Loki and Stump Grinder: 5-11-08 Koru style wall hanging

The time has finally arrived to start our first carving...
My wife and I have been collecting coconut logs from Hurricane Wilma and we've been doing our homework on tools (Thanks Ben), and finally made the first cuts...I must admit, debarking was a serious workout, even with the cold front that blew through South Florida I worked up a sweat. I ate a few asprin in anticipation of a sore back, pecs and biceps...

My tiki is 24" x 7"

Wife's 28" x 7"

My father was visiting for the weekend and decided to start one...hopefully he will be joining TC soon and will post his progress...we sent him home with his Moai

Being as these are our first attemps at carving, and the lack of talent we really are just tring to learn what each of the tools do...I have decided to make my first tiki entirely with hand tools. The one lesson i learned was to carve deep, and removing the wood from the mouth was tedious...

After a full afternoon of carving with wife, and father (a great social event)we decided to go to the Mai-Kai for dinner and drinks...it's wonderful living only a half hour from such a special place...

After two shrunken heads, two jet pilots and a hot buttered rum, all the pain of carving had left the body...we all woke the next day, talking about dreaming of our tikis and what we needed to work on...(this is addicting stuff).

So the progression of our first tikis will commence...i really have a new found appreciation of those of you who make carving tikis look so easy...i had no idea it would be as challenging as it is...and judging by our designs and skill we have a long way to go...but it is fun, and we are learning fast...

Some of the pit falls i have encountered...i need to make the facial features much larger...once the wood is taken away, i was left with small eyes...my angles are starting to come as i experiment with cutting and hopefully will enhance some of the features better...(mine left, wife right)

Her tiki has nice releif, mine will have more as i dig deeper...more progress photos to follow...

Any comments are much appreciated...i only learn from wonderful carvers like you guys...
(edited to fix photo codes)

"He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice."

[ Edited by: Loki 2006-09-06 06:14 ]

[ Edited by: Loki 2006-10-13 17:53 ]

[ Edited by: Loki 2008-04-21 07:36 ]

[ Edited by: loki 2008-05-11 14:46 ]

[ Edited by: Loki 2005-11-27 07:35 ]

Very cool carvings. Looks like you're having fun!!

[ Edited by: finkdaddy 2005-11-27 06:52 ]

Keep at it Loki! They look good so far. As you get further into it, try to imagine having several carving layers, or angular features. This will help keep your carvings from looking flat. Great stuff so far. Great job. Another addicted carver!!!

nice work for the first time around...for both of you....and doggone it...i'm gonna put on my
winter pants right now and drag my last basswood log from the garage into my basement....I can't
wait till spring so I'll put up with the log chips in the house...I just hope my wife will put up with it.

Way to GOOO Loki, I guess you loved it so much you posted it twice, HappyHappyHappy.
I am SO Excited to see you And your wife digging into carving tikis the way you are, that is SO Nice and you are doing it the right way. I see excellent toolz (great 1/2 price deal), and both tikis are excellent beginnings. You two will progress quickly, working together the way you are.
Take your time and use each chisel and gouge often to find out what each one does. It will take experimentation at forst but soon you will be confidently reaching for just the right tool to get just that look.
Thanks for posting this as I know how Hard it is the first time. Keep up the great work and show us Lots of pictures and Most of all, ASK if you need to know Anything.

On 2005-11-27 07:40, congatiki wrote:
I'll put up with the log chips in the house...I just hope my wife will put up with it.

Isn't it nice having a wife who will put up with your craziness? I don't know what I would do if mine didn't. I doubt she understands me, but at least she knows I need to do my thing! :D

Great start. Look at the previous thead

What was your first tiki creation?

You started way above mine.

Carve on and thanks for sharing

Excellent start! Got all the tools, an' hammerin' away. Stuff is looking real good, keep postin'.

I think its great that you and your family were all able to carve together. That is the spirit we all need more of.

For first carvings they are looking great.

Great job, as you mentioned start big ,you can take away but you can't put back.

started to work on the layers today, i still need to take away more wood to show the depth, but he is starting to come alive now...still doing it all with hand tools...my wife is starting to use some electric tools...(recipracating saw)...will post pic when i can... we are comparing notes...i like what the electric tools do, but am enjoying the hand tools...i feel more in touch with my tiki...weird i know...will post progress reports as they happen...

Cool stuff, great quality for a first piece so far.

Great to see the missus so into it as well. Maybe your dad too? Sounds like your family got it bad...

Cant wait to hear and see more from ya

The cuts look really clean, Loki. You and your wife are off to a good start. Keep us posted.

