Post #691518 by White Devil on Mon, Aug 26, 2013 12:25 PM

After years of watching TC projects unfold, I decided to take the brave step of hanging a framed tiki print I found on the internet. My wife isn't too keen on my doing this, so positive results are very important. Any helpful hints from more experience "ohana" would be much appreciated.

Following the example of the tiki revival pioneers here, I acquired a small quantity of vintage tools, which hopefully will lend more verisimilitude to the project, and perhaps a deeper vintage patina. My first goal was to gather a small, selective group of vintage hammers from local yard sales & thrift stores. It's a good thing they didn't know what they had, or else I'd have had to pay closer to their actual value. Which hammer type yields the best results?

Next, I found an old box of Mid-century Modern nails, and man did that take some doing! Although the box clearly was opened incorrectly, I felt it important to retain the original packaging. I hand-scratched and water-dipped a few of them that weren't already rusting. Hopefully in a few months when this project really takes on steam, they'll have the right color...

Finally, the cherry on the whipped cream: a genuine, vintage folding rule (as the old-timers used to call them)! It's widely acknowledged that modern, plastic measuring tapes simply do not calculate yardage as well as the older stuff, so I was very happy to snag this jewel on Etsy.

So now the real work begins. I've read up on the older techniques of using folding rules, but before I put pencil to wall, I wanted to solicit any insider knowledge that you guys may have from your collective experience. Do I use the traditional "x" to mark the spot, or the more modern, concise dot? How would the legends of the 1950's have proceeded from here?

I'll be sure to post highly-detailed photos as the various hammer blows proceed. :)

Tiki Misanthropologist

[ Edited by: White Devil 2013-08-27 05:44 ]