TIKISKIP: Rehabing Kahiki Tiki Bar Restaurant lights

Going to do rehabs on the Kahiki lights I have, there are many.
Will post photos of them here.
Some of the "lights" I got are not lights as they have no sockets or paper in them,
and some just need new sockets and wiring.
Others need lots of repairs.

Here we go.....

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[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-04-21 14:41 ]

TikiSkip,
Your TS sign is killa! Looking forward to mo pix.
Do those portholes light up?
Cheers

First you need to bend the rattan.
I would guess that when these were made it was right after the rattan
was harvested and this would make the rattan bend much better being as fresh
and green as that would be.
I say this because it's hard to get the rattan you buy now to do what it does here.
But if you baby it you can get it to work.
Just think though they did not have time to baby this stuff as they most likely made many
of these baskets a day and were paid by the items they made not per hour.

TIKISKIP

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-04-21 14:43 ]

Thanks, portholes do not light up as that is my shed.
Did some photos of the one light as I went but don't know where that disk is.
Will add later if I find it.

Last photos are a light that needs some rattan work paper and socket.

![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/4035/513ce114.jpg)  
"Let us sale one to you"  
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[ Edited by: tikiskip  2014-04-21 14:42 ]

I love to follow a good project. The rattan lights are really impressive. I love the twisted rattan. Good luck!

• Dale

Great thread, Skip. Looking forward to updates.

I bow down to your lamp making (and refurbishing) excellence.

Keep creatin. Awesome stuff.

tiki skip, couldn't you soak the rattan in water for a while and then bend and shape it. Maybe you are already doing this.

Yes, soak rattan and it will become flexible and then dry to shape. I have only used large rattan this way, and there is a limit to how much it will bend. I'd bet the small stuff will bend a lot. Obviously it did as you have those shapes!

"I'd bet the small stuff will bend a lot. Obviously it did as you have those shapes!"

Well yes and no, it does bend when you soak it in your hot tub, but that tight loop was hard to get.
I had to really work the rattan to get that one as it kept breaking.

Love this tool!!!

Have done many rehabs on Kahiki and Kon tiki lights over the years.
Here is a Kahiki light I did for the Tropical Bistro tiki bar and restaurant in Columbus Ohio.
See it came to me a basket if that.
Don't know who got this light the Bistro boys sold the good stuff to a "cop" they said
and snaked it away from me, This was a cool light and I wanted it.
Before and after.

¤(¯*•.(¯•..TIKISKIP..•´¯).•*´¯)¤

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-04-22 11:06 ]

Thanks everybody!
And Monkeyman you are going to give me a fat head to go with my fat body.

Oh and here is a cool new project by MM.
Monkeyman you are one talented guy for sure, one of the old timers I have watched for years.
Having one of my lights in your bar is a highlight of my resume, The South Pacific Room Is one
of the TOP home bars world wide fo sho and has been in Tiki Magazine twice!
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=35684&forum=20&start=165

Ok got the rattan in place, did not want to replace the whole broken thing in the middle of the
light but just small sections, this will help hide the repair I think.
If I had replaced the whole thing Natural binder cane would need to be replaced, and then
that would look new and need to be aged, KISS, keep it simple stupid.
Lastly I used watercolor paint to blend in the repairs.
Got my rattan at Franks cane and rush supply.
http://www.franksupply.com/

The long part is next, going to add a netting and paper to this one.
Could take years.

¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸TIKISKIP,Lights,ECT¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-04-22 11:12 ]

Love it!

I have one of those baskets as well, I may require your services to get it looking awesome again! :)

Looking forward to more posts!

Lena.

Thanks Lena.
Is your basket from the Kahiki?
Can you show a photo of it here, I can get the stuff needed and you can come
over and I will show you how to fix it if I can.
Good to hear from you.

Ok did get some done on the light not much.
Since I will be putting netting and paper on this light I will need to cut sixteen net panels
and sixteen paper panels, oh and two center octagon panels.

"Roses are red, these floats are blue, Send me some money and they belong to you"..."TIKISKIP"

Tikiskip, thanks for showing how you create and repair these wonderful lamps! I'm always fascinated by your skill. Now I just need to kick myself in the butt and light up some floats.

aloha, tikicoma

Thanks Tikicoma.
I'm maybe 1/4 through on this light and already I can't wait to be done with it.
There is a lot of BS work on this one.
But it is Kahiki and I want it to last another 50 or more years.

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MADE YOU LOOK! TIKISKIP LIGHTS

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

Ok here is some more work on this light...

Penny for your thoughts, I think pennies make better weights for to hold down
our panel while glue dries than they do money for to spend.
One by one the panels go on, I like to alternate as this makes it easier to glue down I think.
This side down now the same thing needs to be done on the other side.

-:¦:-•:'"":•.-:¦:-•:TIKISKIP:•-:MAKES:-•:TIKI*:•-:LIGHTS:-•:'"":•.-:¦:-*

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-05-05 05:56 ]

You are a genius.

Just a guy with Scissors and glue.

Just got four matching Kahiki lights to rehab they just need cleaning and rewire mostly.
Will post pic's soon.

That's what Vincent Price said!

Cool ATP.
I look at that and see a hand holding a shrunken head wrapped in rattan light.

Here is the first Kahiki light have done the rehab on it and have a total of four
of these same lights.

Got these from a guy who was at the egg roll Kahiki sale I had just bought like
2 thousand bucks worth and had no room for more, But the girl liked this guy and was
giving him like crazy low prices, so when she would tell him a super low price
on some Kahiki thing I would say so how much is this then to a smaller thing
and bam get an even lower price than he did.
I could not say no, Shoulda brought him the first time.

lights that were broken went for low prices, but at that time was not sure if
I could fix em or not.

Wish I had bought even more.

-:¦:-•:'"":•.-:¦:-•:TIKISKIP:•-:MAKES:-•:TIKI*:•-:LIGHTS:-•:'"":•.-:¦:-*

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

Beautiful work as always Skip!

Very nice.

Thanks, but mostly cleaned off the peanut oil that was on this light.
All of the lights that were in the sale were at the egg roll factory
had a strong smell of peanut oil I guess from the frying of egg rolls.

I want so bad to put Tapa on that tube in the center but don't know
if I should mess with them that much.
Plus would need to cut bottom ring of rattan and replace it.

Have an idea of where these would work.

Need to finish that first light.

¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸ TIKISKIP™ "Go to the light"© ¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

On 2014-04-18 11:38, tikiskip wrote:
Going to do rehabs on the Kahiki lights I have, there are many.
Will post photos of them here.
Some of the "lights" I got are not lights as they have no sockets or paper in them,
and some just need new sockets and wiring.
Others need lots of repairs.

Here we go.....



Nice!

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-==--==--==--==-Google "Tiki bar lights" To find TIKISKIP-==--==--==--==-

¦:-·:''"":·.-:¦:-**-:¦:-·:''"":·.-:¦

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2014-04-21 14:41 ]

Can't wait to see what you're working on next.

We were just in Maui and every time I saw a cool light I thought of you. Wendy

Thanks Jamie, you most likely will be the first to know via email.

Those are some nice floats Wendy.
I think of your post when it gets like really cold here say 1 degree, the
post where you show the thermometer and it says 50 degrees, your quote was
"man it's really cold here today"
The other day the local news got all happy because it was going to be like 35 degrees!

It's time to move when the UP side to the weather is 35 degrees.
Enjoy Maui, and thanks.

On 2015-02-18 14:25, tikiskip wrote:
Thanks Jamie, you most likely will be the first to know via email.

Those are some nice floats Wendy.
I think of your post when it gets like really cold here say 1 degree, the
post where you show the thermometer and it says 50 degrees, your quote was
"man it's really cold here today"
The other day the local news got all happy because it was going to be like 35 degrees!

It's time to move when the UP side to the weather is 35 degrees.
Enjoy Maui, and thanks.

Awesome!

I took an electric blanket with us to Maui. I used it every night. I could live colder than California. You poor people. Wendy

Hi Skip, just curious what kind of glue is best to use for attaching net and paper like you used in that rehab project? Cheers

On the paper Elmers white glue.

"Dear Mr. Sanders I love your chicken could you tell me what is in the breading?" :)

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2015-04-13 15:16 ]

Working on one now. Will try to post progress. And still need to finish that one up top, I often get to a point where it gets a bit hard and I just drop it have not touched that light for years.

Wow I was a bit crabby back then I think it might have been partly because I had a bad knee then got it replaced then it did not work so pain can make you crabby.

Plus I can be a pain in the a$$ too so there is that, in person it's a lot more fun to be around me,

promise.

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2022-04-21 18:42:53 ]

Skip, great to see you are still working on lamps! PS - I did not edit your post regardless of what it says LOL

Ha! awesome if somebody is going to edit me, I would want it to be you.

Gald yer back Mike.

Looking forward to some restoration updates.

Also, I'd love to plan a trip to Ohio to meet you in person, but I'll only come when the weather is nice....

Ok Hamo but best to come in the months of June through August as it might be sunny and even warm. Bring a suit as in pool not business.

So here are a few Kahiki lights I have to work with, don't know why they had or even made lights that have no lights in them.

You can see this in the "light" they just sold in the Oceanic arts auction # 824.

I had two of these I put lights in so they would be lights. I can tell ya after all that work even, I did not get $1,230.00 each for them. Not even close.

These are NOT from the Kahiki but from the Cleveland kon Tiki.

Here are the Kahiki ones I have to work with...

¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸ TIKISKIP™ "Go to the light"© ¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨ --------------------------------------Lights, décor for home and commercial ----------------------------

Here you can see how they had many broken rattan what I call ribs.

Need to fix those first.

So after you remove the broken ribs you then replace them with new Pieces of rattan seen here. I think this ended up needing over ten new ribs.

Then I kept breaking them too, so that did not help.

TIKISKIP Lights___ I wanna bite the hand that feeds me. I wanna bite that hand so badly.

Great to see the lights again Skip! Hey on a side note are you still helping out with the local swallowtail population? Keep up the good work and posting those pics.

Yeah, one hatched in the end of winter and felt bad about that guy, guess he got too warm, my fault.

BUT I just pile on new things and it gets kinda hard to keep up.

Did get the neighborhood kids doing it too so they are hatching them out too. Mostly the Painted ladies you buy on line.

They are too young to go and find the caterpillars and raise them all the way its a job.

But hey plant dill or fennel that's what they eat. Also cherry trees and Magnolia trees, plus make sure you have water for them too.

They like to suck on rocks in the morning as this gives them minerals to live/grow.

See almost no Yellow swallowtails anymore don't know why, and Monarchs are rare to see too.

Man used to see Monarchs all the time as kids.

Sorry for the delay on this light fix but it has warmed up and man we got a TON to do.

Saw my first black swallowtail yesterday!

So kinda stumped on this light for now need to make a mold of sorts to see if that helps. Want to put netting and paper inside and that can be tricky, and my hot tub workshop has been closed due to rain.

BUT one thing I did find out the hard way is that after I bent the rattan into shape and put on basket to fix broken pieces it then had to be stained with watercolor paints to match other rattan parts on light.

Well damned if the bend did not start coming out of the rattan from the wet paint. You know it was just that curly Q at the end of the top parts, so it was not tied down or anything like that.

Had to replace the one that were really bad and move on.

Lesson learned I guess. Will do it again I'm sure.