoe paddle), was used as a deffensive shield which doubled as a counter attack weapon. Some had a sharp spike at the butt end as to impale the opposition.

Here is a Pahoa 'Oilua o Mano, double edged dagger with shark teeth knuckle duster. The life-sized dagger points are either carved out of the same wood or lashed with a sharp marlin bill. This blade however, I used wooly mammoth ivory. The patina actually makes it look like a marlin bill. I've used this pendant's teeth to cut a piece of cloth, paper, fishing line and twine & the dagger, as a letter opener. It's like an ancient muti-tool survival knife.

I really like the look of this Koa'ia wood which is pretty hard wood. I just wish I had a mini grinder to grind these small pieces. Being that this is hard wood, hand rasping them down takes a lot of elbow grease & patience, two things I don't have a lot of.

Hey Nuttzo, REALLY Nice stuff you've been doing here, I'm more than impressed.
As far as exercising the hands, I just try to stretch often and take breaks when the hands get tired. I usually tell people I just wait for the cramps to come so I can hold the tools and the wood tighter :).
As far as the Mammoth Ivory you just need to make sure you get Ivory which has been Stabilized if you don't then it's raw ivory and mammoth layers will separate. I have found the same issues and it is NO fun paying big bucks for ivory that separates on you when you are done carving.
Hope this helps and don't ever be afraid to ask me questions you can find me on Face book too,

I don't know how I missed your thread before... you have some jaw droppingly incredible works! Great stuff I love the intricacy of the designs and carving. I will look forwards to when you can post more. :)

QUOTE:
" Here is another Ku head I'm making out of Wooly mammoth ivory. These intricate details really take a toll on the hand muscles. I don't know how the master, Benzo does it. Are there any yoga exercises for your hands that I don't know about? "
QUOTE

Easy Coconuts, just carve more stuff and when you start getting cramps in your hands just Use'um to grip the piece tighter! Other than that I don't use any exercises, too lazy I guess. You are Definitely making some Awesome pieces, Love your full body pieces especially Keep it up.

Awesome new ones, I love the stain, and the weapons!

Aloha from the Big Island! Unfortunately I hardly have time to play with my tools because of my day job, but here’s what I’ve done so far, or at least remembered to take pictures of before selling/gifting off.
Constructive criticisms are always welcome.

So, these are the items that have tikis.
I will post my non tiki themed items in my non tiki post in the other category.

You’re back!!! So great to see this and the other thread pop back up again, and see some beautiful pieces again!

That fourth one downing the latest post, what kind of stone is that?!
The last one down, the Koa, I’m wondering what grit you sanded to to get Such a glow to it?

Do you still do any bone pieces? I still hope to get one Marquesan necklace someday.

I had the same thought about the incredible green swirled. I think it must be the 2,000+ year old woolly mammoth he bought. See page 2 of this thread.

Holy moly! How have I not found your thread before? Coconuttzo, your work is fantastic! Gorgeous work. I am tremendously impressed!

Absolutely stunning work!!! Very curious what you currently have available for sale and prices.

Nice!

just popped in and see YOU back on thread.... I actualy just found your business card from when i bought a pendant from you way back......weird. Glad to see you back at it. you on face book or instagram?