Post #584546 by Mr. Pupu Pants on Tue, Apr 12, 2011 12:40 AM

**I just want to add right off the top that I am moooooooost certainly no expert on any of this stuff and learned most of what I've been doing from just picking up the tools and experimenting. Some of it turned out well, some I wish I could have done better. There are many people on this site who just awe me with their talent and I take alot of inspiration from them and try to put my own twist in things. The 'tips' below are just what I arrived at when working on my bar and are only based on my subjective taste. That said.....blah, blah, blah :)

Since I've been down and out for a bit, it's given me time to read around the site alittle more than I usually have time for.
One of the basic jobs we all do as part of building a tiki bar is dealing with bamboo and how to make it look pretty. One thing I see people having mixed results with is the treatment/finish work on Bamboo

After treating/aging/'colorizing' what seemed like miles of bamboo for my own bar, I thought I would offer a few tips from experience. Obviously this type of thing can be very subjective but I thought I'd contribute alittle info that may help others who are just starting out. It may also just seem like a great
big 'well, DUH John!' to others.

Here's what I did when burnishing the bamboo for Hula Sue's and it seemed to result, for the most part, in a rich and naturally aged looking patina.

1. lightly burnish the entire pole with long feathered strokes as though you are using an airbrush to create a nice even flow of paint. With the torch already in motion at the beginning of a stroke feather it downward and then evenly through the stroke ---- ending the stroke by feathering it up and away from the wood. This will prevent the look of 'hard edges' where a burnish begins or ends)

Work your way around and down each pole, slightly overlapping until the whole thing has a nice warm 'Base Coat' of an aged, golden tone.

For the nodes do mini-versions of the same technique but go for slightly more feathered darkening on the node. Be careful to remain SUBTLE here and don't 'toast' the wood because the differences in contrast will be even more dramatic in a dimly lit room and you want it to look like natural aging, and varying degrees of wood tone --- not as though someone just spray painted the nodes black or burned periodic rings around each one. Naturally aged bamboo doesn't generally look like that and I think most of us want the warm golden-brown , 'years of nicotine' look of the classic tiki bars.

Also---you can't unburn wood. Build up a desired tone in steps and layers. If you do end up overdoing a bit here and there, you can take some steel wool and polish off some of the 'carbonized' wood to smooth out the tone of the finish.

The idea here again is to do some subtle tonal blending so it looks more natural

To create an overall blended feeling and pull the contrasting tones of the pole together, I lightly burnish or exaggerate an imperfection or unusual vertical grain(character)in the bamboo -- especially ones that run through more than one 'node section'. All this stuff helps to pull the effect you're creating together.

The trick is subtlety and graduated realism and not something that looks manufactured and too stark.

Additional ways to warm up the look are amber varnish or varnich mixed with stain. I'm sure similar info (and many more ideas) have probably been posted in other places on the site but, since I can't work on my own bar at the moment, I thought I'd try to contribute in other ways.
Aloha, my friends,
John

SPECIAL NOTE: when working out the tonal values and level of contrast between all the architectural elements you are creating for your bar, it's obviously also important to consider the lighting levels of the finished room, and how that will combine with what you've created to provide a unified design with the right balance of definition, detail and contrast and shading of all your materials. It really can make a huge difference in the overall look to consider the th relationships of 'cool' vs. 'warm' values with the colors you use and the range of tones of what invariably ends up being a majority of browns and beiges.

It's great if you can pick a group of complimentary tones and then work them in around the bar via your various materials and textures. It will really give you a pulled together, 'professional' look.

blah, blah, blah...what the hell do I know. :)
Just mentioning what has seemed to work for me.

[ Edited by: Mr. Pupu Pants 2011-12-28 08:00 ]