Lucky's Tiki Bonanza - Now in 3D!!!

So, I'm going to be making some crate lamps, barrels, et cetera, and I need to start branding wood with RUM and XXX. Maybe XXX. Most likely just RUM. And possibly AKU AKU, for my home bar.

At any rate, I'll be making myself a branding iron or two, and while I'm at it, I thought that some of you TC'ers out there might enjoy one as well, provided my construction is up to your snuff. They'll be made of steel, with high temp paint on the rod/back of the iron, and a basic wooden handle. They'll be up for sale on the Marketplace when they're done.

HOWEVER: I need your help choosing what font looks best. Please take a look at the ones below, and if you would kindly reply with which is your favorite, it would be appreciated. I'll keep this updated with pics.

Mahalo!

[ Edited by: Hale Tiki 2013-05-13 12:43 ]

Or, if you have a better font suggestion, by all means, suggest it!

Number 3 has a more authentic look to me.

I like #3 also, Wendy

3 for sure.

Second choice, #5.

[ Edited by: Unkl Ian 2012-11-20 14:46 ]

ME 3
WIFE 3 AND 5

No. 3, definitely, as the aged/worn look to the type fits tiki well. Nos. 4 & 5 are a bit too "collegiate" ala an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt!

No. 3, definitely, as the aged/worn look to the type fits tiki well. Nos. 4 & 5 are a bit too "collegiate" ala an Abercrombie & Fitch shirt!

Yeah I want one!
And Number three has that Trader Vic jungle bar look to it.
Also how big would these be?
A 1.5 inch tall size is what I could use.
If you could make the rum and the XXX be two separate irons
it would be better as you would have more options on using these.

Let me know when you are done.
Great idea!

Hale, remember that whatever you use will have softened edges caused by the burning and that a distressed font like #3 won't look the same. You got a plasma CNC to cut them out with? Sweet! :D

Mike is right. I should have mentioned, it'll be the outlines only.

They will be made separate for my own use, and can be made as one, two, or one individually for whomever else.

And Mike, yup. I make things with tons of different materials and processes everyday at work. 3d printing, laser cutting, wood working, metal working, milling, CNC plasma...

Can I get some Laser Goggles?
you know Goggles that shoot Laser beams......in lime green.

So much cool technology out there Hale and so cool you have access to it at work. Not only can you make bitchin' stuff for yourself, you can get paid to do it! :D

As a Respiratory Therapist I get free breathing treatments and all the snot I can carry in my pockets :lol:

"And Mike, yup. I make things with tons of different materials and processes everyday at work. 3d printing, laser cutting, wood working, metal working, milling, CNC plasma..."

I would never leave work.
You are my new best friend.

Skip, just let me know what you need.
I also do mold making and casting.

Plasma bed size is 5x10', laser is 32x20"

Just saw this. #3 is the one I think!

I think #3 is the winner but I like # 2 as well, for what it's worth.

On 2012-11-21 13:04, Hale Tiki wrote:
Mike is right. I should have mentioned, it'll be the outlines only.

Outlines only, that is entirely different; I would go with #4

Maybe I'll make a few, and see how they actually look when burned.

1 Reminds me of old Trader Vic's stuff
2 Looks really old and worn, maybe 1700's
3 Is a maybe, though it's a crowd favorite
4 I've decided I don't really like
5 I still kinda like, though it's used in a lot of early 20th century baseball logos/jerseys

I'm going to make ones that just say RUM of 1, 2, and 3, and I'll post the results here.

Step 1

Ok so that is a rock star photo.
Looks great.

Hahahaha.

Thanks Skip! I took that with my phone. But, I do have 12 years and two Photo degrees.

I really like the full photo, and am impressed with myself. I'll have to post it tomorrow.

More steps tomorrow.

3

of course you can't make the brand 'faded' like 3 is but the letters are best, the rest look too modern, illustrated or collegiate.

