Buzzy's work: Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

6:19 Buzzy Posts
6:20 Buzzy Rests
6:23 Buzzy is bored
6:50 Buzzy says, " Hey I have not made my one hour tiki this week."
6:59 Buzzy starts 1 hour tiki
7:24 See below

7:39 See below

Done! Time to spare. Buzzy's slash and burn #2 finished

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-05-26 19:49 ]

Buzzez baaack!!!!! :drink:

Well now that the holiday is over(UFC 60) and I took a day "off", it's back to work time. Carving is my holiday, let's go celebrate...
Next project: chair #4
Cleaned and ready

Drawn

In about ten minutes I'll cut into it. In Buzzy time, that means I'm almost finished.
More later...

In "Buzzy Time" Let's see this beauty allready. Me wantz one.

McTiki

Sunset update
Starting to take shape...

McTiki: Hardest part is finding a log big enough to fit the posterior region...One of my larger friends test sat on one of the smaller ones and said "It feels like I'm sitting on my pelvis." I'm small, so they fit me fine. You have to sacrifce some comfort for the concept though. I saw the other three at the house they ended up in yesterday. The looked great. My house is small so they looked huge in it. At their house, they fit right in and were not bulky at all. They're super heavy, but they look damn cool pushed in around an island in their tikied kitchen. Got me all fired up to make more..
Stay tuned, I plan on a late night tonight...

Pride Fighting on TV=Breaktime

1AM Update

More tomorrow

Buzzy's Carving Camp
Today I hosted a kids/young adult version of coontiki(I'd like to think.) All that was missing was Benzart, Tiki Diablo, and the bears. I prepared three logs for Stikitiki's clan and had them come over and carve with me today. I actually didn't end up carving, I just tried to help them as needed. They needed little help and were as motivated as anyone I've ever met. It was a great day and I cannot wait to do it again.
Here are pictures:

Stikitiki and children

Working in public schools, I do not often see kids engaged in something that they enjoy doing. Today was totally refreshing. Dad kept trying to make them clean up, but they kept asking me to keep talking to him so that they could carve more

When she finishes this piece, you guys will freak out at how good she is. Good natural artistic ability and learns quickly. Does anyone know of other women carvers?

I spent my time walking from "station" to "station" helping them with advice on the tools and technique.

[ Edited by: Stiki Tiki 2006-05-29 20:09 ]

[ Edited by: Stiki Tiki 2006-06-04 12:00 ]

[ Edited by: Stiki Tiki 2006-06-04 12:04 ]

Valkyrie-Good job! I saw the pictures. Next step is to get you your own carver's thread so the rest of the world can see your work. The people on here are more than happy to help you out too. You will find people very friendly around here...Next time you guys are over we will post your pictures on your own thread. Then everything just kind of takes off from there...See you soon.

Early evening update:
All that's left on the chair is the mouth and a few details

This one is part of my new unlicensed NFL line of tiki furniture

Are there any Charger fans in the house? Let me hear you holler back...Hello? Long time since the bandwagon roared through Chargertown apparently. Someday they'll fire Marty and all of you will demand one too

The Raider model will be on sale the day after never

While I was carving tonight, Shipmates came on again. I reminded me of last week and the fact that I forgot to answer a couple of your responses. I'd like to apologize and say that I'm not blowing anyone off, I'm just carving and posting and posting and carving and so on and so on...Anyway, starting in on last week's questions, comments, concerns, etc...Have I been on any cruises lately? Unfortunately, no. I only had the pleasure of the experience once. On the first day out of LA to Cabo, they had a "Mr Sexy Legs" contest. Caught up in the festive atmosphere, I entered the contest at my girlfriend's urging. I went last and did a striptease/chipanddales/kung fu forms/lap dance performance. Half way through my song, I took off my swim trunks to reveal a 1950's high wasted speedo bathing suit with an anchor pattern that I found at a thrift store. I brought them along just in case I felt like looking like a European tourist. Wearing this outfit, I went down the line of lady judges and lap danced each one of them. I figured that Mildred from Montana would get a kick out of getting off the plane from her snowy home and being lapdanced in the tropical sun by a true SanDiego Native two days later. I won the contest and they gave me a medal to hang around my neck. I was wearing it on the elevator later on and some guy came up to me and said, "Aren't you embarrassed by being referred to that speedo guy for the rest of the cruise." I said, "Hell no son! I won! I'm damn proud to be Carnival Cruise line's Mr. Sexy Legs. It's an honor and a privilege." I never went on another cruise because I wanted to retire on top, just like Jim Brown and Michael Jordan before he came back, twice. Anyway, on to the carving stuff before I write the script for the next Love Boat reunion...
finished the chair, finally.
So if half of your house is tiki, and the other half is sports mementos,what happens if you combine the two themes. I hope I do not start a what is tiki argument here