A-A

Great beginning! Can't wait to see it through. You'll be carve-aholics in no time!

Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement...This is so much fun...We didnt turn the TV on all weekend long...now the neighbors are starting to get involved...we're not the only crazy tiki people anylonger...

Sweet 1st Loki. Aloha

Great job, I am impressed every time somebody carves something that big with just hand tools. Looks like you've started with the right tools and paid attention to all the lessons here from the masters. I wish I had their advice on my first several tikis and carvings.

Aloha Loki!!!!!!!!!!
Good job loki!!!!! I wish my first tikis looked that good.Keep carving and having fun and being creative!I see you picked up a few carving chisels are those some of the ons from woodcraft that Benzart suggested? Aloha for now, your friend , Mooney

Isn't it great to have something to do that you both enjoy. MORE POWER TO YOU TWO!!!! Lookin good:)

Go get'em guy's...and gals.

Weekend update:
Mooney- I did take Benz advice and purchased a handful of wonderful Henry Taylor Chisels. They really make the work easier.

After a long week of working my real job, we finally got back to carving this weekend. Hurricane Wilma did more dammage than we thought. Apparently, high wind speeds can snap the heart of palms. The heart is located at the top most part of the tree where the newest fronds come from. We have a large Queen palm that we were having trimmed and we found out the heart snapped and the tree was dying from the top down. I know people have had a difficult time with carving queen so i decided to give it a go in the near future. As mentioned many time before they will rot from the inside. In an old post someone mentioned that the inside core can be pulled out, making the log hollow. I have posted some pics of the process for those of you interested. The log in the photo is about 4' tall and still fresh. This made the removal of the core more difficult than i was hoping for. There is a very clear line from the hard wood on the outside to the gooey inside. I attempted to remove what i could, but i think it needs more time to break up. I look forward to the stink it will no doubt cause. I found the best method for removal of a newer core is the claw end of a hammer. It is stringy and can be pried out with some effort. I got down as deep as i could and decided to wait until it gets mushier. I did find a smaller log and split it in half and removed the core on the inside. This will make a wonderful mask for future carving. It was much easier with the log split. And again i used the claw of the hammer to scoop it out.

I also had an stump of coconut that had a lot of rot in it and decided to make blocks out of the good parts to make smaller faces. Once my hook knives arrive we will start attacking these guys. One for me and one for lady loki.

So, now that we have some logs ready for our next carvings i should update on our first tikis.

I have affectionatly named my first tiki, Mamae tuara- the Maori word for painful back. My back is really suffering for his cause. I have had a very difficult time with the nose. I made some early mistakes and now am trying to fix it. Basically, i made the nose ridges to flat and they stood out as almost 2D. I have decided to take away more of the cheek area at an angle to salvage the nose. Its working but I'm not happy with it yet. The eyes are an experiment but i'm starting to like the look. Still doing it all by hand with the chisels. The mouth was just an experiment using a gouge, but i think i like the look. I really want to finish him soon and move on the the next victim.

lady lokis tiki has really taken on some progress. She has decided to add a body to it. I really admire her for trying this. I know i wouldnt have tried this. She put it well, "It's my frist tiki, so if it doesnt work, oh well." The thing is it is working. She still has work to do on his face, especially the eyes. Look for them to dramatically change in the future. The arms are really coming out well, and he even has a little butt starting. Kudos for her tackling this.

We even got one of our neighbors involved. The rest of the neighborhood must think were nuts...three people banging away at logs for hours...what fun.

On the queue: I'm going to make a maori kotiate (violin shape club). When we visited NZ last year i'm still kicking myself for not buying one there, so, now with BK's inspiration, i'm going to make one myself. Its not going to be kauri wood of course, but i think it will work fine...Then a smaller face like Benz makes to work on my hand carving skills. Lady loki will attack another larger tiki.

Thanks for reading this long babble...more updates as they happen.
-Loki

"He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice."

[ Edited by: Loki 2005-12-05 11:38 ]

Excellent progress... Loki, are you carving these on the floor? I used to kill my back that way too. Try raising them to a comfortable level. Either a bench or a workmate - something like that. You have to be comfortable to make nice tikis.

Finally, the first Tiki is finished.
He was all done with hand tools, and a quick sanding and stain...

Lessons learned:
-Hand tools are great, but i cant wait to try some electric ones to speed up the process.

• found myself trying to make all the cuts perfect and wasted a lot of time. the sanding helps clean up a lot of carving lines.

