Some of last years SCTiki carvings

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted anything in a while.
Currently, I am sitting at work and have found myself with nothing to do.

So, I guess it is time to post some work.

The tikis in the images are only a portion of what I have created over the last year.

Sorry, there aren't more, these were the only ones that I had on Shutterfly ready to go.
All my other images are on my home computer.

These first images are of a tiki made out of Redwood heartwood. They come from a log used to build a dam and have been under water for the last twenty years. The result was a beautiful rich red color. It is sealed with three coats of polyurethane.

This next tiki is Mexican Fan Palm and, in this picture, it is still in the sanding phase. Notice the burl scissor chairs in the background. I will send some completed pictures of these projects when I can get my act together.

Here we see a picture of a Douglass Fir tiki; at least I think it is made out of Doug Fir. When I first picked out this log, I thought it was Redwood because it was dirty and had, what appeared, a red base. When I started carving, I noticed something was amiss; this wood was much harder and splinterier than buttery soft redwood. However, it still came out looking alright in the end. If you look closely at the headpiece, you will notice that it says "Wilsons". That is for the family that received this tiki.

And last but not least, is my attempt at carving jade. This necklace was given to a lovely Tika friend in Costa Rica. I believe it is jade; the stone was purchased on E-Bay from China. I have heard of lots of incidents where jade imports from china are actually other stones. Either way, this stone was extremely hard and took detail well.

Hello to all my tiki friends out there,

Cheers,
Will
SCTikis

"Hello to all my tiki friends out there"

And hello back! We've missed you. It is always a pleasure viewing your work. Serious saw skillz. Love it.

-g

Beautiful work. I'm sue a lot of us would like to see your fantastic carvings posted more often.
:drink:

Nice stuff. Glad you posted! Would luv to see pics of some of the finished stuff! Pretty neat that you were able to rescue an old redwood log like that.

Welcome back! I was going to bump this thread too. Great carvings, we need to see more!

hey Will!

good to see your carvings - they are fantastic as usual!

did you ever end up carving the AAC blocks? those little mo-fos sure are dusty!!!!

post more when you get a chance!

Will you Made mmy Day! SO Great to see you posting your works again. I had not forgotten how good your tikis looked but it Sure is Fantastic to have a refresher course and see your skills increase. Jade? Looks Beautiful, I'm sure one of the Kiwis will be able to tell you if it's real jade or not, no matter, the carving is Way up There, Way to GO.
HappyHappyHappy

I am glad to see that you are still rockin the carvings!! I still got a redwood log that Aaron's Akua gave me from your neck of the woods. I totally dig on your style!

Nice chops you have so much detail in them NICE!

Thank you gentlemen for the warm welcome back to TikiCentral.

I have been working and playing hard and trying to fit in some carving whenever possible.

Often at my day job (non tiki job) I skim through Tiki Central when by boss isn't looking. He is out of town this week so I am able to post a few pics for you guys.

It is amazing how everyone's carving has improved and I love to see all your guys/ gals work posted here. (can't forget our lovely lady carvers)

I've held out long enough so here are some more pic's for your viewing pleasure.

These first tikis are made out of Redwood heartwood. A logger friend of mine, will often make his initial cut a little larger and then proceed with milling a log. This saves scrap for him, because it is usually tossed out. For me this piece is perfect for making half tikis or masks.

I was going to put in more pictures, but my shutterfly seems to not be functioning properly with my computer.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will add some more.
Once again, thanks to everyone for my warm homecoming.

I will be around here more often.

Cheers,
Will

Nice work all round :D

Hmm - nice - I look forward to seeing some more.

And welcome back :D,TC is a very addictive place . . .

KS

Willll Bro, you've been surfin too much! Jus kiddin, busy is good. Stuff looks great. Jade now?! You've GOTTA show me what you've got for your stone carving set up. (Show everyone here!) I'm heading that way too.

Thank you guys again!!

Yes, I have been surfing a lot.

My family just let me go to a surf camp at Magedalena Bay in Mexico.
The waves were excellent and the only thing that I had to worry about was getting out of the water in time to make the meals. They were feeding us like kings fresh yellowtail ceviche and locally caught lobster were my favorites. I would highly recommend this trip for all you surfers out there. The waves are medium heavy, but that is kind of nice since you are out in the middle of nowhere and don't want to get hurt. Sorry for the blurry images, the resolution was too low.

Cutting back at campsites.

One day I will show you guys my carving set up.
However, it is not impressive, just some land in the middle of a redwood forest and a generator.
I do have access to a large tractor/ backhoe that comes in handy when I have to move some big tikis such as the one below.

As for my jade carving, I have been using a Foredom drill with diamond bits.
Currently, there is no water system in place, I have just been dry carving the stone.

Here is a picture of the palm tiki, that I showed before, all burned and sealed up.

One more Redwood Heartwood tikis for y'all.

This next tiki was one that I started in 2006 for my son and finally got around to finishing it off this year. It has a Citrine in it's ear and is made out of Redwood Burl.

These last images are of a non-tiki Curly Redwood mantle that I made for a friend. Unfortunately, I had to sandwich two pieces together and there is a visible seam. Next time, I would try to create one out of one solid piece, but it is hard to find Curly wood that large. It is sealed with marine grade epoxy.

I am on my way to a father and son and son trip to Cambria, Ca for the weekend.
Have an excellent weekend.

I better get back to work before I get fired.
That might not be a bad thing, I currently have a stash of about 60 logs that need attention.

Be Safe & Use Protection,
Will

P.S. the world is a dangerous place, you can never be too safe.

[ Edited by: sctikishack 2008-08-08 10:06 ]

WOW,

Excellent neat and smooth work.

Have a nice holiday,

Benjamin.

Great stuff Will! I really like the Redwood heartwood pieces.

Hope to see more pics soon!

If that's your first jade piece, you've done amazingly well - then I reread your post and saw this:

Currently, there is no water system in place, I have just been dry carving the stone.

:o Crazy! You really need to get that sorted - aside from the dust, the lack of lubrication is really hard on the stone and tools. Some softer stones can be carved dry with diamonds, but it always goes better with water! The biggest difference you'll notice is how much deeper and cleaner your cuts will be, and looking at your wood pieces that's what you'll be aiming for. Keep us posted on your progress!
I need to go on a surf camp too - I'm thinking that's about the only way I'll get in any decent water time this year...