The Ultimate guide to Tiki staining.

Kia-Ora,
I've done a search but the results are less than conclusive.....but I'm looking to see what the carvers here use in terms of the wood they are working with and what they hope to achieve, also the conditions the tiki is likely to be subjected to. I'm thinking a quick summary (inc. photo?) would help in a form similar to this:

Example:
WOOD: Palm.
STAIN: Shellac only.
DESIRED FINISH: Vintage appearance.
LOCATION: Indoor.

Including brands/volume of stain may be of advantage and feel free to elaborate with the process in the "STAIN" section (i.e stain, sand, stain, varnish, sand, etc.).

Thanks.

great idea! I would love to find out about this subject too.

I wouldn't use shellac on anything going into a tiki bar, because the damn stuff's soluable in alchohol!

If you want an old, vintage look on light colored wood, first get a small propane torch at the hardware staore and go over the wood LIGHTLY with the flame. This raises the grain. Then, steelwool off most of the brown color and stain. Wipe off some stain with paper towel on the high spots to give it a veregated look.

If you use colored paints, you can age the colors by mixing up an acrylic "grunge." Just use some browns and black, but use LOTS of water, and wipe it off the high spots with a paper towel before it dries.

But don't use shellac!

Blue Moose

Blue Moose,
Thanks for the tips. That is very useful! I've wanted to try that "Witco" look on wood, but wasn't exactly sure how to go about it.
Thanks!

This is what I use on my frames made from Poplar (wood)

Minwax Stains. I almost always use the Provincial Color.

I generally use DEFT brand laquer in Satin or Semi Gloss.

boiled linseed oil works like a champ for a natural aged look, be sure to clean the brush well when finished with paint thinner.$

For hardwood pieces that will be outdoors I used Several coats of marine varnish. Remember the person who ends up with the carving is most likley not going to do any upkeep on it so the better the finish the longer it will last. I used usually the Home Depot brand of vernish. Here are some before and after pix of carvings carved in 1990 and visited in 2001..11 years later with NO further finish added.




These carvings were hung on the side of a house in direct afternoon sunlight until purchased by this owner who displayed them in his plant nursery(thinking I was dead!)kind of like shrines. (when I showed up and took these pics, the man almost had a heart attack)
You can see some wood color fading but the finish is still glossy and fine.

Benz!! Those tiki are KILLER! I hope I look that good in another eleven years. Great pics thanks for sharing.
Can marine varnish be applied at any time, or is it best applied from the git go?

Lot of good tips going on here too:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10587&forum=7&25

Chongolio

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

Come explore http://www.lost-isle.com

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-09-09 20:39 ]

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-09-10 16:11 ]

i bought an unfinished redwood pole at O.A. i used the minwax "driftwood" stain. it is a kinda olive color but still shows the natural red color of the wood. it really makes the wood look old. i did not use any type of clear coat cause the tiki is house-broken. hope this helps.

Just finished this guy.
Here's what I used in order:

*Pine log
*Jasco Copper-Brown Wood Preservative
*Minwax Golden Pecan Wood Finish
*Minwax Indoor/Outdoor Helmsman Semi Gloss Spar Urethane

8FT Tiki,
I've been wondering about that JASCO stuff. It's a great preservaive & wards off termites, pests, & tiki rot. But it's super oily. Does it create any problems with the finish that goes over it?

Scary lookin tiki, bro. Love it. Also love the loungin' wahine in the background! Is she a statue? Girlfriend? Blow up doll?!!?? Hard to tell from the photo, but she looks georgeous!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ben, that wood is really beautiful. What is that? I've been looking into 2-tone staining, but with wood that nice I could just varnish it & save the effort. Beautiful color! Hope Charley & Frances were kind to you & Ivan just stays away. Take care, my friend.

Thanks Aaron. The Jasco product that I am using is not oily but rather is a liquid as thin as water. It absorbs quickly into dry wood. I hope that it will protect my carvings which are outside in the elements. It does darken the tone of the wood quite a bit though and gives it a sort of dark rusty look. Not a problem if you are going to follow it with a dark stain but I wouldn't recommend it if you want the finished project to be a lighter color. The wood just needs to dry for a day after applying JASCO. Then you can apply a stain or sealer. JASCO is available at Lowes and I think it is about $7.00 for a quart. Comes in a plastic container that looks like a bottle of auto antifreeze in shape but quite a bit smaller. One container lasted me for 2 carvings. Hope this helps.

That's great 8FT. I guess the JASCO product I used was different. If there's no problem with staining, I'll use the watery JASCO product, cause I think it does protect the tiki better for the outdoors.

I lifted your response above & put it into my string as an FYI. I hope you don't mind.

Thanks a lot,

A-A

Here's another good one, Ono.

So, just put clear varnish on a palm wood tiki for indoors? What about stain. I was thinking of staining mine to match my bar top which is a dark redish finish. Is that not kosher for palm wood?

Hi Digitiki,

I think PEDDRO, the guy who originally posted this one way back, was just listing that as a suggested format. You probably wouldn't get a "vintage" look that way. Stain is very kosher for palm wood - it soaks it right up. If you use varnish, remember that it has a yellowish or golden tone, and it will tend to brown up your reddish tones and make your lighter stains look a bit on the "golden" side.

A-A