surf soul tiki

ok, let's start this new year out right, and set the bar high....

6 foot lono with a fully punched=thru beaded head dress...

let's do this...

Nice challenge for a kickoff! Benzentine swirls and a whole lot of details, with a gnar bent trunk!

Charge it like you're gonna own it!

Happy new year my left coast friend.

Mahalo

McTiki

Nice challenge for a kickoff! Benzentine swirls and a whole lot of details, with a gnar bent trunk!

Charge it like you're gonna own it!

Happy new year my left coast friend.

Mahalo

McTiki

new toys!!!

ok, so today it got serious....

after some research and comparing prices and stuff, I decided to buy another Echo. I was going to buy a pretty nasty Stihl for 7 bones, but this had a bigger motor & cost $150 less....so this is what I got. My first gas saw (I had a few electrics first) was a sputtering little homelite ranger with a 14 inch bar that a friend of mine gave me after he threw my cast net onto a piling full of barnacles and couldn't recover it. It was a home saw and I killed it pretty quick. My second saw was the Echo CS450 that I bought used at a pawn shop for half what is cost new (I paid $200). I have been using this saw for 2 years and have essentially built a business on it's back. It is still in service, but it's lost a little "umph" after being beaten like a red-headed step kid for the last 2 years, so I'm ready for something new and nastier...

so I bought this Echo CS600P. Compared to previous saws it feels like a DESTROYER of WORLDS!!!!

don't mess with me or I'll CUT YOUR HOUSE DOWN!!! lol...

I'm a happy guy right now.

I'm also buying the makita electric carving kit from Baileys, a brand new tormek sharpener (if you haven't seen one, check 'em out on youtube - they're AWESOME), and a log master de-barker...

get em big dog....

Nothing like good tools! Congrats

"your gonna poke your eye out kid"

McTiki

all ya need now is a leather mask made from a face....BAM!

ok! let's do this...

ok, the big lono is comin' to life..

oh yeah, and I made some little 2 inch thick by 8 inch wide oak "coins" to use as candle holders for a christmas party put on by some people I know, and I used my old saw to cut them...and it was taking like 20 seconds to cut through them...

my new saw cuts the same piece in like 4 seconds. it is GNARRRR....

grrrr...blablablabla...engine noises....mrrruummm, mrruumm!!!!

a little more progress this afternoon - evening....

took a break from the big gnarly lono to bust out a couple of cheap tikis.

I am trying to get to where have an inventory of 20 or 30 of these at any given moment so that I'm always stocked up for art shows & plant sales and such...so once these are finished & stained I'll be at 9...

and then there were 3!

ok, so these are the fastest selling tikis in my few year in the business...

posted 'em on facebook and they were gone in 5 minutes....

the stain was kinda red, so i dubbed them the "commie reds" and they were GONE!

That is pretty frigging quick!!! How did you sell them on Facebook? We have an Exchange on Facebook up here that my wife is always buying and selling things on. It is basically a garage sale list that a bunch of people use to sell things. Is that something like what you used? Also, you gonna be working on wednesday this week? I was thinking maybe I could come by and learn from the Tampa Master? I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow.

Dang Bro that WAS quick!

Congrats...diggin that new lono...excited to see what you do with it.

Hope all is well in the land of Jeff and Surf Soul Tiki!!

super cool
way fast
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2013-01-14 17:10 ]

thank you sir, may I have another?

Thanks Jeff. I really enjoyed picking your brain and watching you work. I really learned a lot yesterday. I already ordered my Flexcut sculptor set. Thanks again. Hopefully I can stop by again sometime.

no worries bro...

any time.

so, I got a phone call I have been waiting on for over a year.

I am returning to Anna Maria Island to carve some dead palms behind the "Mar Vista" restaurant on Long Boat Key. Mar Vista is the sister restaurant the to the "Beach House" restaurant I did a little over a year ago...

This is a place where lots of very well-off people hang out, so I'm hoping to get some other jobs out of it, and I'm gonna have some loose tikis for sale too...bottom line, I'm lookin' to come home with a little cash. I think I'm just gonna drag the Ho Boat down there & dock up at Mar Vista & just sleep on my boat...and just carve tikis & hang out on the boat fishing & drinking rum. It's gonna be a good time...

