Post #112070 by Octane on Thu, Sep 2, 2004 3:25 PM

alright arron here is my miny book on your questions.

Shell inlays:

i have done a few of them. First the Warning i was give by BK, who helped me with these. Shell dust is very very bad for you. BK had the specifics but lets just leave it at very very bad.

For shell in lays, what i do is first get you shell (assume abalone) draw out what ever shape you want on the shell. make sure you use a marker that is not permenant, unless you plan to cut the shape out perfect. a pencil works for me.

I use a dremel with a tile cutting bit and cut away. to take care of the dust, i wear a resperator, one of the thick/oder remover kind. Alnog with that i take my shop vac and place the hose directly under were i work. i turn the vac on place screen material (mine is for Bonsia), but anything with smaller holes then what your cutting out will work. the suction of the vac holds the plastic screen on and sucks up the dust.

then just place the shell cut out on the tiki were you want it, trace around it, then remove the material inside of your traced out area deep enough so the shell is flush. I just glue them in (not traditional, but the real method is to cut a hole in the middle of the shell and hold it in with a dowl like peice of wood, but i have never done that before.

Finishing:

I'm no expert here, i have been experimenting with different finishes. If you want shinny just get gloss, all the products come in gloss. Another thing the more coats ussually the glossier and deeper the finish looks with just about any type of product.

Shalack: i don't recomend Shalack for palm wood, as it has not real weight to it and will not matt down any of the palm hairs no matter how many coats you put on. the biggest advatage to shalack is its drying time, which is 15 mins to touch and 2 hours for recoat. Shalack might have durability issues.

Varnish: i have just started using varnish on the last 2-3 tikis. personally i didn't even really know what varnish was before Ben mentioned it. the varnish seems to work good for palm as it does have a good weight and will hold down the palms hairs pretty good. Varnish is also very shiny (if you get Gloss). The biggest disadvatage to varnish is its long drying time, 24 between coats, and i would wait 48 hours if you are sanding between coats just to make sure. I have heard that Varnish never really gets supper hard, and when it is out in the sun or gets hot will soften a bit, but i don't know if this is true or not.

Polyurathain: is suppose to be the best of the clear coats today, as far as durability, drying time, ect. I use this on all of my small tikis and all my tikis before varnish. it has a good drying time 4 hrs between coats and has been very durable. the glossy works well. the first coat of the glossy wont be all that glossy as it is basically just sealing the peice but coats 2 and 3 will be more and more glossy. Polyurathane is like varnish as it has a good weight to it to matt down the palm hairs.

conclusion: I don't know, i like both Polyurathane, and varnish, not sure which is better. Shalack works good as a penatrating sealer, but can be uncompatable with varnish, this you would have to check on though, as i'm not sure.

2 tone finishes:

Not sure i have really done this before. in the what your thinking. i do use a tone tone techinque on my tikis like the cannibal. what i do is put on the first stain, a medium brown then after i wipe that stain off like your suppose to, i get a darker stain almost black and then rub that around lightly over most of the tiki. other then this technique i don't use a 2 tone effect like Tikifreak.

I would guess tikifreak uses a torch and burns the areas where it is balck on his tikis but i haven't really done this, i would send tikifreak a PM and ask him how he does it.

as far as your question about the gutter to seperate the stain colors, you might have to, as stain soaks into the wood, so it is almost impossible to control were it seeps. If you let the stain dry its 8 hrs or what ever it calls for there should be no mixing at the two stain lines when clear coat is applied.

sorry don't know anything about bleeching, or what Jasco is.

well that its for me, hope that was some what helpful