Finishing a cherry pipe with shellac

[sprucewane]

Hello,
i am new on this forum but I have consulted it for tips in making pipes. For the past bit i've been making my own pipes, and have made some for friends. Cherry is my material of choice due to its low cost and availability, plus it's beautiful, especially with a nice coat of shellac!
Now, i've read here and there that putting a coat or 2 of any hardshell will not allow a pipe to breathe.... At first i laughed and disregarded that point... The joke was on me a couple of nights ago when i was smoking a pipe i had just made, was super stoked about how shiny and awesome looking it was, then as i was smoking, the shellac started to bubble and flake off. Hefty buzzkill.
So I sat down and looked at it. I noticed that the shellac was only coming off on the portions of the round face of the bowl that were end grain. Another observation i had made while smoking was that the end grain parts got way hotter than the edge grain. So then I remembered how a tree works, they are designed to transport water upwards, the end grain is like a bundle of straws. the damn pipe was pumping all that built up steam through the path of least resistance, right out the front.
SO. I stripped the finish, then masked the material surrounding the bowl, and padded on a couple of coats. It looks beautiful with the two tones (gloss and natural). All this got me thinking that absolutely, you can't suffocate a pipe with finish, but, it's nice to have a shine and to make the pipe a bit more durable, so, do it but give it ventilation.
I have another bowl blank in my shop which has the end grain oriented towards the top and bottom of the bowl. I plan on putting a good thick coat on it, but i'll leave the top and bottom unfinished for that steam to escape.
We'll see how that works! (i'll cry if it doesn't, I like shiny things)

 

[rblood]

As an amateur furniture maker and long time woodworker, I would agree with your assessment of the finish failure sprucewane. Cherry is my wood of choice for furniture because it does finish and age so well.
When you said you padded it, was that with cut shellac?
I have thought about trying my hand at making a pipe for myself, just have never got around to it. Can you post some pics of your cherry pipes?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, pictures would be great.
Me, I avoid any paint on pipes, be it shellac, varnish, varathane, you're a thane, whatever thane.

 

[zack24]

plan on putting a good thick coat on it, but i'll leave the top and bottom unfinished for that steam to escape.

A better plan would be to get some platinum blonde shellac flakes and some denatured alcohol from Stewart McDonalds- use a 1pound cut- very thin, gives a nice shine, and no bubbling issues. Buff that out with compound, buff on a coat of carnauba wax and it will look great...If you want to experiment on the cheap- get some Zinssers Bulls Eye Shellac from Home Depot- the 1 qt comes in a 4lb cut- then add 3 parts denatured alcohol to get it thin enough...
Anything else is too thick and will be a goopy, bubbly mess...

 

[sprucewane]

Right on! I'm in a cabinet making program right now. Loving the woodworking, but not the MCP shit-boxes LOL. Back to carpentry for me.
Just used your typical Zinsser Bulls-Eye shellac. I believe it's a 50/50 ratio. it brushes on really thick, so i pad it.
Honestly, making your own pipe is very gratifying when you get to smoking it and a hell of a blast along the way. All I have for tools is a Bosch power drill, riffler needles and a really sharp hunting knife along with some saws, even without the right tools I pull it off and don't drive myself nuts.
Now, my pipes aren't traditional at all, they're 100% wood and quite small but a bowl will take a light, and stay lit until done. I'll throw in a pic of a birch bowl one as well (although i would not recomend using birch, tastes funny)

 

[mcitinner1]

Spruce it sounds like it's time to get few briar blocks.
Easy for ME to say, right?

 

[sprucewane]

Too expensive for me. I get my cherry out of the school's scrap bin, it's free! lol I also find mahogany, walnut, maple and such,which I use for stems.

 

[sprucewane]

Anything else is too thick and will be a goopy, bubbly mess...
I would like to cut my Bulls-Eye just don't have the denatured alcohol, but as I observed, that was only on the end grain parts that the bubbling happened, everywhere else was still good, not even tacky.

 

[rblood]

I agree Zack 24, high quality flake and quality alcohol is the only way to go. Shellac has such a short shelf life once mixed. If you are using it just for pipe bowls I would bet you will be throwing away most of a quart tin before it gets used up. Google French Polish and you will get the gist of the cut Zack24 is recommending.
Blond followed by garnet shellac (more brown tone) gives me the most natural looking finish on cherry furniture. Cherry darkens so well on its own anyway...
Anyway, enough of that before I forget I am not on a woodworking forum.
I think you have gotten me fired up to start on a pipe of my own!

 

[zack24]

high quality flake and quality alcohol is the only way to go

I couldn't agree more...which is why I usually smoke Stonehaven and drink Ardbeg Scotch when I'm not making pipes...
..and here's an example- this was the shellac buffed out, before the final polish with Carnauba...

 

[sprucewane]

Oh man, that's nice. i'll have to get my hands on ome of that stuff down the line.
How the hell do you post pictures on here? lol

 

[sprucewane]

Here's a pick of the new one,

cherry bowl and mahogany stem.

 

[torque]

Buff that out with compound, buff on a coat of carnauba wax and it will look great...

I can see this having application in restos as well. If you don't mind my asking, what compound is best for this process? I'm assuming a fine grit to keep from completely removing the shellac.

 

[mso489]

Some factory pipes have a bright glazed finish that is heat resistant. I have three pipes finished this way: a Iwan Ries unstamped "house pipe;" a Giani bent billiard; and a Jobey straight billiard. All of them smoke well, bubble free. So the manufacturers know how to formulate the high gloss finish so it is also heat resistant. Surprisingly, none of these pipes gives the impression of "not breathing." These old pipe making outfits know what they're doing and aren't sharing the information, understandably. Personally, I like minimal or no finish, but I can argue with the smoking traits of my three high finish pipes.