Cord for Makau Carving

Aloha kakou. I'm a new member and hopeful that someone out there has the knowledge I need and is willing to share. My wife gave me a Cabanilla Makau for my birthday. It's a beautiful piece I wear every day and it, along with an Internet video from Louie the Fish, inspired me to give bone hook carving a try. I'm still working on getting one I'm happy with, but it's only a hobby for me so I can live with a lot of mistakes that the pros couldn't. I'd like to try to lash one of the hooks but I can't figure out what the best material for a cord is. For those of you that make Makau, do you braid your own cord or is there a generally available source for cords that are ready to go? If you braid your own, what material do you find best to use? Also, I've studied the lashing technique in the Louie the Fish video but if there are any other sources for learning proper lashing techniques out there I'd greatly appreciate hearing about them too. Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to being part of this community.

Welcome to TC, AZ, Glad to have 'ya here! There are Lots of tips on bone carving scattered throughout the Tiki Carving pages. The direct answer to your question is you will need to learn how to braid your own cords as there are non available that I know of. I use Artificial sinew form eBay. Just search and you'll find several suppliers and it is fairly Cheap too!.
HERE is the 'Bone Carving" thread with lots of info including the info about the Bone carving book.
HERE is another thread about carving, this one the Stone carving thread which has excellent info for bone too.
Hope this helps get you going. Once you start looking around you'll find Lots of stuff about bone carving, as there are quite a few of us having fun with it.
:P :D :P :lol: :)

Welcome to this great forum Paniolo. Last week i needed some ideas and advice on cords to hang my pendants from. I went to a local beads dealer who was happy to tell me all about the strings they had on stock and what could be done with them. So if there is something similar in your area i would pay them a visit. Hope this helps.
Mahalo,
Grapa-Ruha

Aloha AZ!

The best cordage material Ive come across is a 'braided polyester', produced for stitching shoes; it plaits well & enables all knots to be sealed/melted once tied off. A couple of good brands are 'Weaverbird' and 'Barbour', both Chinese made I think and available in lots of different colours.

Hope this helps.

Mucho mahalo to all of you for your replies. They were all absolutely helpful and I'm going to try everything that was suggested to see which might work best for me, or maybe I'll use them all. The link to the bone carving thread was, to use an expression my teenage daughters would use, awesome. I learned so much in a short time and found information I'm not sure I would have ever been able to dig up without your assistance. I've found resources for all the materials suggested on eBay at very reasonable prices. I actually accomplished my first chevron lashing last night. It wasn't much to look at but I'm proud of just being able to do it! I know it will get better with time. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

I'm so glad you were able to get started! Now you can teach the rest of us. :)

Thanks for pointing out that Louie the Fish video - I hadn't seen it, and it was incredible!!!
This link should work for others that are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TflQao9Qepk

AZp, welcome! I too am figuring all this stuff out, glad to see another. But, whatever you do, post some pictures!!!
Sometimes you have to spend more time than you want to, to do searches of previous posts...believe me, there are MANY. All kinds of awesome info hides in these pages.
But remember, post some of your progresses!

Well I Finally figured out oow to do the 4 strand braid, thanks to Robin McKay giving me printed instructions on how to add the 4th strand to the simple 3 strand braid. After a few it was Easy so I'll try to make a video and do it live on Justin tv sometime in the near future(for me could be a year :) )

I'll post a few pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that, and as soon as I get a hook done that is decent enough to want to take a picture of! I keep figuring out what I'm doing wrong here and there as I go along. I have Louie the Fish's video seared into my brain. The youtube version of Louie's bone carving video is the Cliff Notes version. If you want to see the entire epic, in which he also covers lashing, go to:
http://kettlebottom.com/videos/web-only/bone-carving-ancient-hawaiian-fish-hook-replica/224.

Please post any tips regarding braiding, materials, etc. Regardless of what my hooks actually look like, this is the most fun I've had in a long time!

Aloha Paniolo,
Thanks for the video links, being a rookie myself i can use some pointers on making cords.
The only tip i have for you is to post pics of all your work. I'm sure it will generate some great tips and advice on what tools to use and how to work on your art by the experts, masters and wizards who carve the stuff that blows your mind.
And most of all keep having fun and keep carving.
Greetz,
Grapa-RuHa

On 2008-11-10 18:23, Benzart wrote:
Well I Finally figured out oow to do the 4 strand braid, thanks to Robin McKay giving me printed instructions on how to add the 4th strand to the simple 3 strand braid. After a few it was Easy so I'll try to make a video and do it live on Justin tv sometime in the near future(for me could be a year :) )

I am so glad you got it sussed Benz!!!

Welcome to the board Paniolo. And like has been said - do post your work, the worst that will happen is you will get constructive feedback on how to improve - and some of these guys truely are masters of their craft!

Looking forward to progress shots!
KS

Here's a picture of a hook I finished last night. This is actually a good practice because I'm noticing things in the picture that I didn't notice just looking at the hook, like the symmetry of the barbs. I'm working on correcting that but the only tools I have to use at the moment are a Dremel, a couple of files and lots of sandpaper! This is probably hook number 12 or 13 now. Please feel free to critique, suggest and advise.

I'm a little late to this thread but looks like it's in good hands. I actually took some footage of Tama doing the 4-ply braid a looong time ago, but I haven't even done one myself yet! I will edit it when I get time (finally started working out how to process video yesterday) and post it up somewhere if Tama's not too embarrassed by it....

Yes, yes, YES PLEASE bring it on!

Hey guys,

I'm a newbie also. I've been talking to Paniolo on another forum called The Carving Path. Looking all over the place for that Louie the Fish video but it has been taken down. All this info is great. I did a lanyard lashing on the last hook I made(the one on the right in my pic) which looks ok. I reall y want to start doing the real lashings though. Any tips of info is always welcome! Regards, Damien

Hi all,

well im also a newbie :) Ive only made 2 hooks so far.
they both turned out well I think.

im still lost when it comes to plaiting and lashing but im sure eventually ill figure it out

just a pic of my latest.