Well, I got things cleaned up, though they're still pretty rough. They're a might bit small at size, and with the necessary thickness, well, I don't think anything is going to be clean, which could work.

I'll be posting more photos at lunch-ish.

Well I could use small a font.
Want to brand this light.
Let me know.

That'll look reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll nice, Skip.

So where you at on this?
Done?

Work's been a little nutty, but here's the first test.

It's on plywood, held for 5 seconds, heated with a propane torch. I think it's a little too much heat/time. It burned away the laminate immediately. I'll do a test later on hardwood.

That's font 1, by the way.

I think it looks good! Might want to try 3 seconds and see how that turns out. Very cool that you have a machine shop that you can make these in!

I'm doing more trim tonight, so I'll run a test on pine, and see what hardwoods I can gather up.

nows there's something I'd never seen before. Very nice.

Hale, that turned out great. I think you'll like the result on a solid board vs plywood better

Following along...looking forward to seeing more results.

Wonder if you could make a brand with a couple different tapa patterns and how those would look?

[ Edited by: jimsflies 2013-01-02 08:16 ]

Interesting. Wendy

Yeah whats up?
You were zomming along and then nutin.
Don't know where this stoppage could have come fom.
Tapa would be cool.
Opps, From left out the "r".

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2013-01-02 23:29 ]

Hey Skip.
Christmas vacation is what happened!

I'm back to work today, but am super behind. I'll be working late next week to get a few more iterations done.
Thanks for checking in, and reminded me to hop on it!

I've got a barrel and a crate that need branded asap.

Hope you had a good holiday!

Can you do a Logo branding iron?

Seriously very curious...

Thanks for posting this thread

McTiki

You too skip! I gotta send you that hat picture.

And yes, I can do logo, depending on the complexity and final size.
Shoot me a PM with the graphic.

More updates today/tomorrow as I stay late to finish them.

Hey all. No progress on the branding irons yet. Had to do Tiki Tuesday last night. We did our Tiki White Elephant, and I came home with some nice Siestware and two mugs from the Mai Kai.

However, I did do some testing with materials for a super secret swag lamp project that I'm working on. I can't say what it is, but I now know the following:

1. The material is perfect for swag lamps.
2. It's nearly indestructible. I beat it with a hammer, and I can't get it to break. I tried using a vice, throwing it, nothing. It's in the mid 70's on the D scale for Shore Hardness, for those of you whom that makes sense to.
3. The light is slightly diffused, making for excellent transmission.
4. It tints REALLY well.
5. It's a heck of a lot more cost effective than traditional resins.
6. It's got a high heat resistance, making it safe for use with lighting.

I've got quite a lot more work to do before I'm ready to start building, but there's a bit more testing/molding to do, and I'll keep this space updated with the progress. When I'm done, they'll be for sale in the Marketplace. It'll be the first of it's kind, and I'm super excited.

Here's the first two tests. The orange was the first, and had far too many bubbles to be acceptable. The blue was the second, and is almost completely air bubble free. I found only 5 near the back of the item while polishing.

Very cool- so it IS a resin? (looks like one). Look forward to hearing more....

TikiAno. I should have been more specific. It's not the oft-used clear casting resin. It is a plastic, but it's not clear, and it's not anything you can get at a craft store.

And actually, it's so damn hard that I can't break it with a sledge hammer, regular hammer, sheer force of will, nada. At half an inch thick, the stuff is nearly indestructible.

Which means I'm moving onto Plan B. Ah yes, Plan B. Plan B deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the...sorry, wrong movie. Plan B involves individually casting the chunks, ensuring repeat-ability.

I'm working on that mold today.

And while I was at it, I ordered a case of restaurant grade mai tai glasses, and will be engraving them for my home bar, and if anyone else is interested after I get a successful run (which should be relatively easy), I'll be doing them for home bars, as well as with some classic designs like the ones that were available last year through the Hukilau site. Obviously not that design, but I've started to cook some things up.