Holding that ball like Chuck Muncie...

S. email Xaya tomorrow when you see this and tell me what number he wanted:Ryan Leaf's or Craig Whelihan's. Or 83? Cannot recall. Other than that, get this thing out of my house!
What should I do now? Where's that stupid Book of Tiki...
Mr Sexy Legs out!
PS It's a good thing Bay Park Buzzy was open when I signed up for this site. Choice #2 was Mr Sexy Legs. You guys would have had to say stuff like "Looking good, Mr Sexy Legs" and "Hey Mr Sexy Legs", and that might be awkward...

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-05-30 02:49 ]

'

[ Edited by: Stiki Tiki 2006-06-02 18:19 ]

[ Edited by: Stiki Tiki 2006-06-04 11:59 ]

The sticker is going to say Mr. sexy legs? hahahaha Buzzy you are making me laugh so hard early in the morning I love it. I think you are starting to get famous and highly sought after now...No matter what happens don't stop posting. I need my Buzzy fix on a regular basis now. You can actually charge a fee if you like I am willing to pay. hahahaha

This post had to be changed four times now because things that I say get people all riled up and mad. LET'S MOVE ON. Go to page 15 and look at tikis already.
[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-03 11:38 ]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-03 11:39 ]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-03 12:16 ]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-04 13:04 ]

Buzzy, yer the coolest guy I've never met!

P.S. I've been around long enough to 'get' your Chuck Muncie comment, LOL.

My next tiki is dedicated to all my homies in O'side... Especially those who have been there long enough to remember Harbor Surf Gallery at south jetty! Where's Hill St.?
next project starts after this post...

five feet of prime mexican fan palm.
Like that plumber guy says, "Get er' done!"

Hard, dry wood. Slow going.

Starting today's work:

I got a new tool yesterday. I wanted to use it, but it is not needed for this tiki. But you know how it is when you have a brand new coveted tool. So, I just used it to do some fancy removal. Next step is to back and flatten these scoups out to taper the levels of the crown more, so I can do different and better details later.

Work time!

Stiki tiki:
I say F*&% stickers, because yesterday I wasted over two hours messing around with this:

for the sign logo. I gave up after photoshop froze up my old computer 10x. I had it looking ok after I ran it through photocopy on filters. Then the computer started being a computer. I figured you would be faster at converting this image to a stencil style cut out sticker than I would when you get to Oregon. I'll email you this picture later, unless you can save it from here. Oh yeah, check this out:
I used those rough draft font stickers on some new toolboxes I bought.

I think they look totally cool! thanks,
Buzzy

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-03 23:52 ]

Update:

Buzzy, I'm REally loving watching your tikis grow and it is great to see your carving skills mature so quickly. Keep up the good work (and hide the bad!).

thanks Benzart!I have high expectations for myself and try to reflect that in my product. As far as the bad: they sell cheap, fast, and the money they bring trades for real nice tools to make real nice stuff. Thanks for making such cool stuff too. I'm working my way up towards my Moari phase. Almost ready...stand by me, through the good and bad...

Working away:

Break time...

Currently working on tongue/mouth area

Happy Sunday!


And on the seventh day, Buzzy carved...

Lifetime score: Kiva the Dog-0, Skunks-13. They used to stay on the other side of the wire fence and spray her in the face, out of reach and unharmed. It took three years for her to leave them alone. I was reminded of this because it is skunk season...
Lunch break, San Diego Rock n Roll marathon is finally over, I can leave my house again. What a great day...

I'm computer down for the next couple of days. This is the last time you'll see this before it's done:

My girlfriend is taking her laptop for work stuff. Since she has the laptop, I expect her to create her own creating tiki thread and introduce herself. She was hanging out with me this weekend and felt compelled to create something. I gave her some bamboo and some tools and she freehanded this:

She said it's a spanker for when I mouth off!
I cannot wait to hear about it on her own thread. Get busy Zaya!!!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-04 15:41 ]

Looks like you've inspired yet another carver Buzzy. Looks like she'll be having her own booth at the next oasis.
Just to let eveyone know all is well, lots of miscommunication and confusion went on w/ us, all ironed out and back to carving.
Culbertson Importers suck!!! I have let them know too...
~Stiki Tiki

Oh man! So much tiki stuff went on this last week my head will be spinning for days trying to take it all in. In between refurbishing a 15 foot long Huey helocopter movie prop, assembling a pirate ship facade for a high school party, and working at my new job at the tiki store(sold three of mine this week), I managed to finish my latest tiki. It's a little whimsical in design, but was fun to do. Here it is:




One more for the sanding line. I'll do one more this weekend and then start sanding and staining them.
Boy did I miss sharing with all you guys while I did not have a computer! It's great to be back...
Buzzy

Tikis 21-23: My first paying gig

The timeline of my carving development takes us back a few months to the end of January of 2006. I had twenty tikis under my belt and started to get a lot of praise for my efforts amongst my family and friends. The discussions invariably led to "you should...(and then some advice about ebay, web sites, business cards, flyers, swap meets, and Renaissance fairs to sell my growing pile of stuff.)" After one such discussion with my girlfriend, I told her that I just wanted to carve, and not worry about all that business stuff. Besides, to this point, most of my tikis sucked and I had not even sold one yet(without trying-go figure). We then made the agreement that she could do all the selling and business stuff while I would carve at home by myself and not even answer the phone. Just send me a check if she sells anything, minus her cut. My fear was that I would not have anything to sell in the future because I didn't have any time to carve right now because I was too busy trying to sell my stuff all of the time, instead of just carving. It is a viscious circle that would doom any struggling artist trying to eek out a mere pittance in the grand scheme of things. And really, how much can you make just carving tikis in your backyard in your spare time. The monetary return did not seem worth the trouble.Well, bless her heart, Zaya came through the next day or so. She had some work friends that loved tikis and might want to look at my stuff. She made the arrangments for them to come over the next weekend. they came over and seemed to like my stuff. they were shocked that I had only been doing this for a few months. Then they explained their idea. They wanted four chairs to go around an existing table bar in their kitchen. they had certain height dimensions and a couple of pictures of some stools they saw in a store. The stools in the picture had no backs: a feature they wanted in theirs. The backs present a problem in that you need a large tree to begin with, because at least three extra inches of diameter would be utilized for carving on. this meant that I had to find four logs that had a base of at least 16-17 inches in diameter, and not too much more because the chairs would have to be moved, as they will be used frequently.
I only found three logs and had to send out a message that I needed a large one from the tree service real quick.
Meanwhile, I got paid half the money up front. It was damn near the coolest thing that happened in my tiki universe so far. wanting to give my customers the highest quality product for their hard earned dollars, I immediately started sketching out the dimensions for what I would make.
the existing bar was 36" high. they wanted the seat to be 21" high. The chairs had to sit as flush with the bar as possible when pushed in. This was my first visualization of the chair and bar as described by the client(that sounds so profesional)

Here is where I calculated how large a log I would need to fit a person's rump comfortably. Initially I wanted the larger end of the log on top, but that would make the tiki face lean down. this sketch helped me see why I should turn it over

My final sketch was drawn to exact scale. I now noticed that I needed to make the chair back higher to avoid the tiki design looking too stumpy. Zaya called the client and told them we should make them higher to look better. they didn't want ugly furniture, so they let me do whatever I wanted. I raised the height several inches.

