Carved a drum - whattya think?

I've been lurking here for a while now, love what you guys&gals are doing.
Recently I have had the chance to take a Pahu {Hawaiian drum} making class with respected Kumu Kala Rodney Willis, who provided the rough-out piece of Coco Palm w/ a Koa Base to start off with.
I know it's not particularly a Tiki carving - but it is very Polynesian.

So, without further boring you with woids - I present to you -

My first carving ... progress photos provided free of charge.

The roughed out piece as I received it

Giving it some shape - at this point I was hand pushing with a 1" chisel - slow progress but it allowed me to feel what the wood wanted to do.

Sipping a few refreshing Maui brewed Toasted Coconut Porter to help bring things into focus ...

Ran into a soft spot that caused some adjustment ...

Nothing that a little lubrication couldn't cure ...

Moving forward with a regained sense of focus ...

And at last - great success ...

After this project I moved on to a 4'+ log of Silver Oak that I procured a few months back, first phase = peeling the bark off ...

then stripping away the inner layers ...

After this step I swept up for the day and started scheming on what I was to do next, but the next day I broke out in a serious rash. Maybe I'm allergic to something in this wood, not sure. This was the only activity that I can think would have exposed me to anything to cause a reaction.
With that in mind, I have left that log as it is for a couple of weeks, not wanting to get that fiery itching inflamed feeling again.
My wife has harped on me to NOT touch this piece again, so I need to drag out another of the bits of wood that I have been gathering for the past year or so.
I will follow up with progress of the next project as it unfolds.

The lot of you here have provided much inspiration and information through the course of sharing your works.
Many Mahalos

Silver oak is poisonous. If you are gonna work with it use a respirator and full long sleeves and gloves. The wood is real pretty but just not worth the rash/respiratory issue for me. I've got a log thats been sitting in my back yard for a while now. The bugs are loving it.

[ Edited by: AlienTiki 2008-08-17 18:23 ]

The drum is really beautiful...hang in there on that rash. :wink:

It's got some bad ju ju going on dude! I say protect yourself, carve primitive (or maybe modern?) simplistic features and let this one rot in the yard. An offering, if you will.

But seriously, the drum is beautiful! It would be nice to see more carving progression shots, that one seemed to go from basic to beautiful in one go, if'n ya know what I mean. A pre-stain/stretched skin shot or two would have been nice.

Cheers!

The drum looks great, now send me some of that beer!

Many Mahalos for the kind words.

• AlienTiki - damn I wish I would have inquired here first before getting into that one. I like your carvings, cannot wait until my next trip over to Maui to get a chance to meet you/see them.
• VampiressRN - the rash has long subsided, thanks for the well wishes. I applied a topical steroid cream that I have for eczema.
  Worked just fine to clear it up.
• Tikiwahine- I'm right inline with you on going simplistic and letting it set in the yard and weather. As for more progress pics, I did try. I am one of those people that loves to take pictures but I am also one of those people that gets caught up in the moment and forgets to pick up the camera for a few snapshots. It was a tremendous effort to get the few that I did take, glad you enjoy them though.
• Blowfish - The beers are very tasty, is it legal to mail?

YES, The Drum turned out AWESOME! Well Done and for your First Carve?? WOW! Too bad about the rash, the log IS prettyy toxic but attacking it with the wire brush Really created Fine dust particles that probably made it Much worse. Carving with Chisels would m,ost likley be Fine, but NO Power sanding!

Mahalo Benzart - praise from a master carver like yourself is worth a lot of pride points for a beginner like me. The only carving that I have done prior to this was vegetable, fruit and ice sculpture when I was taking culinary classes and working in kitchens.
Actually the reason I got into carving now, is that I no longer have the creative outlet that I had while cooking for a living.
I will be putting some chisel work into the Oak log at some point soon, I also just scored a 3 foot tall by 2 foot diameter coco palm base to get busy with.
Will post more pics as time allows, I am experiencing a shortage of that commodity due to 6-7 day work weeks and a baby girl being due in a couple of weeks.