School me on Keeping Briar Looking New

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
On my fine gun stocks, I use linseed oil to maintain fine walnut. On my fine saddles and tack and anything leather, I use neatsfoot oil to keep them supple.

On all my briar pipes I maintain the briar with olive oil.

Olive oil does keep up a beautiful, warm glow on briar pipes but it darkens them just like linseed oil darkens walnut and neatsfoot oil darkens leather.

Is there something better, than olive oil for briar, that doesn’t darken the wood?

If there is I’d love to find out about it.
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,761
30,592
71
Sydney, Australia
Olive oil goes rancid when it oxidises. Grape seed oil doesn't and that's what I use on my chopping boards and wooden knive handles.

I use Mark Hoover's (Ibepen) Briar Restoration Balm. Rub on, leave for an hour or two and buff with a soft cloth. If you want more of a shine, use micromesh pads.

I don't know what goes into the product as it is proprietary. I got it as part of a pipe restoration kit. The stem deoxidiser works pretty well too.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,630
44,855
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
The easiest way to maintain that new look is to never smoke your pipes.

Assuming that isn't a viable option, try either Halcyon or Paragon pipe waxes. If you want a mirror like shine, don't use a cloth, use your hands to hand rub out the tiny amount of wax that you've spread over the wood.

Olive oil doesn't thoroughly dry, and goes rancid over time. Clean it off before proceeding with another approach.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,700
16,209
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I'm guessing our collective legs are being pulled. Yet again? Just a feeling but ... the post speaks for itself.

Neetsfoot oil on saddles/tack? Baseball gloves and such I c an see. But, anything other than "saddle soap" on tack I don't understand. I don't want the skirts and straps soft and supple. There's a reason "saddle leather" is thick, form holding stiff and ... thick.
 

bassbug

Lifer
Dec 29, 2016
1,112
905
I'm guessing our collective legs are being pulled
This is what makes this place so special. Here I'm thinking the same thing but, being ignorant about the maintenance of gun stocks and saddles, I kept my mouth shut and waited. Sure enough, we have someone that knows saddles. now, do some of you gun owners want to chime in about linseed oil? I use it to seal my caricature wood carving before painting as it hardens too, but that's my limit
 

OzPiper

Lifer
Nov 30, 2020
5,761
30,592
71
Sydney, Australia
I know when the boys were growing up and playing cricket, they were advised to rub their bats down with linseed oil.

I also know that sometime ago my wife was taking a teaspoon of linseed oil daily after reading an article on its (supposed ???) benefits ??
 
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bassbug

Lifer
Dec 29, 2016
1,112
905
I guess we should be clearer...I'm referring to boiled linseed oil which is, as far as I know, toxic to humans but dries on wood much faster than raw linseed oil, which is why it's used.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
Olive oil goes rancid when it oxidises. Grape seed oil doesn't and that's what I use on my chopping boards and wooden knive handles.

I use Mark Hoover's (Ibepen) Briar Restoration Balm. Rub on, leave for an hour or two and buff with a soft cloth. If you want more of a shine, use micromesh pads.

I don't know what goes into the product as it is proprietary. I got it as part of a pipe restoration kit. The stem deoxidiser works pretty well too.
Thank you so very much.

I’ll try Mark Hoover’s Pipe Restoration balm if I can get it and grape seed oil regardless.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,765
13,789
Humansville Missouri
I'm guessing our collective legs are being pulled. Yet again? Just a feeling but ... the post speaks for itself.

Neetsfoot oil on saddles/tack? Baseball gloves and such I c an see. But, anything other than "saddle soap" on tack I don't understand. I don't want the skirts and straps soft and supple. There's a reason "saddle leather" is thick, form holding stiff and ... thick.
The United States cavalry specified pure neatsfoot oil to the day they quit issuing leather saddles and leather tack. But the first gallon I bought at a horse sale was an impure blend of mineral oil and neatsfoot. My second was the good stuff.

The one and only trouble with pure neatsfoot oil is that it darkens leather. But a good saddle is like a good pipe, in that a hundred years use makes it better.

An old saddle with countless coats of neatsfoot glows like a copper penny in the sun. Tack will eventually need replaced, and every piece of a saddle except the wooden tree might need a repair or replacements, but an Missouri Amish bench made saddle is forever, or until some old outlaw horse flips over a d breaks the tree. The only leather used that I see the Amish saddle makers use is Hermann Oak.





However, any brand of saddle soap, either spray or balm, or any other concoction sold as a modern neatsfoot oil substitute will work, and needs less work to apply, and won’t darken leather. It just never is going to make a saddle look a little better than the last time you oiled it up.

London best guns only use linseed oil finishes. I’ve tried everything under the sun to find something better than linseed oil for giving off a high end glow to walnut. I always go back to linseed oil. It’s magical stuff. It never quite dries, and can be polished to a high shine with a wool sock or taken to a matte finish using rottenstone.

I use extra virgin olive oil to polish pipes because unlike when I use carnauba wax or bee’s wax, it makes them glow like my gunstocks or leather boots.

But it will darken a pipe. This late 1940’s 7 point Three Star medium lovat was unsmoked and new in the box about 15 years ago when I opened it and put it in service. It was the natural color of briar and unstained then and it’s beautiful today. But eventually it will get as bronze as an old saddle if I keep using olive oil and a wool sock to polish it.

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I don't want my pipes to look new, just well maintained. I don't want anything to get rancid or to leave residue that then has to be cleaned off. I sure don't want to attack a pipe with a buffer that takes off the finish and the stamp. After I clean out the chamber and airway, I polish the whole pipe with a cloth, slightly abrasive if it needs that, and then a soft cloth for the shine. I like a pipe that looks clean but well used. Pipes that retain a new-look polish tend to look plastic-like after a while, sort of embalmed. If I were renovating a pipe that had not been well maintained, I might give it a boost of wax or polish, but mostly not. Many want their pipes to look new out of the box forever. That's not my approach.
 

Streeper541

Lifer
Jun 16, 2021
3,043
19,232
43
Spencer, OH
If and when I actually polish up one of my pipes, which is a very rare occasion, I just use carnuba wax or whatever polish came as an extra from the pipe shop.
 
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STP

Lifer
Sep 8, 2020
4,104
9,547
Northeast USA
I wipe down/clean my pipes after each use. On occasion I’ll detail/deep clean them as I would with my vehicles. I’ve found that Halcyon II Wax works great for polishing and preservation. It claims that “it resists heat, fingerprints, moisture and stem oxidation, and it will not remove stain nor harm the underlying finish.” All of which I’ve found to be true?

E9FB5E19-68A9-4FE9-A230-6DDB67395955.jpeg