This is a scale drawing I used to establish the radius of the chair back. It had to be thick enough to be used as a handle and lever to move the chair around, but not too thick, because I needed as much room for the seat as possible. I measured the diameter of the top of the log, subtracted three inches, and used that new measurement as the radius for the back curve. Here's to high school geometry, drafting, and The New Yankee Workshop!

each person in the family picked their own design for the chair. For one of the designs, I took a picture of the chair after shaping it, printed the picture, and then conceived the design on the series of drawings shown here

Now I had to make them. I used Mexican fan palms and the first two cuts were easy. I hate that sawdust hides the lines I need to cut while using the chainsaw. Because I had to be more precise and couldn't afford to lose a log, I put tape as a marker 1/2" below where I would cut. I just cut parallel to the lines. I did the seat cut first, then the initial back cut. GMAN could do this one handed and have a perfect piece fall out with no saw scars. It took me a few careful cuts and a large cracking sound happened that scared me when I pulled the piece out. Luckily, it cracked in an area that would be removed

Here it is with the piece removed

It took me forever to whittle this concave in with the chainsaw and two inch chisel

The first one took me about 3-4 hours to rough cut. I got a new chainsaw blade and the second one I did in an hour. Third one in 50 minutes, and the last, I cut it down to 45 with better results

Here they all are. One was very fresh and I constantly feared that it would crack at the seat. Every morning I checked it first thing because I had no replacements logs available. It turned out fine

Here are the in progress carving pictures for all three(I had to wait on the forth to make sure it wouldn't crack. I didn't want to spend the time carving something that wouldn't work due to splitting)
#21 Roughed in chalk

pencilled in and ready to go

started

more progress

done

It fit me fine, but I'm medium in the trunk area. I had my large friend come over and test all four. The one that was smallest for him was to be used for the child's chair; the rest were fine, he said.
#22 drawn with grease pencil. This is the one that I originally drew out on the photo

started

more done

Finished

#23 drawn

started

more done

finished

all three before finishing:

I sanded all of them, burned them, and stained them with two different tints of shellac
From this angle, I wanted the chair aspect to be hidden. My goal was to have them look like just tikis when pushed in, and then reveal the hidden funtionality aspect of them when they were pulled out. Most people are surprised when they find that this picture is actually chairs

They all freak out when they see this side

Back, front, side (do the hokey pokey...)

The customers, now my friends, were very pleased when they picked them up. they loaded them in their truck and off they went. I must have felt like parents when their kids go off to college seeing the truck take them down the street and out of sight, only I was kinda bummed. Even though it was great to get money for my craftmanship, it was hard to see my first creations leave my possession. It made me want to make more stuff. Right away. Getting paid for something you do anyway is totally cool. What have I been thinking? I need to carve more-sell more, establish my empire...

Sidebar:
The fresh log I got for #4 had this on it when I went to check it one morning:

This happens frequently with fresh cut logs. the ants really like the red spots, when present.

What I learned:

1. Having a business manager works well. It leaves you free to carve uninterrupted by distractions. Thanks Zaya! A few weeks later she surprised me with a booth at Tiki Oasis. Best move to date.
2. Getting paid rules!
3. Wow, I really needed a new chainsaw blade. So this is how it is supposed to work...
4. All those years of watching New Yankee Workshop paid off
5. I would have made these for their happy reactions alone, but they have UFC's every month now and I have to pay for them somehow...
6. They looked better than I could have ever imagined when I finally saw them in place. I went there a couple weeks ago for lunch and they looked so good I could barely believe that I made them.

]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-10 22:41 ]

Tiki #24
After spending a couple of weeks working on the chairs, I couldn't wait to get back to the mounting pile of future ideas that I was constantly adding to. But first, I had a log that was less than ideal. I decided to test my chainsaw carving skills. I had a new chain, and I spent considerable amounts of time working with the chainsaw on the chairs; all my fears of the saw after the accident were in check now, and I could comfortably use the chainsaw again(with my hard hat, goggles, etc. on) I wanted to see how clean and precise I could make all of my rough cuts using just the saw. My intention was to quicken the overall shaping process and spend more time on refinements.
Here it is after about one hour's work. I already cleaned it up with a flat chisel and started to sand it

burned

Next to the original, larger inspiration

what I learned:

1. The chainsaw saves time, but it is less than a precision instrument in some applications
2. My quick practice tikis are starting to look better
3. I can use substandard logs and still get reasonable results
4. If that one dude at Tiki Oasis would have left his bitchy girlfriend at home, I would have made so much money off this one relative to the time I spent on it, that if he bought it, I might have felt guilty for making that much.
5. People always talk about stolen tikis in front yards. After Oasis, I was so sick of carrying tikis that I just left this one out front, next to the sidewalk. I hoped that someone would steal it so I wouldn't have to carry into my back yard again. It sat out there for a couple weeks. No takers. Is it that ugly? Well anyway, I took it into the store this week and it sold in three days. Dude that bought it should have been driving by my house a week ago. Oh well, now I can afford Sylvia/Arlovski on PPV.