-I finally made myself a carving bench so i dont kill the rest of my back. Thanks Moon for the pics of yours.

-I need to exergerate the features next time. Make the eyes futher apart.

-Work on carving with a partner. Lady Loki and I have had a blast working on our tikis. We cant wait until the weekends so we can carve.

Lady loki should be finishing her up tomorrow.

So, here they are.

Here he is waiting for his turn to drive the car...I kept telling him he couldnt because he cant drive stick...his response "I am a Stick."

Lady Loki's...the feet and arms are really looking great, i cant wait to see it finished.

Next on the queue is a Maori Patu...pics as we progress. Thanks for looking. Aloha

"He who does anything because it is the custom makes no choice."

[ Edited by: Loki 2005-12-10 16:42 ]

Loki,

Those are killer man! You guys have it going on. You picked this up very fast. I can't wait to see what the other one looks like finished, and also, what you come up with next. Any word on the S. Florida tiki jam?

-Gman

Yes you 2 have gone above and beyond and just barely scratched the surface. The fun has Just begun. You will look back on this in about a year and say to yourselves, "Wow, were we CrAzy or Sumpthin? What possessed us to try sumpthin like this. That was SO Good and we were like Blindly having fun........." Yous till won't believe you have pulled this off so well, And you will be black and blue from pinching yourselfs so much to see if you are dreaming.
Very well done. I expect more great work from the both of you. Keep it up.

Congrats to you both for being so brave and diving in. Outstanding results! Be sure to continue taking advantage of the free wood supply. Up here I have to wait for an ice storm or an unguarded construction site to get at a log or two. Not that its any fun gathering wood in winter! Terrific seeing you share the fun with family & neighbors. Aloha

Great stuff! Man you really learn a lot on the first few tikis. Think of the struff you'll know after a dozen!

These are two first tikis to be proud of. Nice WRX, by the way! Let's see Lady Loki's after it's done too. Good luck with the Maori carving and be sure to show us more now that you're hooked.

Those are excellent! OK I want to see all the practice ones you didn't show us. You two make quite a team.
JP

Lady Loki has finished her first victim.

She decided to use the burn tecnique, and it really worked out well.

The three amigos. Neighbor TikiScott really showed us up with his first attempt. We all had a blast carving the past weekends. With a garage full of palm logs, were ready for round two.

I started work on the patu (kotiate)

[ Edited by: Loki 2005-12-12 05:28 ]

Loki, if this is your first foray into carving, then I'd say you've got a pretty good knack for it. Good looking pieces and the palm wood does it for me.

Thanks foamy, We really had a good time experimenting on them. I dont think any of us were really finished with them, but you just have to stop working on them at some point.

Well, its been a while since the last post. The holidays got in the way, and a chisel took a nice bite out of a finger, so that needed time to heal. Were back!

Decided to tackle a large sable palm that fell during Wilma's wrath. It was my neighbors tree, so he's happy that it will live on.

Its about 6' 4" and heavy as Jabba the Hutt. Debarked it using the arbortech wheel. I remember Tiki G memtioned that it is a messy job. He was not kidding. The sable palm has a thick skin, and once the outer skin is removed it hides a thick red fiber shell about 1/4 inch thick. I'm glad I had the Angle Grinder to help me in this process.Two large garbage bags full of saw dust. It still gave me a sweat, yes it was 80 degrees yesterday.

I have decided to use elements of a Marq. As i was staring at him, something just screamed to me. Make large golf ball like dimples for his head, so thats what i did. I found a scoop gouge at a flea market for $2 and honed it up nice and tried it out. I liked how it was turning out and went for it.

I really have a difficult time drawing what i want the tiki to be, and really wanted to carve, so i decided to draw the body later. It is very early into the carving process and i hope to get a bit more done tomorrow. I'm really stoked about working on such a large log and cant wait for him to come to life.

Lady loki, has also started her next masterpiece. She has decided to just dig in and see what comes out with little planning. I cant wait to see what emerges from the wood.

Just a few pics of the big log.

Neighbor, Tiki Scott has also decided that carving is addictive and has jumped into his next project. A small Cypress stump. He always comes up with unique designs. I believe this tiki will become an ashtray, with removable bowl.

We are really getting excited for the South Florida Tiki Jam on the 14th. Hopefully more updates before that.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year.

With the golfball top does this qualify as a TEEki? It has to be fun to carve with a few people, nobody up here does this. Being able to feed off of each others ideas must be great!.
JP

Four!

loki you and your wife are doing excellent work keep it up and a happy new year.

