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NEW SEPIK done and hanging out in france!! PG-10 |
Creative Chimp
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jul 31, 2008
Posts: 278
From: Lost continent of west Florida-Parrish
|  Posted: 2009-04-08 5:14 pm Permalink
hello everybody....I've been lerking and learning from all of you over the past 6-7 months. buying tools, reading your post, gathering reference books on oceanic art and collecting wood to cure. aloha station said it best on a question i had a while back "research is just an excuse to not get started" and its damn true. I have to send a thanks out to two other members out in my neck of the woods (florida). GMAN and savage daddy. GMAN turned me on to a cypress log supplier up in st pete. i have 2 awsome 8 foot / 12" diameter logs awaiting my saw. and a big thanks to savage daddy for his local support and great source for cheap tools. with all this aside you might expect to see a master piece......NOT EVEN CLOSE! infact....this log will end up in my redneck fire pitt out back.
I wanted to contribute after all this time absorbing knowledge from you experience folks. well there is no better teacher than experience.....i was just practicing my tools on not such a great piece of sabel palm and thought ....hey not too bad until i started cutting into the other side and WHAMO!!!
A lovely chunk of dry rot an inch thick or more right in the middle of the face. Not too much to do but start on a better piece of wood. I am so far not a fan of cabbage palm. starting cypress next. let me know your thoughts and thanks to all of you out there in tiki land!
[ This Message was edited by: Creative Chimp 2011-11-13 09:22 ]
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thegreenman
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Aug 30, 2006
Posts: 73
From: 10.8 miles west of the Mai Kai
| Posted: 2009-04-08 6:17 pm Permalink
Nice first carve. Maybe you can weather it pretty hard and lay that one on its side as a "fallen idol" or "ruin" accent in the landscape. Let some jungle plants grow over and around it.
[ This Message was edited by: thegreenman 2009-04-08 18:18 ]
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GMAN
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 14, 2005
Posts: 2994
From: My Island
| Posted: 2009-04-08 6:29 pm Permalink
Hey Chimp! Glad you found some wood. I'm not too far away from you, maybe we can get together one day. Keep chipping, thinking, and learning. Nice to see you on the boards. Stay around.....
-G
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Tahitiki
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jun 11, 2004
Posts: 324
From: San Jose
| Posted: 2009-04-08 10:21 pm Permalink
looking good!
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seeksurf
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2007
Posts: 2144
From: Buckley, WA
| Posted: 2009-04-08 10:26 pm Permalink
Glad you jumped in. That's to bad about the rot.
Man you where off to a great start. I think you
are going to be a natural.
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Grom Tiki Carver
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big daddy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 02, 2008
Posts: 325
From: houston
| Posted: 2009-04-08 11:28 pm Permalink
let the wood speak to you and tell you where to carve. sometimes it make take awhile but you'll be able to see what needs to be done. very nice carve.
bd
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BUFFBAD
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Aug 11, 2007
Posts: 54
From: Boca Raton, FLA
| Posted: 2009-04-09 03:26 am Permalink
Leave it go natural or lots of wood putty can work wonders if your are going to stain/poly it. Great first Tiki. BUFF
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2009-04-09 04:22 am Permalink
Yes, it was an Excellent first carve Creative Chimp, you have watched and learned well. Part of the carving experience you will learn will be to judge the log you are about to carve and make sure it can be utilized for the full intent of the carving. Or, you will survey a log and determine just what CAN be used to your best ability.
Don't burn your first piece, just cut the log in half and burn the bad part. Make a side view mask and hang it on a wall andenjoy it for years to come. Later down the road you will gain inspiration from that carve and you can Always be Proud of it.
Well (half)done and Thanks for finally acting and posting. WELCOME to TC!
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drasticwagon
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 27, 2008
Posts: 263
From: DFW , Texas
| Posted: 2009-04-09 05:13 am Permalink
Nice Job Man , Keep it up.
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Savage Daddy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 164
From: Sarasota, Fl.
| Posted: 2009-04-09 06:28 am Permalink
That really is a great first carve! I like the design of the face. Don't be afraid to carve deeper. I like thegreenman's idea for this tiki better than your fire pit idea. Let's hope the next one doesn't take as long to start as the first did!  I can't wait to see your next one.
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www.savagedaddy.webs.com
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Creative Chimp
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jul 31, 2008
Posts: 278
From: Lost continent of west Florida-Parrish
| Posted: 2009-04-09 07:39 am Permalink
thanks everbody and to your reply savage daddy.....i'll try not to let the next one take so long. but being a family man, as you know....dad is always last on the list. I feel like a criminal trying to sneak off out to the garage without anybody seeing me. this weekend an 8 foot cypress is getting cut in half and removed from the trailer.......i'm going to pop a couple motrin before that project goes down.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2016
From: So FL
| Posted: 2009-04-09 07:43 am Permalink
Nice carves. Don't give up on the log just because you hit a bad spot. Part of the charm of tikis is that they are not perfect and can look weathered. Keep going you may end up loving it by the end. Cabbage Palm are notorious for being inconsistant. Carve deeper. It looks like you are still carving in the bark, you may find the dryrot is only on top and the wood underneath a bit better. Keep posting progress!
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TikiMango
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 798
From: Satellite Beach, FL
| Posted: 2009-04-09 07:45 am Permalink
Off to a great start, welcome to TC. I agree with the others, save your first, it will provide years of good conversation with your creative side. If the rot isn't that extensive I'd be thinking about modifying the design to remove it and change the face a tad, but that's me. A wall mask would be awesome too.
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laojia
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 04, 2009
Posts: 920
From: Metz Lorraine France
| Posted: 2009-04-09 11:26 pm Permalink
there is always a side that is better than another, especially at the beginning! your first is already well, continues to learn. Welcome to TC
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Creative Chimp
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jul 31, 2008
Posts: 278
From: Lost continent of west Florida-Parrish
| Posted: 2009-04-11 6:41 pm Permalink
well i took a couple Motrin and started in on my 2 cypress logs (8' x 1' diameter). I was told by a nice lady at axley brothers mill in st pete FL to wet the bark down and it will peel right off. it did help but the great tool to use for me was a 100 year old draw knife i bought off ebay for $15. came off like butter. i was going to cut these in half but now i think i'm going to carve the entire 8 feet. hope to have design drawn in by this weekend and start cutting. One very thrilling and painfull lesson i have learned with debarking a cypress are lovely rose bush thorns growing under the bark. didn't know they were their until it was too late and a bloody rag later. its weird though......only one log had them and the other was clean. GMAN...you come across thorns on cypress? Maybe i have a rare mutant.
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