So.

I didn't get much of a chance to work on my own work last night, as I spent the night making a branding iron for my wahine's brother's girlfriend's roller derby team. Their annual awards are this weekend, and she knew about my rum branding iron, so she asked me to make one of the awards. The award: Grade A Fresh Meat, for the best new player. The roller derby is pretty big around these here parts, with three league's within an hour and a half of Pittsburgh, with two of the leagues being televised by the regional cable company. I even performed at a bout in the fall, as part of a special event, that they said was too much for cable. That's right, Lucky the Painproof Man, too gross for cable.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the non-function (at her request) branding iron:

It's a t-bone steak, with the letter A, gold hammertone finish.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled tiki:
I got a few things tiki related done. I finished the RUM branding iron, though with all the other mayhem, I forgot to take photos of the results in non-laminated wood. I'm very happy with the results, and so I finished off the iron with a coating that will resist temperature up to 2000F, though I don't know yet if the coating will stay on the part that actually contact the wood. We'll have to see. I'll have to get a photo of that next week. For now, here is the finished RUM branding iron:

I got one of my molds poured for the chunk lamp. I'm super excited, and I can't wait to show some progress here. I've also started work on my rum crate lamp, which is the whole reason I did the branding iron. I got the idea from Tiki Diablo and have wanted one for my home bar since I saw it. More on that next week as well. For now, may your rum bottle always be filled!

Just a small update for today. My mold is dried, and I used about a gallon of the resin that I went with to produce about 60 chunks or so for the lamp. I've done them in every color I could without mixing tints. Orange, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, dark green. I'm waiting on some florescent tints to come in to get more colors, but for now, it looks like I'm stuck with those. I'm making another mold with different chunk shapes and sizes, and I'll cast those in the new colors, and mix some of my own from primary colored tints.

And here's the pile I currently have.

I'm thinking of making a rectangular or tubular lamp first, just to get the hang of arranging the chunks, before moving onto to my final design. Not sure. Well, that's all I've done today, other than cast more multicolored tikis out of the same material.

Oh, and I've got another project that I'm starting. I recently was fortunate enough to buy a Gecko Hawaiian Scorpion Bowl. I was unfortunate, however, that despite reasonable packaging, the USPS decided that the box was best transported by using it as a soccer bowl. The bowl did not make it. It kills me when tiki mugs are broken in shipment, especially hand made ones. I was heartbroken, and although the USPS will refund what I paid for it, I can't get another one.

I could glue it back together, but bits are missing, and so the gaps would show, it wouldn't be usable, and, well, it wouldn't even look nice. I see no way to have a function mug again. Some of you that know, or work with pottery may be familiar with Kintsugi. For those that aren't, it's the Japanese art of pottery/ceramic repair that uses gold sprinkled on a resin.

Although I can't afford gold, I can afford resin, and gold powder used in the casting industry, which is just a brass alloy. And so, in the next few days, I'll be attempting to reassemble the Gecko bowl. Pictures to follow.

Hale, good luck with your bowl repair - that looks like an interesting technique.
I would be surprized if 2000 degree paint stayed on your branding iron. I sprayed some high temp ceramic paint on a metal firepit and it was toast! :D

Did you bake the paint?
High temp paints often need tempered at lower temperatures in order to bake them into the material, much like a powdercoat.
I've used them a lot on engine parts over the years, and have learned a few tricks along the way. Like annealing steel in order to bleed it of the moisture from it before applying a coating. Most people don't realize that even raw steel still has moisture in it. I'm most worries about it adhering where the brand contacts the material. Never ran into that situation before.

And thanks, I sure hope it goes well too. I don't have solid gold at my disposal, like a lot of the kintsugi masters had 100+ years ago, but the powder will do just fine for a decorative piece. I think the gold will look nice alongside the deep brown as well.

"Did you bake the paint?"
Yeah, by building a fire in it :lol: