CarvingTiki's?

Ive been interested in Tiki's for years but recently I visited " The Tiki Room" at the Venitian in Vegas. What an amazing place! I really want to learn how to make Tiki's. I come from an artistic background so I think it wouldn't take me long to catch on. So I have a few questions for everyone.

1)What kind of tools/wood do you need to use?

2)Is their any books or articles explaining step by step in carving tiki's?

I would greatly appriciate any help.
thank you
-johndoe

if i were you i would look in the carving post as there is wealth of knowledge in the there. i started about 2 months ago and it has help so much. just start from the begining and read the posts.

Use the search feature and type in chisels, or carving tools and you will find more posts dealing with the subject. the search feature will be very helpful while on Tiki Central so learn to use it well. You can always ask questions to specific carvers or carvers in general and they will ussually have the answer.

I don't know about books on the suject other then just a wood carving books and i'm sure a major book store will have those.

the best way to learn is to make mistakes and figure out why it went bad. in other words the hardest think about carving is starting, so just jump in and chisel or chainsaw away.

I agree, best way to learn is to teach yourself. Start carving and keep at it, also get yourself in front of an old carved tiki and study it. Try to picture how the chisels made the cuts. Good luck.

JD~
Welcome to Tiki Central!

I'm no carver, but like Octane & Chiki said: "just start carving!"

This is how you will find your own style. Feel free to post pictures of your progress. If not, then any of the carvers here, Chiki, Gecko, Basement Kahuna, Crazy Al (just to name a few), will be happy to give you pointers and valuable advice privately if you wish to send them pictures of what you are doing. There is no competition amongst carvers here, so don't be afraid to ask any and all questions of them.

Everyone here at TC would love to see any carvings you wish to share in the future!

Good to have you...you'll never regret learning to carve...it's a very satisfying and rewarding skill, and mostly a learned skill as Chiki, Sugarcaddy, and Octane said, so anybody can learn to do it with some degree of patience, grit, reverse-engineering saavy, and elbow grease. I would say, too, to check out the carving post. It's grown into a monster reference, and it's a lot of fun and inspiring to see what other people are up to.

thanks alot guys!...
Is there a specific name for burning the wood? and what kind of chainsaw do you use?
-johndoe

It's like this about the chainsaw..... Last summer This guy is going on and on about how he uses this badass saw and how it's so good, yada, yada, yada.. Hes naming all these OG saws and asking me what kind I use. TMALSS, I tell him I use the cheapest mickey mouse saw that there is(remmington tree and limb) that costs me about $40 . It's not the tool, but the hand that guides it. My only tip is use a loggers pro grade type chain.

On 2003-08-19 22:37, thechikitiki wrote:
It's like this about the chainsaw..... Last summer This guy is going on and on about how he uses this badass saw and how it's so good, yada, yada, yada.. Hes naming all these OG saws and asking me what kind I use. TMALSS, I tell him I use the cheapest mickey mouse saw that there is(remmington tree and limb) that costs me about $40 . It's not the tool, but the hand that guides it. My only tip is use a loggers pro grade type chain.

And the proof is in the pudding, Chiki...your stuff is about ten times better than his and original...If we're talking about the Wayne Coombs clone guy? John Doe-I'd try both power carving and chisels and see which or how much of each you like.

some cases like me you'll have to use power along with chizzlez, if you like to take big chunks of wood off da tiki. For example, my drum style base tikis.