Chisel Carved Tiki Idol

After getting a nice new set of chisels i thought i should try them out. What could i possibly make on a cold winter's evening? Something warming. Woody obviously, but with a hint of danger...

Yeah, that'll do nicely! Thanks Presidents!

Step 1:

First I started doing a bit of research on what Tiki Idols actually look like. To Google! (other internet search engines are available, but a bit of a waste of time). This quickly led me to this fascinating wikipedia article on tiki culture. Turns out that the whole kitsch shebang is a 20th century American pastiche of Polynesian Culture. Heavy on rum drinks with random bits of fruit in them and hawaiian shirts. Two of my favourite things!

I started with a piece of 45mm X 90mm (essentially a 2×4 style) bit of building wood. This wood is nice and soft, so its good to start carving with. I used a bit of reclaimed wood from a dismantled bunkbed (hence the funky blue colour).

I roughly drew a design. It’s pretty basic, but i didn’t want to over design as I knew the outcome was going to change as part of the carving process.

(It's at this point, 32 plays later, that i started to get a bit tired of the song.)

Comments

[majjuss]

Hi!

I really like your carving! I made some miniature tikis using smaller knives, but I'm planning to make a bigger one... The wood thingie you used to hold your workpiece to the edge of the table is a really good idea. I think it really helps not to cut your fingers.

Thanks again for your great Instructable!

Greetings from Germany,
majjuss

[The Engineer As Hero]

Thanks majjuss.

the wood thingy is called a bench hook. They're really useful for holding things in place (not just wood) when you're carving or sawing. they really help you get better results, cut a lot straighter and they're much safer.

Here's how to make one: http://www.woodworkforwomen.com/make-a-bench-hook (the first decent tutorial i could find, there isn't an instructable for one, i guess i should write one!)

[Cyclone1764]

Finally, a real chisel carving tutorial.
You have no idea how glad I am to see this.
My dad found a set of chisels a few weeks ago (so I will start on the week-end)

[javajunkie1976]

This would be cool to remake into Styrofoam for Halloween and for those who don't have access to wood.