When I was 15 we took a family trip to Hawaii. The sunsets and beaches were beautiful but I was truly fascinated by the local craftsmen sitting barefoot on grass mats weaving palm fronds and carving chunks of koa wood into sea creatures and tikis. On the flight home, I watched as a passenger struggled to maneuver a four foot carving of a hammerhead shark onto the plane. That thing was awesome and I just knew I had to make one. I couldn’t wait to get home to start sketching the layout. I found an old redwood fencepost behind the garage, cut out the rough outline on the bandsaw and just started carving with my only tools at the time; a chisel and a hunting knife. Most of the pieces were limited by the size of the fencepost that I could find but eventually I found a local mill that sold more exotic woods.