Hawaiiana - Rattan Furniture

The following pieces of rattan furniture are in my Tiki Hut bar & recording studio.

Even though I prefer koa furniture, rattan is what comes to mind when most people think 'tiki'.

Rattan is a plant in the palm family which grows in tropical jungles. Tough, solid stems of palasan rattan vary from one to two inches in diameter and grow as vines 200 to 500 feet in length. When harvested, rattan is cut into 13-foot lengths and dried adn stored for seasoning.

These poles are straightened, graded by diameter and quality (judged by the inter-node spacing, fewer nodes is better), and shipped to furniture-making factories.

Rattan is almost impervious, but light-weight and easy to handle. It will withstand extreme conditions and temperature and has a natural resistance to bug damage.

Unlike rattan, bamboo is a hollow grass with horizontal growth ridges along its stem.

When constructing furniture from rattan, the long poles are bent into molds and nailed at the joints. When they are dry, they hold their forms lashed together with long, flat, and thin wrapping fiber, called bury, in neat and intricate patterns.

The best quality rattan furniture has these features: a) intricate bends, the more the better; Pretzel and related variations command the highest prices; b) many poles tightly stacked, ranging from two poles in more common forms to twelve poles (which are nearly impossible to find today), the most sought after rattan has six stacked poles; c) few blemishes such as dark spots or stem nodes, d) well wrapped joints which add beauty to the pieces and e) the older the better.

six pole couch and chair.

Rocking chairs.

Double horseshoe 4-band chair.

Breakfast hutch with 1940's Santa Anita dinner ware.

Ah, I'm a bit thirsty now.

Aloha!

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2003-11-23 20:28 ]

Tiki_Bong is there no end to the amount of torture your willing to inflict on us? That is beeUteefool! Is that a banana tree I see next to it? Thanks for posting all the info and pictures. I have been in the market for a set but not sure what to look for. I almost bought a hammered set from the Goodwill for 300.00, it was pretty thrashed so I ended up passing on it. Do you know the names of any makers new or old that I might look for?

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-11-23 23:59 ]

BONG BONG BONG!!! WTF!!! how big is your studio brah?!!? I love Koa but I preffer my rattan. I love the first set. Those are all originals? or repo's? Want to sell da first set? I can leave it at my little bro's house. Eh tanks for sharin dat brah, I LOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEE Rattan and especially dem olda wuns like ya sed! AUUUUWIE!

Tiki_Bong, my wife and I are looking for cool places to go for fun weekend trips. Please provide room rates or the website for this exquisite resort from which you taunt us with these photos. :wink:

Is koa bamboo, and how can you tell the difference?

Dawntiki - the banana tree is a 'apple' banana tree which produces smaller, sweet bananas. If you're interested in a set of remake rattan (which is nice), I can provide you with a contact in Mission Viejo.

Gecko - Mike, the pieces are all from the 40's and 50's. We just finished the first set a couple of weeks ago. We picked up the frames from some folks we know in Encinitas (down by Judy, but not Judy).

Bamzeno - drop by anytime!

FlounderArt - you asked is koa bamboo? I think you meant is bamboo rattan - No. Bamboo is of the grass family, and rattan is of the palm family. In a nutshell, if it's hollow, it's bamboo; if it's solid it's rattan.

On 2003-11-24 09:27, Tiki_Bong wrote:
FlounderArt - you asked is koa bamboo? I think you meant is bamboo rattan - No. Bamboo is of the grass family, and rattan is of the palm family. In a nutshell, if it's hollow, it's bamboo; if it's solid it's rattan.

Mr. Bong, Mr. Art: the palm family is more closely related to the grasses than trees, Bamboo is a grass, rattan is a vinous relation to the palm, & Koa is a form of Acacia tree. If this was Sesame Street I'd say that Koa is not like the others, but the rest are merely cousins.

On 2003-11-24 10:35, freddiefreelance wrote:
but the rest are merely cousins.

You mean like in a Jerry Lee Lewis kinda way?

I think he meant a "Hee Haw" sort of cousin.

Thanks for sharing pics of your set and writing the detailed description. Very cool!
A

On 2003-11-24 11:08, Tiki_Bong wrote:

On 2003-11-24 10:35, freddiefreelance wrote:
but the rest are merely cousins.

You mean like in a Jerry Lee Lewis kinda way?

Like in a Hops/Marijuana way. You know about that way Mr. Bong? :D

Thanks Bong.

Excellent info. I think that rattan and bamboo are often confused with eachother until you learn the distinct and easy to recognize differences.

I always got tripped up on rattan vs. wicker. Is wicker a completely different material or simply the name of a finished product made with rattan?

Nice furniture assortment.

I should've posted this 1st before rambling on about the differences between rattan, bamboo & etc., but I like the furniture. I especially like the flowing curves in good rattan & I think you have some good examples of good rattan.

On the other side, I've always been afraid of wicker. I always think I'm going to fall through the seat of wicker chairs. This comes from my parents repeatedly telling me as a kid not to sit in my Gran'ma'a wicker chairs or I'll break'em.

Beautiful pieces Bong! When you say that you just finished the first set a couple of weeks ago... Did you refinish it or just do new cushions?
If you did refinish, what was your method? I've used boiled linseed oil on a couple of pieces. On one I left it alone with just the oil on another I then sealed with clear varnish. I'm not sure which finsh I like better... Any thoughts?
Aloha,
:tiki:

Right on Tiki Royal, I was curious how to refinish rattan and bamboo myself. Any help?

When we got the rattan couch and seat frames, they were in mint condition. We just purchased all the cushion materials and had 'em sewed up.

Email me with any questions you have re: finishing rattan and I'll ask KC Heylin, who is a master at such, and is asked to come over to the islands a couple of times a year to refinish pieces for Joe O'Neil and others.

Bong, the furniture looks great...I met a guy in Atlanta that buys and sells this type of furniture, and he's looking for those same type rockers you have pictured, for me.

there's a shop in waikiki that carries these sets- they have them produced "Frankl-style" in the phillipines and shipped over.

I tried to get a bedroom set all the way to Florida, but it proved to be quite an ordeal.

I wish somebody on this side of the country would start carrying this stuff.

On 2003-11-26 18:58, TikiBud wrote:
Bong, the furniture looks great...I met a guy in Atlanta that buys and sells this type of furniture, and he's looking for those same type rockers you have pictured, for me.

TikiBud,

One thing about those rockers, there dangerous after a few Mai Tais. I've seen a few people sit too far forward and fall right on their keester (myself included).