Project next:
On one of my many sleepless nights, when I was worried about sanding late at night for fear of the neighbors hearing my machinery, I started sketching some ideas in my sketchbook. For the last several years, I have wanted to move my front/back yard fence out towards the street, thus extending my back yard by anoher twelve feet. The expense of materials made this project sit idle after I levelled my front yard and added railroad ties to define the fenceline. I kept expecting the fence to fall over and force me to move it out, but it just hasn't happened.
My inspiration came for the design when my neighbor a couple of doors down started remodeling his house . He made one of those setback to setback, three story, hang off of the cliff another twenty feet monster mansions. Then, just to show a lot of money doesn't necessarily accompany good taste, he made it in the manner of a castle. Looks great next to the ocean. Fits right in. The castle even has fake ramparts and those slots from which you can fire arrows at the realtors leaving free stuff on all our porches or marauders, depending on the season. Anyway, I figure if he can have the castle house, I can have the Tiki jungle house. Kind of a poor man's keeping up with the Joneses, here on my corner of lovely Bay Park.
I decided that my fence would be made of bamboo, with the fence posts being five to six foot tall carved tikis.(Don't worry, nobody will steal them, I tested it out last month-see my last post under What i learned)The concept looks something like this:

This view would be from the street, looking towards the expanded back yard

This last week, I got a bunch of pre made bamboo fencing. So it seems my fence fantasy will become a reality soon. Here is a picture of them in the front yard. the railroad ties in this picture will be just outside of the new fence

Each pole has two pre drilled holes in it. You just run a support through each, attach it to the back of the anchored tikis, and the project is finished.

Even though it will be harder to do, I'll probably make the fence and then carve the tikis after the whole thing is installed. I do not want to wait that long and it will take a while to carve all five large tikis. I'm short on bamboo poles to go completely around the yard, but the tree service just got a large load of bamboo I can use on the last portion this morning
My long term goal is to eventually turn my house into a landmark. That way, when Tiki Oasis comes back to town, it can be part of the San Diego Tiki landmarks tour. Then when the bus comes by, I would have all my tikis for sale in the driveway. That way, I wouldn't have to load them up and haul them down the road and unload them again and again. It would save me the vendor fee too. I cannot wait. thanks castle house dude!

I've been going through and posting pictures of Tiki postage stamps from around the world in the collecting tiki forums. If you are interested in Maori stuff, there are about 25 of them on a NZ stamps thread. Also, some cool tiki stamps under the Niue stamps post

Great, another branch of tiki collecting...

I wanted to start a new one yesterday. I took all my tools outside and started to look at the log. RING!!! went the phone. It was my brother. He needs to stay here this week. Crap! My house is a disaster. I ended up cleaning the house all day. I do not want my brother to tell my mom about how I live in a big pile of woodchips and dust.
Anyway, while I was cleaning, I found a scrap of paper with a list on it. The list was written by me at work the first time zi found this site. I spent the whole day looking at almost every thread on the first 5 pages or so. Lots of stuff to see in one day. Knowing that it would be hard to find certain pictures for reference later on, I jotted down my favorite tiki artists, based on what I saw that day. this was probably the second place I had ever looked at tikis on the internet and I had only carved one tiki at the time. So here's the list of those who originally inspired me to give his a serious try(in no particular order):
TIKIG -I nicknamed him "florida pro guy" based on all his rows of tikis and his booth at a fair(I had not figured out the author/carver name thread connection thing on here-I was new to internet forums and didn't know about the poster's name-I just took the info off the title)
LAKE SURFERS WORLD OF CHISELED WOOD-No notes and I didn't need a nickname because it's easy to remember someone who surfs and carves where he does
CHAINSAW BY GMAN-Then I have PG 3 (xxx) written by it. Before I knew him as Gman- he was the d*&^% guy(nickname based on pg 3 pictures, not what I think of him)
BASEMENT KAHUNA-Nickname=Cool weapons Hawaiian shirt kung fu dude (first impressions sometimes hold)
BENZART_-"Cool faces, good carver dude" From day one...It's all been said
about him. I'm late to hop on the bandwagon, but it's a great ride.
It was a total thrill for me the first time each of these people posted on my thread. If I ever get rich and famous, you guys can be in my posse. We'll make a tiki mansion on my own private island. Someday, keep in touch guys...
All these guys, and everyone else on this site for which I've admired the work done since, you all make me bust my ass everyday just to keep up. So, word time over.
Started this one today...
3'8" Mexican fan palm, 10 inch diameter


