Bula Bula Bar - Home Tiki Bars

S Scaramouch Member Joined: Dec 08, 2014 Posts: 66	S Scaramouch Posted posted on Wed, Jun 17, 2015 7:21 AM Thanks so much for the nice comments, everyone. It's great to be able to share it with some tiki experts and got positive feedback :) To answer a couple of questions: All the trim carving was done with a trim router and a straight bit. This one, to be precise: http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-1-1-2-HP-Compact-Router-R24012/100337039 It's not too powerful but I found it very easy to handle. The stain application was trial and error on a couple of early boards. I had tried some of the techniques posted here, including very dark all over stains, paints, and burning and wire brush, but none of them really achieved the look I wanted. So i kind of made up my own method. Here's a couple more pics: My first step was pencil drawings, and then routing with the straight edge bit to a depth of about 1/4". Then I sanded lightly with an orbital sander and lightly burned with a propane torch. This is the result: Next, I took a small brush and laid dark outdoor stain into the groove - the "negative space" - to darken the actual image. It looks like this: Then I added color stains to the rest of the images, usually a couple of coats as the translucent stain is very lightly colored. And a final coat of polyurethane on top: All the stains were from Home Depot, Behr Semi-transparent, which I got in small sample sizes. They tint to your requirement: http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-1-gal-Cedar-Naturaltone-Semi-Transparent-Weatherproofing-Wood-Stain-553301/202263889?N=5yc1vZbbbmZ1z10m0l As this is an outdoor bar, it's got several lays of poly on it. I started in most cases with Polyshade to give the non-stained wood edges a golden tone, then followed up with Helmsman outdoor poly. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Minwax-1-qt-PolyShades-Pecan-Satin-Stain-and-Polyurethane-in-1-Step-61320444/202061444 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Minwax-Helmsman-1-gal-Satin-Spar-Urethane-13205/203003564 It took a long time, but it gives a rich layered look to the trim that doesn't really come over in the photos. the colors really pop in the sunlight. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much for the nice comments, everyone. It's great to be able to share it with some tiki experts and got positive feedback :)

To answer a couple of questions:

All the trim carving was done with a trim router and a straight bit. This one, to be precise:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-1-1-2-HP-Compact-Router-R24012/100337039

It's not too powerful but I found it very easy to handle.

The stain application was trial and error on a couple of early boards. I had tried some of the techniques posted here, including very dark all over stains, paints, and burning and wire brush, but none of them really achieved the look I wanted. So i kind of made up my own method. Here's a couple more pics:

My first step was pencil drawings, and then routing with the straight edge bit to a depth of about 1/4". Then I sanded lightly with an orbital sander and lightly burned with a propane torch. This is the result:

Next, I took a small brush and laid dark outdoor stain into the groove - the "negative space" - to darken the actual image. It looks like this:

Then I added color stains to the rest of the images, usually a couple of coats as the translucent stain is very lightly colored. And a final coat of polyurethane on top:

All the stains were from Home Depot, Behr Semi-transparent, which I got in small sample sizes. They tint to your requirement:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Premium-1-gal-Cedar-Naturaltone-Semi-Transparent-Weatherproofing-Wood-Stain-553301/202263889?N=5yc1vZbbbmZ1z10m0l

As this is an outdoor bar, it's got several lays of poly on it. I started in most cases with Polyshade to give the non-stained wood edges a golden tone, then followed up with Helmsman outdoor poly.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Minwax-1-qt-PolyShades-Pecan-Satin-Stain-and-Polyurethane-in-1-Step-61320444/202061444

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Minwax-Helmsman-1-gal-Satin-Spar-Urethane-13205/203003564

It took a long time, but it gives a rich layered look to the trim that doesn't really come over in the photos. the colors really pop in the sunlight.

Hope that helps!

Post #745062 by Scaramouch on Wed, Jun 17, 2015 7:21 AM