Hi Guys, and thanks in advance. It's great there is some sort of forum that I can ask the many pipe related questions that I have. I have three pipes that I bought, mainly because the finishes looked nice. It turns out the fancy finishes have a habit of bubbling and coming off in parts. As I have been enjoying these pipes, I've decided to maybe sand them back and re-stain them in similar colours to the original. I've read about sanding at 400 grit and using fiebings dye (which comes in a number of colours). Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this and will aforementioned dye prevent briar from breathing or have any other negative effects on the overall smoking experience. Do I need to sand back to bare briar, or can I just sand enough so that they dye sticks as it were. Any help appreciated.
Sanding Pipe, Restoring Pipe, Bubble Finish
- Thread starter will346
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It's a valid reason for being attracted to a pipe, but probably shouldn't be the main criterion for purchase.
They must have a lacquer coating, and there is an ongoing debate about how that affects the pipe's ability to breathe -- and, in fact, whether pipes do in fact breathe at all. But the main point is that the pipes are being smoked too hot -- an all around bad practice.
I've sanded my only two lacquer-finished pipes with surprisingly good results, and re-finished them with only carnauba wax. They colored to a beautiful natural brown without staining. Sanding was much easier than I thought, but I have no experience with stains.
re: http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/the-breathability-of-briar-wood-what-do-you-think#post-479002
I agree re: smoking pipes too hot, bad practice. However, just for clarity and as an example, one pipe that I have has a blue stain and it seems that the shellac coating was the culprit during break in (Break in being the tricky part with these type of pipes as there is no cake to guard against heat) . I have sanded one of my brown stained pipes with 180 grit sandpaper just as an experiment, which has gotten rid of the shellac or whatever the gloss coating that bubbled was - I'm now wondering if I can just re-stain it with a fiebings dye of the same/similar colour or do I have to sand it with 400 grit paper all the way back to bare wood. I'd imagine (being no expert in anything) that if the shellac is removed and I'm not changing the colour of the stain that the new dye would take to surface of the pipe anyway and make it look half ways decent. Other more run of the mill pipes have survived over heating due my carelessness and with no ill effect on the finish. It's just some of these damn pipes seem to have an additional coating (shellac?) that causes the bubbling. I don't need the damn things shiny, just to look half decent with no bubbling and to smoke well! Thanks for the input.
I have six or eight gloss finished pipes with no bubbling problems, so done properly, the gloss finish shouldn't be an issue. The briar may not have been properly treated and aged, or more probably the finish was mis-applied. Can you mention the brands of pipes involved? That might inform the problem. I hope sanding them down will solve this. I'd try them with the finish removed; that might be the best way to smoke them. Like unfinished pipes, they would darken and "finish" themselves, I think.
One was a Peterson Atlantic with a blue stain and the other two are Parker pipes. Well those are run of the mill ones I own and have issues with. I have a butz choquin that has an intricate pattern covering but I expected the odd bubble on that as it's more an attractive piece than one to be chain smoked. I'm going to try sanding and caranuba wax on one and skip the stain to see how that goes. An interesting hobby all this smoking
https://rebornpipes.com/ is a great resource.
Be careful with sand paper, especially around the markings or you’ll erase them. Really fine steel wool with isopropyl & baking soda will work well. It might take a few rounds to strip it to the point you want. Fiebings leather dies work great, they turn out darker than the color selections would suggest. A light brown will be a fairly typical darker reddish tone. I would avoid any clear lacquers or finishes, wax it after the stain dries a day with Carnauba - even a good quality car wax like ‘Mother’s’ will give you good results. You need some power to buff it to a nice gloss and it will take 2 or 3 times to really shine. If you don’t have a real (bench mounted) grinding wheel you can take a hand drill under one leg so the bit sticks up between your knees, press down the trigger with one leg and use a 4” or so buffing wheel and you’ll get results that’s probably almost as good.
That’s super rough DIY that some might argue with - but you’ll be amazed.
You’ll also need a set of gradated micro sanding pads for stems. Black cyanoacrylate for filling tooth marks, obsidian oil and patience (more than stummels take) for stems.
Be careful with sand paper, especially around the markings or you’ll erase them. Really fine steel wool with isopropyl & baking soda will work well. It might take a few rounds to strip it to the point you want. Fiebings leather dies work great, they turn out darker than the color selections would suggest. A light brown will be a fairly typical darker reddish tone. I would avoid any clear lacquers or finishes, wax it after the stain dries a day with Carnauba - even a good quality car wax like ‘Mother’s’ will give you good results. You need some power to buff it to a nice gloss and it will take 2 or 3 times to really shine. If you don’t have a real (bench mounted) grinding wheel you can take a hand drill under one leg so the bit sticks up between your knees, press down the trigger with one leg and use a 4” or so buffing wheel and you’ll get results that’s probably almost as good.
That’s super rough DIY that some might argue with - but you’ll be amazed.
You’ll also need a set of gradated micro sanding pads for stems. Black cyanoacrylate for filling tooth marks, obsidian oil and patience (more than stummels take) for stems.
@Alexnc, Thanks for this detailed piece of info, speaking of final Buffing of Ebonite stem prior to applying carnauba, what is Your favorite Buffing bar, Blue Diamond, White or Jeweller red rouge?
I’m usually too lazy to it right and micropad by hand to the finest and then wax. But if I get out my ya ya’s it’s Tripoli, then white diamond and then wax and a clean buff
God forgive me for the questions. I've ordered caranuba wax flakes. I assume I'll have to heat them up so I can wax the pipe with the melted wax. Anyone know what to use as an applicator? I had looked for wax paste on Amazon but they all seemed to be for cars and I'd be worried they'd have additives that wouldn't agree with briar
The Fiebling’s dyes work perfectly. You can even ignite them when wet for a quicker dry. A lot of pipe makers use this dye and similar methods.
Several brands of pipes, all with bubbling problems? If that's the case, you may be smoking them hot, puffing and not sipping. In that situation, I don't think I'd apply the wax but leave them sanded and unfinished, and slow down your pace and reduce your puffing. Great advice on restoring these in the above posts. Best luck, and let us know what you do and how it goes.
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