New one finished up a couple days ago...

I've been lurking and reading and studying all of the incredible work that you artists have been posting for a while. You've all been an inspiration to me and a kick in the ass to get started carving.

I've finally screwed up the courage to post my tiki carving attempts. These two are my first tries at creating tiki. Actually they're my first tries at carving anything. As much as I read the trials and tribulations of others' work, there's no substitute for good old fashioned trial and error...

So anyway, here's the one that started everything. I began him first, but during the (way too long) time that it took me to finish, I carved the Moai that's in the next post. So I guess he's not technically my first tiki, but he sure feels that way to me.

He started life, as many tiki do, as a lowly log

Then he got stripped of his thin bark and had a design drawn on him

Much hacking was done with crappy cheap tools. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to gnaw through it with my teeth. An older wood-handled Buck Bros 3/4" did an ok job of holding an edge, but my 1/4" acrylic-handled BB chisel made life miserable. Little did I know that that stupid chisel was going to prolong my future sanding time by a factor of at least five.

I'll skip pictures of the tedium of sanding, staining, and sealing and just post shots of the finished product. It took waaaaaaaaayyyyyy more hours than I care to admit, but I'm pretty proud of it. I also picked up a set of Marples Record chisels that the previous owner had well taken care of and used the 'scary sharp' process on. I used them on the last 5% or so if this carve and it was like night and day compared to the original chisels.

So there ya have it. We had a couple of palm trees taken down and I had them leave several 6 - 8 foot lengths. I'm now about a third of the way through a two foot full-body carve. Pics coming soon.

Thanks again to everyone that's posted their work and tips here - those posts have been much inspiration.

Cheers!
David

[ Edited by: DHTiki 2014-02-18 13:54 ]

[ Edited by: DHTiki 2014-05-30 13:55 ]

[ Edited by: DHTiki 2014-10-31 16:12 ]

[ Edited by: DHTiki 2015-01-06 15:16 ]

And now shots of the Moai. He's only about 5" tall, carved from a piece of redwood or cedar (can't remember which) that I cut off the end of a piece of Home Depot stock that had been sitting in my remnants pile for a while. He was done with a Warren Cutlery hook knife - thanks for the suggestion on that knife, whoever it was (Benzart?). Inexpensive and sharp as all hell.

Rough cut

Side view of rough cut

Sanded and stained

And finished

His name ended up being Mo, and he was immediately adopted by my wife who took him to work to display on her desk. Apparently the folks there like him a lot.

There ya have it.

Cheers!
David

Very nice first carves and finish DHTiki!

That is some nice work. both are so smooth. I know what a pain sanding is!!!!!

Hi David,

Woaw. Congratulations. The first one shows a lot of work and dedication. Superbe

Well done. Keep on going.

Bravo

GREAT first time stuff! Nice n deep cuts, real good! Let's see more! :wink:

Way better than MY first two! That Moai sure has a personality!
You didn't say what kind of wood that first one is, do you know?

Agreed,Good carves.

That little Mo is SWEET!

Very nice!! Who's on deck?

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement, folks, I really appreciate it.

A couple of answers to your questions:

4WDtiki - The first one is Palo Verde that had been drying in my backyard for about a year. Apparently this is the hardest substance in the known universe. I'll likely use it as a carving knife when I try carving tikis out of diamond. The grain is so tight that sometimes it was hard to tell what was grain and what were scratches - the lightness of the wood's color didn't help that either.

amate - Next up is my first try at a full body tiki. Here are some in-process shots:

...and then on to my backlog:

Get it? BackLOG? Ahhhahahahaha...I'll be here all week. Try the veal.

Not sure how much carving I'll get done this weekend. It's supposed to be between 117 and 120 degrees for the next couple of days. I may just grab one of my scuba tanks and my regulator and sit at the bottom of the pool.

Thanks again for the welcome and all the encouragement.

Cheers!
David

Welcome to TC and congrats on your first carvings...you are doing a great job!!!

Most full-bodied Tikis, with their grimacing faces and big teeth, look like they got kicked in the balls or are trying to take a massive dump, so you've caught that quality perfectly. He's even in a "pants around his ankles" pose.

