Cleaning the Pipe

[sablebrush52]

Great thread. I love the idea of cleaning the rim with a block of wood with leather stretched over it. Going out to the garage to make that right now.

Good lord, why? All you need to clean the rim is a rag and some spit. Takes the gunk right off.
Soap and water will remove dirt from the exterior, as will Murphy's oil soap. Spit and a rag will do it was well. Then I polish with either Halcyon or Paragon pipe wax. To get a high gloss shine, don't use a rag. Instead, apply a TINY amount of polish with your fingertips, spreading it over the pipe. Then rub the excess on your hands and and polish with your fingertips and palms. The friction of the polish rubbing against itself while the wax sets up will produce a very bright glass-like gloss to the wood.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

For me a q tip or two or three swabbed in the mouth works on buildup. Rustic/blasted get toothbrush with water and castile for cleaning estates. Sable is right, Paragon is a microcrystalline wax so it polishes itself. I keep a 4000 grit pad swabbed with it for touching up handled pipes, great on the button.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I used the leather with the suede side out. Yeh, a cloth works just as well, but to me it just takes less time to rub and twist it for a few stroke on the block, plus it brings up a better shine on my polished rims IMO. But, yeh, not a necessity at all, just a choice.