4WDtiki - Bill's stuff. - first new pics in years

SANDBAGGER!

On 2007-02-18 18:49, McTiki wrote:
SANDBAGGER!

When I first met 4WD several months back, he admitted he didn't know how to post his pictures on TC and that he wasn't computer savy. I asked him how many tikis he had carved and he thought it was close to 100! I was like :o All his old pictures are not digital, so we might need to teach him how to scan...

4WD IN DA CARVING HOUSE! Finally...

Yeah, it's about time you learn how to cut and paste, sandbagger.

Some 4WD History:
Turns out, a tiki that the tree service salvaged from a house that was to be torn down was his

Buzzy Out!

That big guy looks great 4WD, a real classic look about him.Sweet

Thanks, Hewey!

Here's the one from page 1, I just finished varnishing it. It's a satin finish, but jeez is it glossy. :o

Sandbaggin', Buzzy-got-my-back, Bill OUT! :P

Well, Bill Out, Thanks for the history and Yes, you Have come a Long way. Just keep on raising the bar and you will continue to go another Long way.. Get some different grit disks, a router speed control for your grinder and a good dust mask and get back to work.

Yeah, Ben, I've been wanting to get a speed control for the grinder. I do use a good cartridge mask, although I didn't used to until I read the suggestion on this board.
I splurged on a new tool yesterday. well, new to me. :)

It needs a good sharpening, but otherwise in good, antique shape. :D

Here's my next tiki. I started it two days ago.
I'm not used to taking progress shots, so sorry, this is the point at which I remembered.
Before today's work.

After today's work.
A little rough sanding, and some chainsaw action on the headdress, which goes down the whole back.

Thanks for looking.

Nice one there. You have come a LONG Way since that #1 in 2000. Keep up the good work

This looks great, really nice. Keep them coming please.

Thanks Ben and Hilda.

Here's today's progress. I finished carving and sanding the headdress, and a little more sanding on the face and body.
I hope to have it burned and stained by Sunday!

Your composition is perfectly balanced, this is a real nice piece. Please tell me how long it took you to do the sanding? And did you use an electric sander?

Thanks, Hil! Yep, I use a mini grinder with a sanding disc on it to do the sanding. You can see it in the first pic of this tiki, a couple posts up. :up:
I spent maybe an hour tops today, sanding.

goodday, that tiki you got there is working out great it looks like. like the style of that one. great work. hope to see more soon

Thanks, duddy!

Today's progress shot. I burned chiseled out some small nook and crannies that don't show up in the pic, then burned it with mapp gas, and sanded off to highlight.

I think I got a little heavy handed with the photo-edit color saturation!
Tomorrow, staining!

I did this tiki back in October. A guy cut down the palm in his yard, dug out the rootball, and I carved it on site. We 'planted' the tiki in almost the same spot where it grew. There's another 5 feet of trunk buried underground, encased by 27 90 lb bags of concrete! :o That baby ain't movin'!

I only just today went and took a pic of it. I'm on the right. :wink:

Way cool stuff Bill!...I'm really looking forward to seeing some of your work face to face tomorrow. I'll give you a ring in the morning.

Amazing work indeed. Love the big guys and the stains look wonderful :tiki:

Excellent hairball tiki 4WD! I Really love the burn'n sand job you did with the detail highlighting, it came out just Perfect. That is not easy to get that nice of a burn. The Only thing I hated about the hairballs was the difficulty installing them. It always took a heard of people to Move the thing and stand it up in the hole. Excellent job, just take more pictures.

Nice work there 4WD. I like rootballs too.
For me, I never bury 'em, cuz rotting could be a problem, so I use a post hole digger and place at least 1 - 4" x 4" treated post in concrete. I then drill thru the post into the tiki and ratchet in 3 - 10" bolts (for each post) clear into the tiki. Then I use a stepping stone or any flat stone to keep the palmwood from touching the ground. For the one I did at Minnie's Restaurant I used 3 posts. The Monster weighed about 2 1/2 tons so I wasn't taking any chances of it falling on anyone.
I especially like that first burnt one on this page.

Get in touch with your inner native!!
Create Paradise!!

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2007-02-24 22:05 ]

Thank you all!

JT, it was the owner's call on how to secure the tiki. I suggested your way, as it would have left it at full height. I don't think it will rot though, it's encased in concrete, not dirt.

Ben, this shows the effort involved in the raising of the tiki.

It reminds me a little of the Iwo Jima flag photo!

Man what a monsta! I gotta thing for those big rootball heads--just lik'em for some reason, and you've done a masters job at this one. Just went through your past stuff as well--VERY NICE!

I started the next one today. I only hashed out the body, cuz I'm undecided on a face right now.