Damned triple-post!!

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-06-28 10:41 ]

damned Tiki Central!

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-06-28 10:40 ]

Yeah, GROG, we get it.

Yeah, GROG, we get it.

Yeah, GROG, we get it.

New carving done. Not tiki, but hey...

Had to take a break from the full body tiki - it's just too damn hot out there to set up everything, swing a mallet for a couple of hours, then clean up and tear down. It's much easier just to take a chunk of wood and the carving knife outside and sit quietly and carve.

Anyway, here's a few shots. The wood is aspen. It carved like soap - so nice...

Cool carvings! Amwesome Moai, and love how the skull's teeth are hilariously too big for his head!

Cool carvings! Amwesome Moai, and love how the skull's teeth are hilariously too big for his head!

Great first carves. I dig them all. Keep up the great work.

Sam

Awesome carvings, man. Welcome to TC. You got the chops! That little skull is cool. Too bad there's no Wood Aspen around here!

really like that skull...

Thanks for the encouragement, folks.

Here's another one that I just finished. The idea was kicking around in my head and I KNOW I'd seen something like it here on TC, but I looked through post after post but was unable to find it. So...if it looks like one of yours, yes I probably got the idea from you. I'll add the proper acknowledgement(s) when the person whose idea I stole, er, I mean when the person who inspired me steps forward. Muchas gracias in advance.

The wood is aspen and his name is Ackbar. Any geeks in the audience will get the reference.

I thought the trails left by the bark beetles added some character so I left them in. I think they give a hint of moko...

Cheers!
David

Here's another little one - about three and a half inches tall.

The stain isn't the color that I originally wanted - I grabbed the wrong can and had already started wiping it on before I realized that I had made a mistake. But then I started really digging it. It was a little dark so I lightened up the teeth and knocked off some highlights with the sandpaper. I really like how he turned out.

The weather's finally turning and getting to where it's nice enough to start swinging the mallet again, so I'll get back on my big(ger) guy and get him finished. My sister requested that I "carve something" for her for Christmas so I'm going to have to start thinking about that...

Anyhoo, here's the newest one:

Cheers!
David

So it finally got cool enough to finish my first full body tiki, and he's also my largest so far, about two feet tall and eight inches in diameter. I tried to leave some of the divots left by the spikes on the feet of the tree trimmers, incorporating some and just leaving others in the middle of stuff. The middle of the log ended up drying out pretty bad and getting all stringy, making it a real bitch to sand/stain/seal...

Next up will be another larger one. I got a Lancelot for my grinder, so we'll see how that works out. The thing looks monumentally dangerous - I may be making my next post from the hospital.

Thanks for looking...

Nice tikis. Be careful with the lancelot. I don't think it's dangerous but I had some trouble cutting at the correct angle. I used it to 'rough' out my last tiki and I wasn't happy with the cuts. It takes some practice.

Excellent work DH, Love the level of detail you are getting right from the beginning. Yes, the hook knife was a Benzart suggestion and I'm Happy to see you using it and so well too. Also love the finish you are giving your pieces, Most Excellent work, Especially for a beginner although the term "beginner" does not seem to fit you well.. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

That Lancelot blade is awesome. I started on a three foot Moai and roughed it out with the Lancelot. That thing saved me many hours, if not days, of hogging out large swaths of wood. If you're good with a chainsaw you likely wouldn't see such a big difference, but if you're a mallet-swinger, it's like magic. Once you get the hang of it you can even get it to where it's not so rough. It's just not forgiving at all. If you let your mind wander for a split second, you've suddenly got a quarter inch deep gouge in your work. Great tool for the job, though. I've also put a Holey Galahad on my Xmas list - that looks like it might be a nice compromise between speed and forgiveness...

Cheers!

By the way, where has GROG been? Did I miss a memo? Haven't seen any posts from him in a while...

