Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Tiki Torch

My daughter is getting married in July, in my backyard. She wants tiki torches as part of the ambience and I was tasked with finding a way to install them.

Tiki torches are made from bamboo, and my soil is hard. Our house is built on the edge of an old gravel pit and the dirt in the back yard is hardpan clay intermixed with pit run and gravel. Not the best dirt for growing grass, and it's decidedly impossible to just stick a bamboo post in the dirt. It ain't happening.

So, a little brainstorming with my metal-worker son and we came up with a plan.

We cut thin wall 1 5/8" pipe into 12" sections. This is common fencing pipe found at any lawn/garden center. Then, we welded 12" landscaping spikes to each pipe section.



Simply hammer the spike into the ground and put the tiki torch into the pipe section. Voila!



Easy to install, easy to store. Ten of these took about an hour to construct in the shop. One chore down, many more on the list. We're all happy she's getting married, but I'll really be happy the morning after, when it's all in the history books.

4 comments:

Bob S. said...

Lowe's sells a metal stake with a 1.5 inch opening for the same purpose.

I, unfortunately, don't have a metal shop so I purchased several of these.

Too hot in Texas to try them out yet, but all my torches fit in the holders.

Pawpaw said...

"Lowe's sells a metal stake with a 1.5 inch opening for the same purpose."

Really! I didn't know that. Thanks.

It was a chance to work with my son, which is an opportunity I wouldn't have had if I'd just bought them.

Flintlock Tom said...

Hand-made is always better than store-bought, just ask Junior.

Anonymous said...

2 to 1 odds says your misses is going to want them painted black to match the torches.