I Agree, You 2 must be having SO Much fun!! I think we are all a bit envious of you sharing something as personal as tiki carving. Really, Really SWEET.

Very cool stuff, and keepin' it in the family so to speak! I always like to get my wife's input too.

Quick update.

Sam, my wife is my total inspiration. She has such a knack for things.

just a few pics from today. More to come soon.

Lady Loki doing her thing.

The big boy is slowly starting to take shape.

Loki,

He looks good. I can't wait to see him next weekend. We'll finish him up :wink:

-Gman

It was Really great seeing Loki's and Lady Loki's tikis in Person, They are really into this tiki thing Tooth and Nail. They Outdid themseles for the So Flo Tiki Jam, it was AWESOME!.
Keep up the excellent work guys and heres hoping we'll see you again soon.
Loki's ROCK!

Ok, the Tiki Jam was a tremendous success. I didnt work on much tiki carving myself as i was absorbing as much knowledge as possible from the masters, BenzArt and GMAN. I did finally get to work on my beast Monday, as well as finishing up the one GMAN donated for our Tiki garden.

GMANS tiki was a Ficus stump. I personally hate ficus trees as the roots are a menace to deal with, they use up all the water that the natives need and on and on. We decided to grab a few ficus logs just to see what could come of them. Benz told us that they carve real well. So, GMAN grabbed a log and went at it. I think we were all impressed at how easy they are to work with. After GMAN left the little guy, i cleaned him up, gave him a quick sanding and started staining him. As you can see, the ficus really has a nice grain to it and has lots of good colors that really pop out with stain and poly coat. Thanks again GMAN for this little guy we reall love how he turned out.

This was the initial coat of darker stain. We thought we'd highlight some area. Dont be alarmed, the ficus is very thirsty wood and the dark really toned down.

So, i finally got to work on the giant. After admiring Benz Lono and watching some of his technique i decided it was time to work on his mouth. I have changed the design a few time but am very happy with the results. It was fun sculpting the teeth and gum line. I had to think about how real teeth meet the gums. Anatomy lesson 101.

"Just because you have a mouth now, doesn't mean you can talk to me like that!"

Lady Loki started working on a Moai mask from a sliver cut off a coconut stump. Its only about 3 inches thick so its more delicate work than she thought, but i thinks its really going to look great when its done.

One last thing Kiddies...a SAFETY REMINDER. I am lucky to be typing this with all my fingers attatched. I was debarking a log using an angle grinder and an Arbortech wheel. I reached for the extendable handle and my left little finger brushed against the spinning blade. Thankfully i was wearing a leather glove. When the pain stopped, i took the glove off and to my surprise, no blood and the finger was still there. Just remind yourselves, to always be aware of where your hands are when using power tools. I know, you all know this, but sometimes we dont concentrate 100% all the time and need to think about this lesson every time we work. Stay safe. More to come.

Looks great. The big guy is really taking shape. The piece being used for the mask is actually Sabal. I have the matching log to prove it. Keep going your on a roll.

Speaking of safety - remember eye safety is also very important. After grinding (with safety glasses ON) I got some dust in my eye and the next day it looked like I went 12 rounds of boxing. The eye was very swollen but has since returned to normal. Next time I'll use goggles.

You guys are making great progress. That Arbortech wheel story was scary, glad it turned out alright. Thank you for the safety reminder!
JP

Aloha, What is your sabal going to be? post pics when you get crackin'. You have some bad luck with wood dust... :lol:

Thanks for the pics and the progress reports. Keep em coming. Your tiki is really taking shape and looking good. I like the golf ball dimples on the lid. Nice job.

[ Edited by: Alldo 2006-01-17 10:53 ]

Loki, I'm Really glad you still have all your fingers. It's strange how, when something like that happens, that we can see in slow motion just how it happened and what we should have done to prevent it. It's like you KNEW it was going to happen but you couldn't believe it. Those chain-saw wheels are super dangerous and we Must be constantly aware of where the teeth are headed.

Your carving is coming along great. I am Very Glad to see you stopping to figure out the anatomy of the part you are working on. It's Amazing the difference it makes. THis guy is on the way to becoming a great tiki, your Best yet.

Lady Loki, yours looks to be coming along nicely too. The Moai are not as easy to carve as they seem and take a lot to figure them out. You have an excellent start on him. Where is the small 3" you are working on?

Keep up the good work guys and I can't wait 'til the next JAM!

Benz, it was the Woodcarver blade, not the chainsaw one...if it had been i think the finger would be gone...I used up one of my get out of jail free cards..