Q & A for beginners.

Hi everyone,
First of all, I would like to say that this forum is really cool. I've enjoyed looking at everyone's carvings. There is some great stuff out there, you've got me totally inspired.

So, I picked up a freshly cut piece of eucalyptus and stated carving it and had a great time even though I've already got my first tiki bite. The stupid box cutter blade snapped... and yes, blood was everywhere... you've been there I'm sure.
So here it is, my first carving, I'm not done yet, it's just a start.

It's 6" tall

Still got some work to do to make that ukulele work out.

Anyway, I have tons of questions and I was wondering if you pros out there would have time to answer them to help beginners like myself that don't know anything about the right tools to use as well as the right wood to pick.
To answer faster you may want to copy and paste the questions in your answer.

The Wood:
• What is the best wood to use?
• What is the easiest wood to carve?
• What is the worst wood to use?
• How long should the wood dry?
• What is your personal favorite kind of wood?

The Tools:
• What are the essentials tools needed for small carvings?
• What are the essentials tools needed for large carvings?
• Is there any other stuff I need?
• Where can I find some decent tools at reasonable prices?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer any of these questions.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-06-12 00:16 ]

Damn Nice Carving!

Damn Good Questions!

On 2004-06-11 23:37, Tahitiki wrote:
• Is there any other stuff I need?
Tahitiki

bandaids :o

but seriously folks... nice carving! you did all that with an exacto?

The Wood:
• What is the best wood to use? Palm
• What is the easiest wood to carve? Palm
• What is the worst wood to use? Eucaliptus
• How long should the wood dry? don't wait, cracks are good!
• What is your personal favorite kind of wood? Palm

The Tools:
• What are the essentials tools needed for small carvings? dremmel with flex shaft
• What are the essentials tools needed for large carvings? Chainsaw: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=2956 , angle grinder : http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=03150 , sander, propane torch
• Is there any other stuff I need? stain, and/or clear coat
• Where can I find some decent tools at reasonable prices? Home Depot, or http://www.harborfreight.com

TikiTony really answered it all easily and quickly.You are asking us what it took us Years to learn and it will still take you that long to learn it on your own. These answers will help but you will still have to go thru the learning process.
Your first carving looks very good The wood you have chosen will bite you either by being too hard to carve or ,if it is soft, by drying out and splitting down the middle into several pieces. Nasty Wood .Pay heed to TikiTony.Keep up the good work, get some palm and let the chips fly and Most importand Keep the pictures coming.

I just had a nice palm trunk disintegrate before my eyes as I ripped a chainsaw through it! Darn wood rot! Toss it aside.....NEXT! I have a friend who is going to give me about 6 four foot queen palm trunks.......drool! Can't wait!

Eucalyptus is not the best as i have found out personaly, but that was all i could find and makes for good practice. One of my neighbors who works for the gas & electric Co. just got me some untreated Telephone poles (Cedar) looking forward to trying them out.

Home Depot....set of 6 Stanley chisels and a Mallet maybe 40 bucks. Should help with the razorblade cuts.

Andy

Queen palms may turn to Mush before they dry out so careful. Untreated Telephone poles? I don't think they make them so be careful.
Other than all that good news, Get back to work

Yep untreated. Just went and got one with him. 6 foot tall and 20 inches thick. He says they come in every once and a while and they can not use them, for obvious reasons, he was also telling me they don't use Creasode(sp) anymore, can't remember the name of the new stuff but supossedly it kills bugs and rats but not humans? (not buying that theory)

Andy

Thank you all for the encouragement, and yes it's been carved with an exacto, a small one.

Thanks Tikitony for your advice, I'll definitely look for some palm, I also went to the http://www.harborfreight.com website and did a little shopping. I’ll soon be all geared up, great place, and the prices are right.
So, you do all your carving with a chainsaw and an angle grinder… impressive, I like your stuff a lot, especially the tall ones.

Suburbanpagan and Benzart, I find a piece of palm today, and same thing, it was more like a piece of rubber than a piece of wood, It didn’t look rotten, just super soft. Does it get more like wood when it dries?

Tikimecula, I’m really interested to know how the telephone pole worked out.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-06-13 00:33 ]

I'd say Tikitony hit the nail on the head for the equipment you need.

The only thing I would add is a good quality dust mask (when grinding palm that dust smells nasty - I can only imagine what it's doing to my lungs) and some eye protection. When Ben says "let the chips fly" he ain't kidding. :)

As far as cheap tools...well I wish I had ventured into harbour freight before I bought some of my tools...but anyway...for chisels and other hand tools you can try swap meets and yard sales, then all you need to do is sharpen them.

