New stuff added!!

Another frond. This one is around 3' long

You always make carving look easy Tom, great work!

Wow

Beautiful work Tom!!!

I had the "pleasure" of going to CES in Las Vegas this year with my day job. On trips like this I often take several pieces of wood to whittle on when I have time. I started this guy but didn't get very far, as the trip was no "pleasure"! 11" palm frond.

Vegas baby
Lookin good

I guess you "check" your luggage due to the knives... Killer carve.

With Hukilau a few months away - I'm trying to get back into the swing of doing pocket tikis. Small scraps of wood that I work on when I have time. Here's the first of many I hope. Carved in mahogany, it will be made into a pendant.

Aloha
Awesome

Another Pocket Tiki carved in Basswood. I plan on molding this one and making glowing tikis!!

Kick ars

I made this palm frond Moai for the Magical Tiki Meetup at the Magic Kingdom, Disneyworld. This was the grand prize for the photo safari contest. The Photo Safari went like this: I posted a series of desired 20 photos that each person had to find throughout the day, get 5 on the list and you were entered get all 20 and you get an extra entry. Lots of people took part and I hope that we can do it again next year.

Looks great Tom!

Great carve

Killer stuff. those palm frond carvings are cool! I didn't think you could get such good detail with carving those.

Dole whip!

I've been pretty busy getting ready for The Hukilau. Lot of things to show, so keep your eyes peeled!

Palm Frond Pendants...

Those are great!

Palm fronds are sweet Aloha, I look forward to see what you come up with next.

Awesome

Was wondering what you were up to. Niiiiice work!!!

Bet u have some more photos...? :)

BigT - with The Hukilau just a few days away I am up to my armpits in projects. I will post some pics soon.

Its been way too long since I have posted here. Lots of things are happening with me (more on that later), but I did have some time to whittle out a couple of palm fronds.

Last week I spent a few days traveling all around the state of Florida. I live in Fort Lauderdale area and my family lives near Pensacola (totally opposite ends of the state). So while on the road, I had some time to do a little whittling. The first carving was done at the Navarre Pier in the Panhandle. Quick carve, about an hour, just before Thanksgiving. The tiki skull.

Second one was done at the county pier in Panama City Beach. This one took about an hour and a half and was a gift for an old friend.

I love carving on the beach!! Got lots of curious passer-bys. The skull is done it just needs a finish.

Awesome, Tom! Love what you can do with an hour's time!

OK time for an update. For the past few months I've been working on this muddler. It was a commissioned by friends for friends. It is also the last piece created in home workshop.

The story about the wood is interesting. Mahogany. Several years ago I acquired some wood from a Craigslist ad. WillCarve and I went up to West Palm and met a guy that had stored an entire wood turning business from a friend of his that past away. Turns out the wood turner was a WWII vet and the stuff was from his retirement business. We got all kinds of tools and wood. None of the wood is labeled but most is pretty identifiable (Mahogany and Walnut). You will be seeing more from the wood stash in upcoming projects.

I started by splitting the chunk and turning the 2 pieces on the lathe. The muddler was pretty easy and straight forward - the base (which was imagined as I was turning the muddler) required some of the tools I acquired from the WWII vets stash of tools. Once I was done with turning I focused on the carving. Every cut was done with either my hook knife or an Xacto. I sanded very little, as my cuts were very clean. I carved at my house, on my local beach, on the beach of the Panhandle and even carved a little while I was in Las Vegas for CES. It made the rounds while in Las Vegas (Golden Tiki and Frankie's). When I returned home, I finished carving and focused on putting the final touches to it - wood burning. The top of the muddler and base have been clear coated - while the lower half of the muddler is raw and only finished with food-safe Mineral Oil.

The tiki comes from outside the Tiki Room at the Magic Kingdom. The people that were recieving this are part of The Central Florida Tiki scene and had produced mugs of the same tiki. I'm not much into reproductions and the original tiki is like 10' tall, so I made some subtle changes and added my own flair while sticking to the original concept.

Will Crave and I mulled over how the base was going to work with this - and after several rounds of eye-fucking it we came up with a plan and strategy. I opened up the sides so that the muddler could dry easily after use. I also incorporated a channel so that any liquid that fell into the base would run out (assisting with drying and keeping it clean). WillCarve also supplied the rock footer that makes the entire package come together. He makes small bases like this one out of the extra cement when he casts figures for the Mai Kai. I thought that was nice piece of random provinance.

I delivered the entire thing to the happy couple this weekend at the Mai Kai. My first time crashing a wedding, but to be honest they were happy that I was there (I think?). Good luck to the happy couple - I look forward to getting several drinks made with this muddler in the near future!!

raw wood split for turning

turning the muddler

making the base

sectioning

working on details

getting "the treatment"

super cool tom, nice to see you back on TC! :D

Home rum
Eeerrrr
Home run

Awesome

This is my favorite so far Tom!

Here's an update. These are a commission for beer tap handles. They may be a little big and heavy. I am currently working on taking off some weight from the backs and tops. Been busy so progress is slow.

I'm back on TC!! Love this place. The ability to go back in time and see progression is priceless. I'll post some new stuff soon as I'm getting ready for The Hukilau in June.

Oops!

[ Edited by AlohaStation on 2022-06-20 10:44:46 ]

Whoops. Please try again so we can enjoy your recent work.

Finished up some palm fronds and mounted them.

Sweet Me like

Repost those photos from above

Awesome Tom!!!

AlohaStation Make sure your photos have finished uploading before hitting "Submit Post"

Some recent pendants.

New Stuff!!! 3E4BB1AE-0F84-4F89-BF61-B574C8036820

Is that radioactive? What did you do?

Seconded! That's some mighty strong fluorescence. Very cool stuff.

Awesome

NICE!!!! The lava base is especially unique

Some recent stuff.

Nice

Keeping busy I see

Don’t keep your palm frond supply in your front yard

Will may drive by