Color me pretty. Stains suitable for pipes.

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aggravatedfarmer

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2015
865
3
I would like to get some recommendations as to what dye's are suitable to use on restoring or making your own pipe. I know it's a lot of personal preference and availability of what's around. I know fieblings is popular, is it located at Home Depot? It's definetly not at my local HW. I was wondering about Mini-Wax Stains. I have quite a bit around the house (with names like English Chestnut and Red Mahogany it makes it sound a little more desirable). Links, critisism, and jokes appreciated.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,250
108,352
I get Fieblings from Amazon, and usually use oxblood, mahogany and medium brown. Sometimes I go with USMC black to really make grain stand out.

 

tarak

Lifer
Jun 23, 2013
1,528
15
South Dakota
So after reading much on this- I would not use minwax on a pipe.
That said several years ago my wife bought me a beat up old Dr. Grabow that I didn't really care about. I sanded it down, stained with minwax, and buffed a little. And darn it, if that little pipe doesn't smoke really well...

 

exibar

Lurker
Sep 28, 2015
26
0
the "stain" isn't really stain but an alcohol based dye. Fiebings is a leather dye, you can buy it locally at AC Moore or Michael's arts and craft stores.

the petroleum based stains that you'd use on "normal" wood projects could introduce tastes that you wouldn't want, and could be harmful to you if you get them in the bowl.
Although, if done in exactly the right way, you could hit home run such that Tarak did.... however, why not setup for success right out of the dugout :)
Plus you can "fire" the alcohol based dyes to set them right away. with Min-wax you'll have to wait for them to dry on their own :-(
Mike B

 

michaelmirza

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 21, 2015
638
0
Chicago, IL
Thanks for bringing this up. I was thinking of using some leftover stain on a cob. I would plug the bowl to keep the stain only on the outside. Sounds like alcohol-based is the way to go?

 

wallace

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 20, 2012
126
1
I've been having really good results with a water based leather dye for my leather projects. I've wanted to try finishing a pipe with the product and see how it works. It's called Eco-Flo from Tandy Leather Factory.

 

ejames

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
3,916
22
I prefer the alcohol based stains such as the Fiebings but I know a guy who uses RIT brand cloth dyes with great results.

 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
I wonder, wouldn't a water based dye need some kind of sealing coat afterwards? I ask this as I recently bought a brand new Parker (allegedly a Dunhill second) that has repeatedly left a red stain on my hand everytime I have smoked it. I actually took a damp cloth to it and the red dye was coming away like billyo so then attempted to seal it with beeswax though with limited results. Perhaps more coats are required?
Regards,
Jay.

 
Jan 4, 2015
1,858
11
Massachusetts
By far alcohol based stains are the choice of the folks that do a lot of pipe restoring. Add a can of denatured alcohol to your set up and you can get a wide variety of shades from a few bottles of dye. The dyes can also be diluted and used as a wash to help even out color. Read the post that SS Jones put up on Petersons. The video shows dyes being applied at the Peterson factory. It's both interesting and informative.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
To some degree, the stain put on pipes is heated and fumes are inhaled. A little on the brim is burnt and inhaled. So though no one is going to certify the healthfulness of an of it, I'd be prone to stick with stains most usual in pipe manufacture and steer clear of those clearly designed for other purposes that could have all kinds of ingredients not intended for inhalation nor ingestion; what's inhaled is also swallowed to some degree. I wouldn't get quirky about this, but why up the risk unnecessarily? An unstained pipe, called unfinished or virgin in marketing, will develop a pleasant color and in a sense finish itself. So nothing, or stain that is commonly used, would be my preference.

 
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