Standup Zone Forum
General => Random => Topic started by: stoneaxe on April 18, 2016, 04:49:09 PM
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I had to take down a birch tree on the corner of my driveway last fall. I cut it high with the idea of carving a tiki out of it. I figure now is as good a time as any since I can't do much else at the moment. It will be about 5' tall when done. Going to be something like this I think. Never done one before but they look pretty easy. If it ends up looking stupid there I'll move it into the backyard.
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You should post that pic here:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/
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That pic isn't mine....just grabbed off the web.
Cool website.....going to look for some additional inspiration....already has me deciding to up my game. I also have a few big cedar logs around that I've been waiting to do something with...maybe some Tiki fence posts.....I need to rebuild the fence around my Asian inspired garden....maybe make it into a Polynesian inspired garden.
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stoneaxe--you're on your way to living my dream. I've always wanted to carve tikis for a tiki grove roof terrace or garden, with colored flood lights, and maybe a reflecting pond and torches.
When I was growing up, I met Paul Luvera, who was an Italian grocer in Anacortes, WA who decided to learn how to carve totem poles:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901109&slug=1103265 (http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901109&slug=1103265)
He wrote a book that's still available:
http://www.amazon.com/Carve-Totem-Poles-Paul-Luvera/dp/B002DSXD5G (http://www.amazon.com/Carve-Totem-Poles-Paul-Luvera/dp/B002DSXD5G)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41dUFk0iK1L.jpg)
He carved them and his wife, Mary, painted them, in between baking sugar cookies. We had several at home when I was growing up (the totem poles and the sugar cookies). Their son became a famous trial lawyer.
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You might want to look into this also: http://www.tikimagazine.com https://www.facebook.com/TikiMagazine
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the musee quai branly in paris, which has a fantastic oceanic art collection, had an exhibition on the american tiki fad - interesting to see the comparison between real oceanic carvings and those from a motel bar !
http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/exhibitions-and-events/at-the-museum/exhibitions/event-details/e/tiki-pop-35369/
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I did this one about 4 yrs ago with a hammer, chisel and torch. It took forever to finish. Make sure you treat it with something so it doesn't rot.
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Wow, talk about your idol hands...
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if you want to do wood carving i would really recommend trying the arbortech tools i have a industrial wood carver, i use it to carve huge wood bowls and its a monster and the carbide bits last for ever.
http://www.arbortechusa.com/view/woodworking/
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I like to do most of my carving with hand tools but I've only done smaller stuff. I've thought about getting the arbortech or similar off and on but have never pulled the trigger. This might be a good time to do it.
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I like to do most of my carving with hand tools...
What are the odds, with a name like stoneaxe?
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In the spirit of the unwritten man rule that every new project requires a new tool....I bought the industrial wood carver..... ;D. I'll rough it out with that and finish with chisels and rasps. Will definitely go much faster.
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The totem poles have been on my "to do later when I'm retired" list. I've actually got three small blocks of koa wood plus hand chisels that I've had since living in Hawaii. The links supplied here are now saved as well, great stuff.
Looking forward to seeing yours take shape.
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In the spirit of the unwritten man rule that every new project requires a new tool....I bought the industrial wood carver..... ;D. I'll rough it out with that and finish with chisels and rasps. Will definitely go much faster.
You won't be disappointed! Just watch the fingers! The other ones to look at are saburr tooth bits, I have only used them on eps on the cnc but they are designed for wood.
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Have any of you ever been to this event here in San Diego? It's now the largest and most popular tiki event in the world. Definitely epitomizes the tiki/mid century sub culture. Held every August. Some of the best tiki carvers display their work at this. http://www.tikioasis.com.
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Most carvers in our area us chain saws with different 12' bars i.e. dime bar, quarter bar. They carve various
figures out of redwood like bears, trees, salmon and things that identify our area. Its called chain saw art.
I do have an 8 ft totem that I got from my friend Rhyn when he moved to Hawaii. He is back now and instead of
getting his totem back, I gave him a bunch of redwood logs to carve more. My totem greets you
as you walk into my office. I will try to post a picture later.
So Stoney, in the spirit of the unwritten man rule, do you have a small chain saw with a dime bar? Its definitely
a manly tool. Very useful also, like take it when I go 4 wheeling, falling small trees, or cutting firewood. Just don't
let the children play with it.
A trip to the pacific north west has lots of totems on display. My last trip to Washington inspired Rhyn to make a
raven totem. Can't wait to see it finished.
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I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws... :P
I have a large mix of handtools, some my dads and grandfathers, and before my father-in-law passed away he told me to go through all his tools and take what I wanted. He had everything from luthiers tools to two handed tree saws and everything in between...90+ years of hoarding tools and much of what he had had been given/left to him. Many are from the late 1800's. Pretty cool to think of the hands that have used them before me.
Pre-SUP I was a hobby woodworker and while I appreciate good power tools I love shaping wood by hand. I was also into landscaping/gardening and mixing the two hobbies was my favorite. One of the biggest reasons why I'm looking forward to retirement is to have the time to get back into both.
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These work really well, that's a 4" chain wheel, but they can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. :o
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I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws... :P
I'm sure there's a story behind that, but not necessarily one anyone would want to hear.