It's the first log I've stripped with my own drawknife. The log is ~5 feet, and it took maybe 15 minutes, as fast or faster than either my electric planer or my Log Wizard! :o

Total time to this point, about an hour. Tools used, chainsw, and 2" chisel and mallet.

Thanks, surf-n-turf, for the comps. :)

[ Edited by: 4WDtiki 2007-02-26 16:01 ]

oh thats a masterpiece waiting to form alright. cant wait to see what you pull off.

That little burnt guy looks great! The afro guy looks cool too :)

Wow Bill, I LOOOOVE how the headdress came out on this latest guy. I'm really starting to see some new directions that you're going, very cool.
I was looking though the pictures on my cell phone recently and found some pictures of your tikis that I took back in 2005. :) I'll see if I can post them. :)

B,

Tight dude! It looks like you found a way to sharpen that draw knife. Your going to hack through your wood pile in no time.

I'm taking it that the lift is a rental? Need to get some metal and fab you a boom for all this big stuff you've got on the table.

Final pic of this guy, he's done. Four feet tall, 18 inch diameter.

Thanks, hewey. He IS small, compared to the others on this page!

Mieko, I'd love to see your 'spy' pics. :wink:

B, yep, rental lift. It was returned only a little tweaked. And, yeah, Clysdalle sharpened the knife for me. Props to him!

No stain? Looks great :)

Hewey, it is stained, it just doesn't look it in the photo.

Update on this guy. I figured out a face, and started it today.

Plus, I did this quickie. I only let myself use the chainsaw and angle grinder, no chisels! Then I Mapp-blackened it and sanded to highlight.

It's about 3 feet tall. I like this look alot, nice and rough/primitive. :D

I likes him too :) I agree on the primitive style. You pulled a lot of character out of him with very few lines. That ain't easy...well at least for me.

Nice work 4WD,great looking and original!.

Thanks, squid and kustom!

Today's progress shot.

I finished carving the head, then Mapp-burned and sanded the whole thing.
I'm going to try just one coat of spar varnish on this one, for less gloss.

Looking great!

Nice work on that chainsaw and grinder only carving - simple yet effective. :)

I really like the latest one Bill. Nice work!

I'll see you Saturday! :)

On 2007-03-03 16:40, 4WDtiki wrote:
I only let myself use the chainsaw and angle grinder,. :D

Oh, yeah, my carving tools of choice. Nice job, you have good control!

Jp

Wow, I haven't updated in weeks! :o

I did these three last weekend, and the weekend before. They're 3' and under.

I did these two today. I may stain and/or varnish them, but they are essentially done.
The bigger one is 3'.

Good Stuff, Bill! I Hope to see you Saturday.

Bill, your driveway looks like one of those places where you pull up in your truck and a hire a tiki for the day:

Those guys on the curb look like they want to jump in the first car that drives by and go to a luau or something. Time for another saturday 9-3 driveway sale? Inventory got back up after this run. When I didn't see you post for a while I figured that your landlady was making you clean up that pile of sawdust.

See you soon,
Buzzy Out!

Bump...Where you hiding Wheeler?

Finally got a little carving in. I started these two this past Sunday, and finished them the same day. I was going for a real aged and primitive look, especially on the taller one. It was a crappy, throwaway piece of wood, the top of the tree, but I wanted to see if I could do anything with it.

I love the look of the second one...it really looks like a head-dress and totally intentional.

Great work!

Good to see you taking on the wood pile 4 Wheeler....I agree, there's something about that rough look of the tree topper one that really draws me in...I would keep that one for a while before letting it go...just something about it that's worth pondering??

Man 4WD, your place must be Crawling with Cool Tikis, how many now a Dozen or more. Quick and Excellent, you need to get together with Buzzy and have a friendly competition to see who can make the most in a day. And Then donate the tikis to your favorite charities..ME!!

Nice work. The headress is sweet and I like the little guys style. Nice to see you back mate :D

Hi 4WD, I just read your whole post and your work is amazing, very detailed, fun and well finished. I like your style

Amy

Excellent work a veritable army of Tikis
Best Regards
Flynny

Thank you all, for the compliments and encouragement!

Here's a pic of a tiki I did last summer, and has been hanging around waiting for a new home. It found one over the weekend! The two local outrigger clubs decided to merge into one, and wanted a tiki to commemorate the occasion. They had me carve the names etc into the base. I only had about a day to do it, but it came out alright I think. Thanks to Clysdalle for lending me the V-chisel. With the tiki money, I will buy my own, I swear!

Tiki stands 6'6", and is local fan palm.

Great work Wheeler!

It's great to see you working on the big logs.