Tiki fork, knife and spoon

I found these tall wooden set in Ashland WI, this summer was wondering if anyone else has seen anything like it.

[ Edited by: Thriftcade 2017-02-15 05:10 ]

Yes, on Everybody Loves Raymond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0s-w_mPu4

TC- never seen em
Skip- good 1

Tiki fork, knife and spoon

Thriftcade I have a dozen different sets and I've never seen one in this style.

tikiskip thank you so much for the video. If we had wallpaper I would be worried.

Wendy

That video is hilarious. I have the glass Frank is drinking out of.

I've seen dozens of fork and spoon sets in various sizes but the carvings are usually pretty crude and I've never seen a knife or ones as intricately detailed as Thrift has.

I'd venture to say those are of a more recent vintage, done in the Florida / Wayne Coombs style of tiki.

The video was funny. I think everyone my age grew up with a set.

It does have a label on the back I thought it may be the previous owner, Peter Melling, Ashland, WI.

Yours are cooler than Rays mom and dads.
But that is the first thing I think of when I see those.

I pass on the ones in that video, they look like quickly made souvenirs.
Yours have more time put into them.

Have seen where people cut off the fork ends and make door handles out of them.

I have heard that. I painted a smaller set to match a sign that I painted. I would totally use some of the crudely carved ones for a piece of furniture.

On 2017-02-15 05:07, Thriftcade wrote:
I found these tall wooden set in Ashland WI, this summer was wondering if anyone else has seen anything like it.

I have a very similar pair, but a knife and spoon. They're also from Ashland, by a carver named Peter Mellick, who best I can tell, is Native American.

From the following thread on tiki giant dinnerware:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30401&forum=5

Now that I know there's a fork too, I'll have to go back up there and hunt for one!

That's awesome!! My Spoon has a crack on the end.

Yes. My grandfather Peter Melling from Ashland, WI carved these. Was born in Norway in 1922 and emigrated to Wisconsin in 1930.

Thanks for the info, Kevin! Not sure how I came up with Mellick as his last name instead of Melling, but I recall searching on him and came up with a site that claimed he was Native American, not Norwegian [shrug] Do you know if his carving style was influenced by indigenous artists?

Those are MUCH nicer than the crude Philippines tourist-ware examples that seem to be everywhere.

Truly, they are kings of the forbidden cutlery: https://mytiki.life/collectors/tiki_thor/other-collectibles/stacked-ku-faces-fork-and-spoon-wall-art

[ Edited by Tiki_Thor on 2026-05-30 06:41:57 ]

One of Peter Melling's last sets carved circa 1998.

[ Edited by Kevin on 2026-05-30 09:18:38 ]

Thanks for posting this, Kevin. He had a unique artistic talent.

This set was carved by my step father Peter Melling. He was an exceptional wood carver, taking pride in all his carving projects. Its nice to see you enjoying them.