Go baby go
Just don't go as fast as u usually do, so more people can c u work and BUY....
:)

Jon

What a great job Jeff, congrats and I agree with Hang10, stretch this one out for a while and enjoy the ride. It's 28 degrees here in Oregon tonight in case you were curious.

well, hang 10, unfortunately it seems like these days I have way more stuff to do than I have time to get it done, so I don't have the luxury of prolonging it like I did the first time around. which is definitely unfortunate because this place is very cool.

and Cy, wow....it's been like 70 or 80 everyday for the last month or so, for which I am very thankful...it's been another mild winter...

ok, so I really need to get some stuff done today...

so I'm working on this guy, after a bit of difficulty getting him right.

so this was at like 2pm...drawing out some details...

ok, I think it's time for a few fingers or rum...

whats a ho boat? post a pic.

the HO BOAT!

New one is lookin good bruddah

so, last night's first "tiki nights at the Tahitian Inn" was a success... I think there were about 70 people there last night, and everyone said they really enjoyed it. I think the owners of the Tahitian Inn were very stoked on the turnout and the vibe in general. A lot of hot girls, and thanks to the Left Coast Bartenders guild, the drinks were off the chain. That "scorpion" has A LOT of rum in it...

Lookin good...wow, almost at 100 pages...

ok, had a great trip to Ft Lauderdale.

big thanks to will for giving me a place to crash, and Tom for dropping me off at the Mai Kai & ccming back around to hang out on sunday...I had a great weekend guys...thanks.

Will, I swear bro, you need to do a gallery showing or something. It is a crime that those tikis are not seen by more people...they should be in a museum or something. And there should be a big plaque with your name on it thanking you for what you did there...

So anyway, I'm back home & I'm pumped about making some stuff...I have to finish painting mom's house tomorrow but I have the rest of this afternoon to make some stuff...

looks like you had some fun there! The poolside Tiki was looking good, did you finish him?

oh, hell no.

I barely got to work on it...too busy chatting with people....

so this week I've been in cheap tiki mode & experimenting with roadside tiki sales...

COMING SOON!

My new series of DO IT YOURSELF TIKI BOOKS!!!

Book 1: Power tools, controlled bleeding, and the art of skipping the line at the emergency room!

Book 2: How to carve wood and sustain permanent injuries with sharp chisels!

Book 3: Staining tikis, your clothes, the driveway, the dog, and everything else in the general area in one easy step!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Book hell! Sounds like this should go straight to video!

aloha and stay safe, tikicoma

Dude! You ok?

I posted a very recent psa on this very topic.... sucks

Heal!

Go 49rs!

Mahalo

McTiki

yeah bro, I'm fine...just making light of all the dumb things I do & have done....lol...

and here a pirate inspired tiki commission I'm working on this evening....complete with tatts & a bottle of rum (that we just drank).

Too funny pjc, I've noticed how you like to spread the blood and paint stains around.

yeah, I use one to cover the other...lol..

so yeah this one's done...the pirate tiki!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Kool

Awesome bro. Love the long nose/slit eye roadside tiki and the pirate tiki is badass too. But it looks like he needs more rum.

thanks guys....

so it looks like 2013 is getting off to a good start.

I'll be heading down to do a few tikis at the Mar Vista restaurant & pub here in a few days,

and I have a meeting with the Harley Davidson people tomorrow...they have an actual tiki bar at the local dealership for their "HOG" member meetings and stuff...and they have to tikis! I'm pretty stoked about this because obviously they're not hurting for money or anything...so I'm thinkin' this is gonna be a good money gig...maybe I can trade them some tikis for a harley....lol....

well the harley meeting was moved to the 26th, which give me more time to work on a proposal, and my uncle & I painted mom's house, which I just finished up yesterday, so now I can get back to work...

another angry hawaiian...

I'd be pissed off too if you left a chisel stuck in my head! ;]

looking like another good one coming up...