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It's a combination of almost chewing up my leg once...just a few small scars.... and small gas motors hating me.... :o
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Totem greets you. Come on in.
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I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws... :P
I have a large mix of handtools, some my dads and grandfathers, and before my father-in-law passed away he told me to go through all his tools and take what I wanted. He had everything from luthiers tools to two handed tree saws and everything in between...90+ years of hoarding tools and much of what he had had been given/left to him. Many are from the late 1800's. Pretty cool to think of the hands that have used them before me.
Pre-SUP I was a hobby woodworker and while I appreciate good power tools I love shaping wood by hand. I was also into landscaping/gardening and mixing the two hobbies was my favorite. One of the biggest reasons why I'm looking forward to retirement is to have the time to get back into both.
i used to do my bowls with a chain saw but the industrial carver works so much better and faster and you don't have to sharpen the blade or keep refuelling and filling it up with oil. It probably cut my ruffing out of the bowls more than in half.
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Cool Tiki
Very nice bowl. I have another birch tree in my yard with a massive burl about 30" across.....almost makes me want to cut it down.
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DOH!....got the woodcarver today and realized it's a 4 1/2". I have a 9" grinder....so I ordered a 4 1/2 from Harbor Freight.... :)
I was walking around my yard today looking at all the work that needs doing....yikes.....entropy on display. I may get my wish on that birch burl. I noticed many of the branches aren't budding and looked closely at the tree....a whole bunch of borer holes in the trunk. Not sure what but these birches aren't long lived and I transplanted these 30 years ago....looks like this one may be at its end.
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Thanks for the tip on Woodcarver Charlie....awesome tool...I'm going to get a lot of use out of it. I spent a few hours today playing with it. An hour of practice on a couple of stumps, one of which I've wanted to turn into a table....started on that as practice. Then I spent a couple hours roughing out the tiki. Amazed how quickly it removes material but still allows for some fairly fine control. I can actually use it one handed much of the time. I figure another two hours of rough work, 3-4 of hand carving and sanding and another for stain and varnish.
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Impressive!
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very nice its easy to get carried away once the wood chips start flying!
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It's a combination of almost chewing up my leg once...just a few small scars.... and small gas motors hating me.... :o
Must be a family thing. I have a big scar on my leg from a chainsaw. One of those deals where you can see the muscle moving inside before they stitched it up. Don't clear brush with a four foot chainsaw. Oh, everybody already knew that? Never mind...
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With my skills, "Tiki holding paddle while paddle blade rests on feet" would turn out more like.. "Tiki caught jerking his shaft while balls sag to the ground"
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Coming along nicely Bob !
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Nice work stoney.... I like that better than most!
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Pretty cool tiki. The biggest challenge in art is knowing when to stop. You might want to quit right there for a while and decide if you've let enough of that Tiki out of your stump.
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I was thinking the same thing today. I brought out the handtools. I did a little more with the woodcarver and then deepened and added relief in some spots and smoothed and blended others. Just about done except for sanding. The wood down low is a bit of a pain, still wet and stringy.
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Nice work!
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That’s the type of art I can appreciate. Nice job!
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Finished today with my helper.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kg_bBZkAmFPwbhexJIqcyH-in5HP5_MHaL96UsXs81Ql6Cj5IkrXnp-kZuPcBl_7x60e5GLi9fd-VSGJZDSfhZdFjqCikofNBm3TXLv7c3OfS1tJ9WKrU99qB1p645Jjg8PciA1_89qsa84SxpTx6BREf8e5yk38ksO9ivZjhfPW3hMDOV1U0FVNWeB6V2XeNmw8-gStrufV-zmX5MtLJmnZbVQ8TlNgO2rEVLYmwFkWcoOVg1z-tNVETqHkvNrrSesuDeA_IlcjuoWkKqDhrgHdP8sqyltqvDLK8ko8Dl2c2hX2-uSoYqpIzkoZO1au_4n43bN9cHF6bcrER7K8FrtHBDXTXbfE1r_fqCTbVwj48b4hvrq7Kh7X8Byih6LW7UlYz2Ilj_L0KB6M2xlx4FJRaWqhfmyWz-E00kBfebNDiHXgERRDbQk7pTflgfThla8VZcyTQ-h0iz9KM-CkRhU3acEhQcQj7wAnqRjOIQlfv5_VNvafSvkrjpayvGnFKR1DcFhcgpG8buJ9k386hgrVX6ol8WCqbCmP0QmuFmpGL5lPbTpjZmFPsf5PMlaXWOVLJQ17k0Flu7xTSQHYQaqd1Ksrj3s=w392-h696-no)
I may burnish the high spots with a polishing pad. I'd like to lighten them slightly before I do a coat of oil to seal it.
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OK....this is finish finished.... ::) Thought it was a bit too dark, sanded, stained with a light cherry stain, spar varnish wiped on.
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Looks good
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Super cool. The Samoan in you is finally showing itself....
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The coloration is perfect... nice project and so well done.
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Whoa.....Super cool!!!!! Great work!
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He definitely looks Samoan. Cool Tiki. Almost looks like it grew there.