I'm just kind of going to let this one fall together. I have some new tools, it's a fresh log of the highest quality, and it's a beautiful day.
I hope my brother doesn't mind me working all night. Last summer when he was here, I had not started carving yet. Boy how things change in a year. Or even a month. Or...
Work time...

Buzzy,

That last guy with the headress going all the way down his back is the schnizz! Keep it up. You are making killer pieces now! I likee!

I'll take a room at your mansion when you get it. Count me in.

-Gman (the D&%!-guy!)

Got to hand it to all you guys out there who hold regular jobs and still do this thing. It's tough. Had a couple of short windows of time to get some work done. Things should go back to normal(no work+no money)soon. For now though, here's an update before I go to work:

Buzzy, I really love how you are experimenting with new looks. I am enjoying watching you carve and listening to your stories between carvings. LOVED the Chairs, Man, Very Well Done. You should do more sets..
I'll take a room or 2 in your mansion when you get it done, I think it will be fun and Funny. Keep up the good work and soon it will be time to start slowin down and adding more detail. In the meantime, BE Proud!

Just when I caught my second wind and was ready for an extended carving sesion last night, my brother said "I'm going to bed" and ended that. Oh well. At least today I'll have about 10 more hours to work before he goes to bed again.
Here's a little more done on my current piece:

Sidebar: Today the tree service called and said that they had a "surprise" for me. I was expecting a cool log or bamboo. This is what they had when I showed up:

They were completely covered in ivy when he found them

He said that since he has been dealing with me, he looks at things differently when he is bidding jobs. He is always on the lookout for cool things that I can "Tiki". This is an interesting and very "surprising" find

This is cool. The tree service delivered finished product. Now if I could get those tree service guys to actually start rough cutting my logs for me, I could grow the largest tiki producing facility on the west coast. Then I could put those knock off carvers from Indonesia out of business. I would own my island mansion and...Get to work tree service guys, I'm too busy picking out gold faucets for GMAN and Benzart's rooms.
Billionaire Buzzy out!

hi buzzy i love your work keep it up lete me see more.

Marcus Thorn is in the house! I feel privileged. International recognition. I reckon that when I first met Aussies, I thought that they were mad all of the time. All of their stories started out, "Me and me mate were pissed and then we..." or "One time when I was pissed, I boxed a roo after me mate ran him over with his Ute." Then I found out that in Austrailian, pissed=drunk. Now I think Aussies are drunk all of the time. Not mad. And they do not drink Foster's, only XXXX. Hi Marcus, pleased to meet you. Are you pissed?

Well, back in the States:
Back of headress

Oh man! That's a bad crack. Oh wait, I cut that.

These should line up in the end if I did everything right

This wood is hard and slower going than I anticipated. Here's a little more progress:

Buzzy...you do great work, I learn just by looking at your carvings...just one question..how do you get those logs so smooth?? what is the easiest way to strip the bark off the palms? Thanks

Debarking mexican fan palms:The easiest way

IsleConch: Always nice to hear from new tiki friends. Hope this helps:
I usually use Mexican fan palms.
Here is picture showing the bark parts. The area on the bottom was cleaned by a tree service several years ago. You can tell because the fresh cleaned ones are brownish/orange. The top area has newer leaf stocks sticking out of it. What I do first is remove these

To do this, I use a specially designed, professional grade rechargeable motorized vibrating razor tool. I bought this one used for $100 from my friend at the tree service. I've been using it for months now and I still have not had to recharge it.
[edit-the preceeding was a joke. It is a regular $6 box cutter. Clysdalle=Duh!]

