Tiki!

[jaredsalzano]

Hello this is my first post here so I'm not sure if general is the most appropriate place to post carvings.

I am still at the beginner level I suppose, and have not much knowledge about carving - knowing zero carvers. Maybe this place will help me out.

Anyway, I realized that I have not yet carved a Tiki. "What is the meaning of this!?" I thought, and so I downloaded a grateful dead show recording and got to work.

This took about three hours. It is from a maple log. I barely used my knife-all gouges and whatnot.






What do you think(honesty)? Also, I've never finished wood before, and I wonder how you guys would think about it. Tikis might look better darker.

Whether its quality work or not, I think its a funny character, and it will be nice having this guy around from now on.

[AlArchie]

OK, Jarod, you asked for it. Your carving is kind of crude looking, but not at all bad for a beginner. A good choice of subject material and fairly well laid out as far as design goes.

As far as suggestions go, it may be that your gouges were not really sharp as there are a lot of rough cuts.

Keep this guy, both because he is pretty cool looking and then to look back on down the line and see how much you have improved.

Keep at it and you will see much improvement in relatively short periods of time.

And thanks for having the guts to ask for honest opinions.

Al

[Dylan]

Jared, maple can be a difficult wood to work with, know of experienced carvers that won't touch it. To me, your carving looks fuzzy, torn wood fibers are an indication that tools are not sharp enough. I suggest that you sand (with sandpaper) the carving before putting a finish on it. This should not only take care of the fuzzies, but will also remove the gray dirty wood where you hands have been rubbing on it. This gray dirty look is normal for any caving that you work with in your hands for a extended period of time, least ways it is for me.

I hope that this helps.
Dylan

[jaredsalzano]

I see, Ill have to keep this in mind, because a lot of my carvings look like this. Thanks for pointing this out.
Could I get some advice for sharpening? I dont have a grinding wheel but i do have plenty of stones/files. I have tried before to sharpen old flat chisels that are dull, but to no avail. Is there a secret or does it just take forever?! Also, i heard that keeping a flat bevel on the knife(i use a pocket knife and it works good for me)is important, and that one should avoid a rounded blade. How important is this and how can it be accomplished if I am using stones? My knife is always sharp, but I never really got a blade to shaving-sharp.

Also, what are crooked knives for? Not the spoon knives but the ones with the crooked handle and you hold it palm up and it has the small blade of a whittling knife.

Thanks

[Dileon]

One# watch experienced carvers on DYI and You Tube. You will learn tons by just watching someone. Your tiki is good ....one thing do not be afraid to draw things on you tiki. You got one eye big and one eye small,....that may be what you wanted? But if you draw lines and draw the eyes on the wood, you can make them equal, and you either carve off the lines or sand them. I think the best way for me to learn how to sharpen was the scary sharp method, there is videos on You Tube to show you how to do this. I invested tons of money into sharpening methods, scary sharp is with sand paper and that is cheap. Finishing... there seems to be thousands of ways, as each of us have our own ways to do it, and be willing to try things out, make mistakes.....with finishes. You will learn tons that way. I sand, I oil, then I may or may stain, or I may paint it, then I seal it off with Deft matte lacquer. But you will find each kind of wood has it own special way to finish it. There is also a thread on this board about painting and finishes and you can read hundreds of ways to do it.

Most tiki are believed to be live spirits that would scare away evil things as much the same as the duo lions at the entrance of buildings.....sort of guardians. Each tiki has an old myth or story

[jaredsalzano]

Thanks for the input. I really have a lot of learning to do aobut finish/stain/lacquer/sealer-all of these things i dont know the difference!!

And I did not know that about tikis. Very interesting,

[Whittled Thumb]

Cool Tiki but you might want to try to make your cuts deeper to bring out more detail. Other than that its good!

[CV3]

You have made a good beginning. It looks like your per portions are good. I not sure where you live but if there are any carving groups or clubs near you I would encourage you to go to some of there meetings every group I have ever been around is always glad to help new carvers. If you not near a group, there are some good DVDs out there. You can put in almost any thing you want to know about add you tube and see a video. Try “carving tikis you tube.”

[scooter]

Jared,

The most important factor, that has yet to be addressed, is:

Which show was it???

S~

[jaredsalzano]

Thanks and unfortunately I dont live near any carving groups .

And scooter,

What???