Kaywoodie restoring 2 different finishes

[rx2man]

I picked up a few Kaywoodies of Ebay, and have been "restoring" them. I say "restoring" as I am new to it and even with all the reading still learning. Re: the finishes. I am noticing some have a fairly light stain, redish tint to it that buffs up and look real nice, easy to see the grain. There are others with a really dark stain. I have soaked them in denatured alcohol to lighten them up with marginal effect. The stain seems to have penatrated deep into the briar. I give up and buff em up with bar carnuba and they look good but IMHO not as good as the lighter redish tint. Anyone know if there were different stains used on older pipes or if there were different stains going at the same time? Also any way to get rid of the dark stain without sanding it off and losing the markings. Am I not soaking them long enough?

 

[deleon]

If I'm removing the stain and the ghost tobacco in the bowl, I bowl the bowl after reaming. I use 99 Isopropyl Alcohol in low flame and let it come to a small bowl and place the pipe in the alcohol removing the it as it get darker until the alcohol is a very light browm color. When I do this the stain is faded out. Best bet is to wear gloves after you take the pipe out of the alcohol so you wont get any dirt or grease from your hand on the pipe, it will darken again. If you want lighly sand the pipe to get rid of any scuff you see avoid sanding the stamping if you want then apply the stain you want. You can use a heat gun after you apply the stain for it to dry faster or let it sit for a day or two then buff.

 

[rx2man]

I have not tried Iso alcohol, I did use baking soda and peroxide to get rid of what I thought was water stains and it worked. I will try iso to lighten....thank you. I am going to post some before and after.

 

[jah76]

I never thought about warming up the alcohol....good tip De Leon.
Welcome aboard RX. I've been getting into restorations the past few months too. I usually just sand quite a bit to lighten up a darker stain, but a lot of times I think they used heavy heavy stains to cover briar that wasn't that attractive.
And if you haven't seen it reborn pipes is an awesome resto site.