"Hand Polished" Any Significance?

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flakyjakey

Lifer
Aug 21, 2013
1,117
7
On eBay, and elsewhere, I've seen a few estate pipes described as "hand polished". I would have thought that any pipe bowl not polished mechanically with a buffer is by definition hand polished. Am I missing something? Does the term have any special significance??

 

ghost

Lifer
May 17, 2012
2,001
4
'Squatch for the win.
When I shop eBay, unless I'm familiar with the seller and their skills, I'd prefer they don't polish at all. Hand or otherwise. I don't view that as a selling point at all, I'd rather do that sort of thing myself.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,831
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Weeeeeeellllll, if you know how to do it, you can get as bright a polish by hand as by buffer. Having used buffers professionally daily for over a decade as part of my work manufacturing jewelry as well as restoring estate pieces, I'm reasonably familiar with what a buffer can do.

Using Paragon Wax I get a tough brilliant polish by first applying a minute amount over the surface with my fingertips, then by rubbing the surface against the palms of my hands. The polish rubs against itself and imparts a finish that I never get with a cloth. You can repeat this a couple of times to fill in small surface blemishes, much as buffed carnuba does.

As for what an ebay seller means, who knows? It's ebay. People spin all sorts of tales.

 

rcstan

Lifer
Mar 7, 2012
1,466
8
Sunset Beach NC
It can be a good thing, and it doesn't mean the person can't afford to buy machinery. Some folks do more harm than good when they get happy with a buffer ( erasing nomenclature, changing the contours of the stem etc ). Like the others have said though, it might just be an embellishment of the condition.....

 

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
@sablebrush52
Thanks for that tip. I will have to try polishing sans cloth next time and see.

 

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
Oh and sablebrush52...does that work with Halcyon II? It's not that I'm too lazy to try it and see for myself, rather I'm too lazy to find where the cats deposited it after playing hockey with the jar.
hehe, I was wondering the same thing!
Personally I am going to try some carnauba wax (that is designed for wood finishes) on one of my smooths. Then I may try the Halcyon II on a different pipe and see if there's a difference.
I notice that my carnauba does a better job than the Halcyon II on smooth pipes, but the Halcyon is still better for rusticated pipes.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I go with the translation, I haven't played hell by abusing the pipe on a buffer, but I did dust it off and

rub it up a little with a cloth. It is probably as intact as it was before the "hand polishing."

 

flakyjakey

Lifer
Aug 21, 2013
1,117
7
@sablebrush et al - I just had another thought - "pipes are for thinking" (JRR Tolkien) - I do a lot of thinking! lol. Anyway my thought relates to a tip about briar polishing given by Carleton Hacker in his authoritative tome "The Ultimate Pipe Book" (in my edition it's on p.96):
"...This finish can even be accentuated by rubbing the warm pipe against the sides of your nose, around the nostrils, and along the forehead - places where a large concentration of natural body oils appear. These oils can be rubbed WITH THE FINGERS into the pipe as you smoke it, imparting a deep tone to the wood......"
Ever since I read this about a year ago I have been doing it with my smooth briars. I think he's right; it makes me feel even more at one with my pipe, and there is little/no chance of rubbing out the markings! LOL
But don't let 'her indoors" catch you at it - mine did - she thought I was completely crazy, but then she thinks that anyway, and she may be right, but for the wrong reasons!! LOL
Do any other 'mad pipers' indulge in this "disgusting habit" (her words! lol)??

 

numbersix

Lifer
Jul 27, 2012
5,449
53
"...This finish can even be accentuated by rubbing the warm pipe against the sides of your nose, around the nostrils, and along the forehead - places where a large concentration of natural body oils appear. These oils can be rubbed WITH THE FINGERS into the pipe as you smoke it, imparting a deep tone to the wood......"
You know, I can believe this works, but if my wife ever caught me nuzzling my pipes, I think she'd divorce me - lol!
All in all, I suppose I will have to live without a deep tone to my pipes. :puffy:

 
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