A few of my earlier Tikis

These were all Pre Tropicana

[ Edited by: Benzart on 2004-01-19 06:44 ]

Those are really nice Benzart!
Do you use Afro Sheen for the hair? :)

NO, I couldn.t find it in gallon size

very very cool -
i like the last one best, with the big, round eyes.
thanks for posting those!

That first one reminds me of Chewbacca with no sleep...

Nice stuff, once again Benz! When were these made? By the way,do you use chisels, electric tools, or a combo?

what kinda wood is da first? I love the grain

I used Chainsaw first to remove big chunks, then chisels and gouges for the final detail with Angle and Pad sanders in between.
I started out first as a Chainsaw Artist using Grinders also. Then I met the Magic Chisels and gouges. I carved in Ft.Lauderdale/Deerfield area (Florida) for about 10 years.
The first one is Florida Mahogany which has a beautiful grain but is not usually clear.
Thanks guys and gals

[ Edited by: Benzart on 2004-01-19 16:59 ]

while renovating her old house, a friend of mine discovered that someone placed a chisel next to a grape nehi bottle on the framing in the wall! The bottle was dated 1936...I'm dying to get my hands on that chisel to carve my tikis! I'm creating a legend for it and everything! HAHA!

Benzart, where do you find that FL Mohogany? I was talking to alandscaping friend about that wood the other day. I love carving Mohogany, but have been spending a fortune on blocks of the wood, would prefer a nice knotted up piece of trunck or something

You need to make friends with All the Local Tree Trimmer companies. Find their shops and make weekly rounds. Most of them have an Equipment yard where they store trucks, large tools and large piles of wood to take to the dump later!!!! Carve 'em a Tiki and you will be blessed with wood. south Florida is blessed with some good carving wood like mahogany, Silk Oak, Cypress, Mango, Norfolk Island Pine, Ficus, Java Plum and Sable palm to name a few. Not like our fortunate friends out west though.....
Hope this helps.

Your wood knowledge is sharp...I still have to ask the guys up at the sawmill what I'm looking at sometimes. Great work, too!

Thanks again, my guys. After awhile you get to carve about every species of wood in the area and you develop your favorites that you always look for. The ones that have given you the Magical moment. Just don't ever turn down a piece of wood cuz u dont know what it is, you have to explore.Pretty soon the tree guys will be stoppin by your place with loads of wood Before they go to the dump, instead of sayin when u come in "Gee we just took a load of Beautiful wood down to the dump, sure wish I knowed u could used it".Anyway you all know carvers who seem to get All the wood? I was that guy. I had dump trucks brought to me so they wood keep from paying the dump prices.Course I gave a Lot of wood away to my fellow carvers cuz I had way too much.

[ Edited by: Benzart on 2004-01-21 08:29 ]

A Few of my Older tikis