O/T Chainsaw Tiki carving question

Just to clear things up....I recommended the soft wood for chain saw carving. The hard woods are great for chiseling. I use a few saws, I brought the 20 inch to Indy because the Road Rockets supplied me with the wood, and I had no idea what size it would be. Better to have enough saw for the job. Very nice tiki, MBL. Here's a shot of my last one at the Rumble. I torched it with a 54 Ford. Now this thread isn't so off topic. Heh,heh. Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing those progress pics UncleScooby.

 

Tiki Diablo, is a ruler. and he hangs out on here and tikicentral.com
Hi Danny.

 

Ha thanks, I would just use an inexpensive chainsaw to start. I use a DOLMAR electric chainsaw to rough things out, then switch to hammer and chisel.

Robert Sorbey, Henry Taylor and "two Cherries " chisles. My mallet i s a "wood is good" brand. These tools are good stuff, but not as pricey as a good welder.

You can carve eps foam tikis and stucco them with " Foamtek" and a finish with regular stucco.
You can PM me and I can give some tips.

 

pics of some of my tikis

 

You can also check out the Fraternal Order of Moai for plenty of tiki goodness.

 

in the 60's I carved tikis with chainsaws gas and electric, wood gouges an adz and roofing hatchet. i carved small ones to give to chicks with exacto knifes. large tikis I carved from dryed out washintonian (sp) Palms. inverted them and used the roots for hair. I allso carved a couple from telephone poles. I heald them in place when i carved with sand bags made from old pillow cases. if you are going to carve hard wood use a fruit wood and carve it while it's green. it will carve easer and will split less. you need to cote the new cut wood with shalac at the end of each carving session or the green wood will check.

 

Ron,

There was a small electric chain saw in the daily deal section of the indy star yesterday. You might check it out. I think it was $50 or less.

 

here is the aforementioned picture of the pavement carving that 57Gasser did...

 

ok please dont yell , or make fun I am new to all of this , I am wondering how did the tiki stuff get so big in the car scene and why ? Is there a specific connection ?

 

There is a connection.....men returning from service stationed in the South Pacific during WWII saw the Tiki/Tribal stuff brought it back to the states....so to speak....these same guys built hotrods....
I'm sure someone will post a better explaination than I did.....

 

Not real sure, but maybe it had something to do with McEwen, Prudhomme, etc hanging out at the Tahitian Village in Lakewood.LOL

 

Chainsaw kickback usually results in getting hit in the face, head or shoulders. The tip of the bar jumps upward... and since that's the part of the bar you use to carve, wear a helmet with a face guard... and leather welding coat if you've got one.
Draw an imaginary line down the center of the bar from the tip to the power head. Never cut with the part of the tip that's above that line and you'll be fine. Get above that line and you'll be risking kickback.

Use a no-kickback chain... the rakers are taller and the teeth are usually closer together.

Use a chainsaw with a chain brake. It's a lever in front of the front grip that, in the event of a kickback, hits your forearm and stops the chain. You might still get smacked, but the chain won't be spinning.

From experience, I would suggest keeping the RPMs up on the saw, too. Just like doing a burnout in a car. If your RPMs are too low, you get traction... and you don't want traction with a chainsaw. You want that puppy spinnin' to do it's job correctly.

Chainsaws are about the most dangerous tools ever invented. Be smart, respect it for what it can do to you... and remember... just like any machine, it won't care if it kills you or not.

JOE