Exacto knife?...Damn that's pretty good. Probably took a while too. Keep us updated with the progress!

Nice work. If this is only your first carving, I can't wait to see what will come in the future. The ukelele is a nice touch.

-vw

I have played around with a few pieces with a dremel and flex shaft (just to get a feel for the medium) and I am having an issue with the shaft heating-up. I thought it might be a lubrication issue, but that didn't help, and it is not just a speed question.

Have others run into this? Gloves the only answer? :wink:

dremel and flex shaft (just to get a feel for the medium) and I am having an issue with the shaft heating-up

I've actually given up on the flex shaft. I tend to kink the cord when I use it. So I just stick with the regular dremel. As far as heat goes...gloves sound good.

Heat in the Flexshaft can be caused by OVER Lubrication (like when I get over lubricated, I get Heat from the wahine..).
Remove the sheath and the shaft. Wipe it all down to get the goo out and off. Apply a Thin Film only of grease and that should be all you need.
My old Fordham motor heats up which is probably inner bearings. Anybody got a good used one for sale or trade?
TahiTiki, Don't give up on the Palms. There are only Hundreds of varieties and Many are not carvable. Some are Great for carving.
Look for Washingtonion, Coconut. Bottle, Sable or Cabbage Palms to name a few. The giant Royals are mush inside as are others.
Good luck

[ Edited by: Benzart on 2004-06-20 12:29 ]

Just thought I'll put some upgrades of my first carving. Does anybody has an idea for the finish? I kinda like the white wood but dark brown could be cool too.

the finish stage

a little family picture.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-06-29 21:00 ]

wow, that hunk of wood came along nicely! did you get more tools.. still cant believe you got so much done with an exacto!

did you like the eucalyptus? i have a friend who's relandscaping, and will be taking down a bunch of trees. i told him to wait for me to talk to TC to see if anyone wants wood..

elicia

wow looks great. i can't beleive you did that with an exacto, impressive. i look forward to seeing more of your carving in the future

Thanks for the encouragement, I actually end up buying some tools and finished the belly and legs with them.
Eucalyptus is not that great for carving. The only good thing about it is that is so hard it makes you slow down and there no risk you're going to take out a piece of wood by mistake. So it's probably a good beginner wood.
I found a bunch of logs around my apartment. I found some palm, only it’s not cut yet, but will be soon. Some guy just cut the top of all the palm tree in his garden and left the trunks in the dirt, weird but cool, I’m going to ask him to do the final removal. I’ll be posting some picts to find out if it’s a good carving kinda palms.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-06-30 20:12 ]

Cool informative thread! Gracias!
Tahitiki, what happened with those palms from your neighbor?

what if you don't have access to palm whats the next best? what is the most durable for garden use?

I tryed carving with a dremel but I get so much kickback that I totaly can't control it and ruin things. are chisels a better way to go?
what about small pieces as compared to large?
There is no way I could manage a chainsaw at all, a friend suggested I try a rotozip, but you get a lot of kickback with them too and I find it difficult to control. I'm afraid of realy hurting myself. An exacto knife?? out of the question!

my stuff just looks awful, doesnt even look like tikis just mangled up pieces of wood lol
I could realy use some advice

Hi Bau - I had a lot of problems with kickback on the dremel as well. I much prefer chisels and knives, although they are a lot slower. I use the knives for my smaller stuff, occasionally I'll work on something bigger, in which case I use my chisels and a mallet. For small stuff, basswood is a great wood to use, you can buy it from various places.

thanks for the info!
I'm not sure the wood type i've been experimenting on. I just picked some somewhat soft aged wood from my wood pile to fool with. Its cherry I believe.

the dremel does great on fine hard work, stone, bone , metal coconut shell, whch is mainly all the carving I've done -pendants and such.

I tryed the chisels and like them very much. :) they are rather hard on me physicaly though (disability)but you can remove a lot more material quicker on these big pieces. Only how do you get a smooth curve?

I've got a book on wood carving but its not very helpful. It has very little on carving techniques, and mostly shows designs for animals to carve with a knife.
Any good recomendations on books websites or (preferably) videos? I looked on youtube and didn't find instruction only timelapse displays of people carving tikis with chainsaws, and i am the last person who should be wielding one of those lol

Hey Bau, try hitting the hobbie store, Go to the area where they sell model airplane supplies. They have all kinds of crazy super soft wood, It might work like a champ for you!No chainsaw needed. Good luck,lets see some pictures.