If you would like one, I will give you his contact information.
Cut just above where the leaf is attached to the trunk while wearing your safety goggles

I need to cut my fingernails and It should lift off in one piece

do this all the way up the tree.

A professional tree service bids cleaning like this at eight feet an hour. They are also on ladders, 50 above ground. A five foot log takes me about 10 minutes

For the next step:
I use a Ryobi hand planer. It is more of a consumer grade version but it doesn't weigh as much as most other models. I think it was about $75 regular price at Home Depot. The only problem that I've had with it is it gets clogged frequently and if you don't unclog it the motor wheel will get super hot and actually melt the plastic belt. the replacement belt was only about $4 but I had to order it and it took 5 days and cost $8 to ship. After learning about melting belts, I only run it about an hour or two and wait about 3-4 until it cools to run it again.
Here are some pictures with comments:
Here's the tool(it comes in a big gray plastic carrying case)

I think this shows the model# hpl 51

I work from the bottom of the tree towards the top. In this picture, the log is upside down with the bottom of the tree on the top. I'll start from the top and run the planer downhill.When you try this, it will be obvious which direction to go. The right way will leave a smooth plane and the wrong way leaves a mess of rough fiber on the plane and clogs the machine almost immediately

I keep going in one stripe until the good wood appears

then I look for the peak or angle and start bringing this down from the apex

this is the peak after about 3 passes

Then I just move in the same direction to the next peak you can see in the picture until the whole log is done. This log is a throw away so I'm not going to finish it but you probably get the idea. After a day or so i remove the fibers and lines that the planer left with a 3x18" belt sander. If the log is fairly dry when you plane it you might not need to sand it down. If I store them outside for a couple weeks they sometimes get surface mildew if it rains. I find that this comes off easily with the sander.

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2007-07-15 14:40 ]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2007-07-15 14:42 ]

Last night's progress

Thanks for the inforamative post Bay Park Buzzy!!! I am getting ready to start my fist mexican fan palm very soon and was wondering how you went about getting the fronds off!!! I hope someday I'll be half as good as you!!

[ Edited by: Tiki G. 2006-06-18 19:15 ]

Yep, that wizard is the real deal. I don't have one but I know a guy who does. It makes quick work of log prep.

-Gman

I checked out the Amazing Log Wizard
The site says this
"The Log Wizard is fitted with two 3 1/4" planer blades to give a wide cutting surface on the log. These blades can be sharpened several times by a qualified facility, or replaced with readily available replacement blades.The Log Wizard's unique drum design allows for the easiest blade transfer possible, saving you time and money. The single construction drum design ensures a lifetime of hard work from the Log Wizard"
The ryobi(left) is the same thing as the wizard(right):

but consider this: My ryobi weighs just over 5 pounds. My chainsaw weighs 11. Additionally, it says it takes 10 minutes to install the wizard. 10 minutes and my planer is half way through a five foot log. Additionally, I can use the planer easily with one hand, standing inches away with the discharge sent in the opposite direction. The wizard doesn't have this option; it just spins and throws the waste out in multi directions. Add the time that it takes to install, the time it will take for you to brush off your waste material to see what you are doing, and the time for breaks you will have to take from holding a tool twice as heavy with both hands sixteen inches away from your body, and it doesn't seem possible that it could be any faster. Add the fatigue from the weight of the machine and you'll soon be slowing, despite the speed of the tool itself.It's essentially the same tool, with a different drive mechanism and housing(THE PRECEEDING STATEMENT WAS THE THESIS OF THIS POST-the rest is meant as a joke-No hate mail PMs please). One motor and housing is 11 pounds-29 inches long: the other only five pounds and 10.5 inches long. I'm just stating the facts that I considered when comparing the two chioces. I'm kind of a wimp and cannot hold up a chainsaw that long so I went with the lightweight pussy choice. I know some of you guys like the whole macho big motor chainsaw thing, so the wizard will be perfect for you. I'll go out and do some bench presses and work up to the Wizard. For now, I'll still stick my ryobi and still fully, 100% recommend it. Tell you what though, if you guys want, let's race. I'll put my planer up against any Log Wizard any day! Someone call me out!
Buzzy:Fastest Planer in the West Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2006-06-17 20:10 ]