Carving a Tiki

[1tuberider]

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.

[stoneaxe]

I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws...

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.

[Weasels wake]

These work really well, that's a 4" chain wheel, but they can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. 

[pdxmike]

I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws...

I'm sure there's a story behind that, but not necessarily one anyone would want to hear.

[stoneaxe]

It's a combination of almost chewing up my leg once...just a few small scars.... and small gas motors hating me....

[1tuberider]

Totem greets you. Come on in.

[supuk]

I thought about getting a chainsaw with a small bar but I have a love/hate relationship with chainsaws...

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.

[stoneaxe]

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.

[stoneaxe]

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.

[stoneaxe]

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.

[spookini]

Impressive!

[supuk]

very nice its easy to get carried away once the wood chips start flying!

[PonoBill]

It's a combination of almost chewing up my leg once...just a few small scars.... and small gas motors hating me....

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...

[spookini]

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"

[PDLSFR]

Coming along nicely Bob !