I recently acquired 8 queen palm logs between 4 & 5 foot in length.

The trees were cut down last Friday, so I have had them for a week.
Against the advice of others (Benzart, OnaTiki, and Matt Reese), I decided to try carving one of the logs...

I didn't get much more than an inch deep...

... when I noticed my chisels didn't seem to feel quite right. The destruction was obvious.


After some swearing at the log and my own stupidity for not listening to others, I calmed down and decided to finally ask an all important question.
After I hollow out the log and remove the soft, chewy center, does it need to sit and dry to make it easier to carve? Or is it actually easier while it's still wet?

[ Edited by: Heath 2007-12-18 12:26 ]

[ Edited by: Heath 2016-02-06 21:08 ]

It is Easier while still wet. Notice the grinder marks on the Cutting side of your chisel? It was sharpened on a bench grinder, or it Looks like it was. When you put that into any wood, the small jagged edge becomes a Large jagged edge. Doa search here for sharpening chisels and try to get your chisels a bit sharper before continuing. Sharpening is something that sooner or later we all have to learn how to do. It kind of sneeks up on you and before you know it you are saying"Hmm, Why is it not cutting as good as it used to?". Another thing about all palms, they are full of sand and even an ocassional stone or 2 gets imbedded into the bark or the wood.
I know of 1 guy down here who Loves carving Queen palms. He starts by cleaning out the soft center and is left with 1 to 3 inches of hard wood which he carves. It cures Very Hard, I have Seen it with my Own eyes.
Hope this helps.

Queen palms are not worth the effort, in my opinion. THe outside is incredibly hard, requiring you to sharpen your chisels a ton while carving them, and the center either turns to mush or gets so fibrousy that you can't do anything with it. I'd dump these and wait for a Mexican Fan to carve (those tall skinny ones with an afro on top). They're good and soft, carving real easy.

Problems I've had with queen palms:
I noticed that the centers split and crack extensively, while the outer inch or two is very hard. I thought I would hollow one out. It warped into a figure 8 after I removed the soft center

It warped until it actually split into two

Also, the cracks sometimes go all of the way to the edge in several places

They also get bugs and beetles in all of the cracks

I'd stop trying with these before you waste too much time. It will not be worth the effort, if you actually get one to work. They look tempting, but rarely work. I tried with about 6 different queen palm logs and finally just gave up. Mexican fan palms are the way to go

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm not known for giving up so I'll probably split the one I started and go from there. I'll post pictures of the progress...
All but three of my carvings have been from fan palm, but an opportunity arose. And as they say, Ignorance is bliss.

[ Edited by: Heath 2006-08-26 12:26 ]

HOLY SHNIKEYS!!!
This was way too much like work!!
Okay, I took the time to split the log and hollow it out(sort of)...

Well, okay, hollow enough for now...

Instead of destroying any more of my chisels, I bought these...

And had to use a single-jack as a mallet...

I was curious to see how it would work...

This is what I ended up with, as well as a back-ache from not being able to really roll the log around like I'm used to doing...

I'll keep you posted.

I didn't get a chance to do any carving today, hopefully tomorrow.
Just for a little background, I thought I should post some of my previous attempts.
My first try at a full body. I'm still perplexed at how easy some of you make it look.

Second try, front view.

Second try, back view.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of it finished. Next time I go to Vegas I'll get some.

My mail box, front view.

My mail box, side view.

Note the dent from a round of mailbox baseball from the kids in the neighborhood.

I'll put up some more later.
Thanks for looking.

man the palm is looking good and all your other ones do too. the bodies on those guys are also really cool. too bad your mail box got beat up a bit there.

great work. keep posting

Even though I'm not working, I haven't had much time to do any carving lately. Too many other projects taking up my time! Anyway, I was finally able to get back to working that chunk of queen palm yesterday. It doesn't seem to be rotting, just drying out. I think it weighs maybe a pound or two less than when I started.

This is what I was able to get done between sleeping in, chores, errands, playing on the computer, and generally being lazy.

Sunlight view.

In the shade.

Thanks for looking.

That's a really nice tiki! It's very balanced.

Heath! Your rockin! This stuff is nice nice.

Keep going.

Where do you live?

Mahalo

McTiki

Hi all!
Tikiwahine, thank you very much!
McTiki, thanks to you also, they're not much compared to the work you've done but I'm trying. I call San Diego, well, a suburb of San Diego called El Cajon, home.

Well, I'm fed up with this one so I'm calling it done. Just going to let it weather a bit so the color evens out before I clear coat it. I'm also going to coat the back with a wood consolidant to stop any rot that may show its ugly head.

Another view.

These are the chisels I ended up using to do the finish. So, now I guess I have a set of queen palm chisels.

And if anyone can explain to me how to change the title of this thread, I would greatly appreciate it!

I'll post some pictures of my other stuff soon.
Thanks for looking!

Heath, Excellent stuff and Way too good for only your first few, Really way ahead of where you should be. Well done.
To change the heading of a thread, go to your First post in that thread and click edit at the bottom. Only in this post will you be able to edit the heading. When you are finished, click submit and you're done. Before you finish though go to the bottom of the post and back out any "This post was edited-----" lines. Sometimes they get overlooked and they will be longet than the message itself.

beautiful details. keep up the great work!