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing about the Lancelot, Excellent tool btw. If you want to make it better and easier to control add a good (not china cheep)"router speed control" The che=ap ones will bog down your grinder where the better, higher amp ones will give you more torque with the slower speeds.
http://www.rakuten.com/prod/mlcs-9410-20-amp-heavy-duty-router-speed-control/252796464.html?listingId=296428772

Ok, let's see...I did a Moai for my sister for Christmas. She actually requested "something that you carve" when I asked her what she wanted - that made me feel good. He's just shy of three feet tall and eight inches in diameter. So here's that one:

And I just finished this one a few days ago. Also three feet tall and eight inches in diameter. It took the stain way different than the Moai. Same stain, same tree. Strange. I thought I'd do a step-by-step on how to do one of these:

Step 1, get a log:

Step 2, carve it into a tiki:

And while I was in Kauai, I got a souvenir. This is within about five minutes of completion:

That's about it for now. Starting on a new log. A buddy cut down a big ash tree in his back yard and gave me whatever I wanted, so I've got a bunch of it. That stuff is heavy. Starting with a two-footer to see how it carves - I've never tried it before. Anybody have any tips on carving ash? Seems pretty hard and it's drying really, really fast - hopefully I can get into it while it's still a little green.

Cheers, all!

[ Edited by: DHTiki 2014-02-18 13:57 ]

If you are using a chisel and mallet, that ash will give you a workout!

Looks good!

Super smooth finish on that moai--I really like it!

DH, thanks for the comment on my blog Tiki Republic. Glad to see someone else from the valley doin good work. You probably already know...the Az. Aloha Fest is this weekend at the Tempe Town Lake.

go deeper!

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

Totally forgot the Aloha Fest was this weekend. Going to the Viva Phoenix music fest downtown on Friday night, but hopefully will make it to Aloha Fest, maybe Sunday.

I SOOO wanted to go deeper on that one, but I got it to that point and thought 'damn, that looks pretty good' and then I didn't want to mess it up by going deeper. Just couldn't make myself do it. This next ash one will likely be done with mostly my Lancelot and Holey Galahad due to the hardness of the wood, so I'll use power tools to work on my trepidation about going deep.

Love your stuff! Super smooth.

I wanted this one to kinda have the 'old' vibe, so I let it sit out and dry and crack. One of the cracks got a bit out of hand, but I don't think it'll go much, if any deeper. This'll be an indoor-only piece, so at least the sun won't bake it into a dozen pieces. About two feet tall and eight inches in diameter. The wood is ash. Ash is really hard, but not nearly as hard as the palo verde I've done. Anyway, here ya go...

Cheers!

I like the old vibe on your last piece. Keep posting pictures, nice carves.

Couple more done...

Cheers!

The moai and the ku both look really nice. I like the smooth finish. What are you using on em? Keep it up!

Thanks! The moai has two coats of Minwax semi-gloss poly, and the other one is two coats of Minwax spar. I find that if I go to three coats on the poly, it can get to the "encased in plastic" looking stage, but sometimes two doesn't seem to be enough. You can never tell how those stupid palms are going to take finish.

This one was a bitch. With all the knots and twists and turns that the log did, it was definitely a major "you'll get what the wood gives you" project. I really like how it turned out though. He's about three feet tall including the schnoz, made of ash, stained minwax's golden pecan then three coats of poly...

Cheers!

Love your work DH! It's got tons of character and originality. Keep 'em comin!

On 2013-10-24 13:26, DHTiki wrote:
So it finally got cool enough to finish my first full body tiki, and he's also my largest so far, about two feet tall and eight inches in diameter. I tried to leave some of the divots left by the spikes on the feet of the tree trimmers, incorporating some and just leaving others in the middle of stuff. The middle of the log ended up drying out pretty bad and getting all stringy, making it a real bitch to sand/stain/seal...

Next up will be another larger one. I got a Lancelot for my grinder, so we'll see how that works out. The thing looks monumentally dangerous - I may be making my next post from the hospital.

Thanks for looking...

Love this guy. His eyelids are killer!

Thanks! Ironic that you would pick that one after our discussion in your thread. That's probably the tiki that I like the least out of all the ones I've done but everybody else like him! We're always our own worst critics, huh?