Thanks Benz! Now I can update when I need to.

More background info...
I started carving about five years ago, not steadily though. I would get frustrated with something, the chisels would get dull, or I would be recruited to help someone else with a backyard project (whoever comes to the left coast oki-oki will see what I mean) and walk away from carving for six to eight months. So all told, I've probably only been carving a total of maybe two, two and a half years.

My first real carvings are on display at The Lava Flow Inn. Just a couple of little moais, maybe four inches tall. I'll try to get some pics.

This is the first palm log I tried.

My buddy said yeah, that's great, don't do anymore.
So to spite him, I looked around online and found some info and pictures.
This is my second try with palm.

I've still got a lot to learn!!
More pictures coming soon.

nice work heath keep up the good work

You got what it takes to carve. Your lines and designs are very nicely done. You don't have all that much to learn. Nice work Heath.

Mahalo

McTiki

man did that turn out GREAT. i really like that one. too bad about the chisles at the beginning there. but well it turned out fairly amazing i must say.

great work

Thats some clean carving! nice

Heath,

Your carvings are beautiful, period. You are not wasting your weekends any more than the rest of us idiots :D

Keep going and keep posting. Your most recent piece is fab!

-Gman

I certainly wouldnt call it a waste of your weekends, great stuff, very clean & crisp. From my own minimal dabblings with wood I know how tough that is to achieve. Keep it up! TTT

I Just noticed the h=Wheels that you have mounted on your carving benck, Man that Rocks, I'm going to have to try a variation of that. I can see how the hollowed out tiki hampered your turning capability now! Excellent

Thank you all for the kind words.
Everyone has been such an inspiration to get back into carving!

Here are a couple that I did for a friends company. They were going to be on display in her trade show booth in Vegas, but due to some problems in the company, she and the tikis didn't make it out there. Hopefully next year!

I was going to surprise her and put the company name on the bottom band, but there's a name change coming. Luckily I found out before I did it.

Like a mug shot, "Turn your heads!"

"Other way!"

"Face the rear!"

My mailbox was the only one I'd ever stained until these two. They actually only got clear-coated.

More later.
Thanks for looking!

Nice X 2 !!!

Keep em coming! Ain't this fun?

Mahaloz

McTiki

On 2006-09-13 07:39, Benzart wrote:
I Just noticed the Wheels that you have mounted on your carving bench, Man that Rocks, I'm going to have to try a variation of that. I can see how the hollowed out tiki hampered your turning capability now! Excellent

I just added wheels to my cheezy workmate.. (No offence, Gene)...

It works well. No more dings in the wood from the workmate.

Here's a pic...

or two:

And thanks for the idea Heath!

[ Edited by: tikigap 2006-09-28 22:45 ]

Nice work man :)

I love those last two tikis, the designs are cool and the color is just perfect. How did you achive the light smooth color?
Nice!

tikigap, I'm glad I could help. I used to have to use a strap to stop the logs from rolling around but it always seemed to end up in the way. I finally got so fed up that I picked up some locking casters, big difference! Here are some pics...

Close-up

hewey, thank you, I'm looking forward to seeing your buggy when you get it finished!

makutiki, thank you, it's actually just a clear coat on old dry palm. My friend didn't want any stain on them, but I figured I should do something.

Thank you all for the kind words, I'll try to get back to the carving when I get the house re-assembled. Long story...

I Still love the wheel idea and I Must adapt my bench, Excellent innovation.
These last 2 tikis were Excellent too. Super fine finish and well done detail. Waste some More time like that.

Locking Casters! That's great! Thanks again!

Okay, I gave up on the work I need to do to the house and decided instead of sitting here looking at what everyone else was doing (this site is just too addictive!), I should go out and do something myself.
I've had the idea for a while now, but seeing how others have approached it, I was inspired.

Before... when I thought to grab my camera...

While there was still some light...

The end of the evening...

Thanks for looking.

What a Sad way to Waste your weekends, poor fella! Too bad, and the tikis look SO Good too. Well all you can do is Post the results of your time wasting here and see if we can agree.

Heath great Tikis! The wasted time is the time NOT spent creating! I love the caster idea too, brilliant!

Benz, thanks for looking, your comments are always appreciated.

On 2006-10-14 23:36, Sneakytiki wrote:
Heath great Tikis! The wasted time is the time NOT spent creating! I love the caster idea too, brilliant!

Sneaky, on that note I had better get up off my lazy butt... I can't help that I'm easily distrac.. oh look, something shiny, ooooh.

Where was I?
Oh yeah, updates.

A little bit of progress.

Another view.

My wife came up with a name for this one.

My wife says that I should leave it "unshaven".

I could then call him "George Moaichael".

What do you think?

For those that have chosen to forget, here is an older photo.

Another on a cover no less.

Remember, my wife came up with it!!!

[ Edited by: Heath 2006-10-19 20:23 ]

Sure she did.
The tikis are looking great. I'd also like to add that Heath was kind enough to donate the queen palm tiki to my backyard bar. I'll post some pics once I get it stained(which he was also kind enough to donate). You rule my friend.
Now go waste some more time.