Looking to touch up an "Oxblood" color pipe

[Dixie Piper]

Any advice on how to match the color of "Oxblood"? It's a little lighter than the color of Burgundy.

 

[Briarcutter]

What area size are you talking about? Smooth or rough finish? It makes a difference. Picture's would help.

 

[Dixie Piper]

What area size are you talking about? Smooth or rough finish? It makes a difference. Picture's would help.

The top rim and just below. Nothing major. It's a rough finish and I took some off with Murphy soap trying to clean it up.

 

[ssjones]

Fieblings Oxblood stain, heavily diluted

 

[Briarcutter]

Get some burgundy/oxblood stain and dilute it with alcohol. Get a piece of scrap and coat it until you match. If you're going to top coat it with something like shellac be sure to do that on your test piece as well. Once you figured it out and are satisfied, stain the pipe. That's probably the safest way. Or......you can take the diluted stain and do the pipe until you are satisfied. That's a bit risky though, you may not get it right the first time. Use a Q-tip to apply the stain.

 

[Dixie Piper]

Get some burgundy/oxblood stain and dilute it with alcohol. Get a piece of scrap and coat it until you match. If you're going to top coat it with something like shellac be sure to do that on your test piece as well. Once you figured it out and are satisfied, stain the pipe. That's probably the safest way. Or......you can take the diluted stain and do the pipe until you are satisfied. That's a bit risky though, you may not get it right the first time. Use a Q-tip to apply the stain.

Thank you very much sir!

 

[Dixie Piper]

One last thing, what alcahol does one reccomend for dilution?

 

[xrundog]

One last thing, what alcahol does one reccomend for dilution?

Isopropyl works fine.

 

[Briarcutter]

One last thing, what alcahol does one reccomend for dilution?

I use denatured alcohol in the shop.

 

[anotherbob]

You could be old school and get ahold of some real ox blood. It's where that particular shade of purplish red gets it's name from. And yeah the real thing was used for that color prior to modern stains.

 

[VDL_Piper]

You could be old school and get ahold of some real ox blood. It's where that particular shade of purplish red gets it's name from. And yeah the real thing was used for that color prior to modern stains.

This made me think. I always wondered why the new iterations never look like the old oxblood pipes from days of yore. The colours are close but there is always a quality lacking and your post was the epiphany for me. Its the oxidation of the oxblood on the meerschaum which gives it that colour, its almost like a rust colour with the rich red mahogany.

 

[Briarcutter]

I've heard this and have no idea if it's true. The reason barns are typically red,at least in U.S. is farmers made their own paint. Logically from what they had readily available. Milk paint and colored with blood and or rust.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Yes Larry, have heard of this too. For me on those old oxbloods its been that rust colour that comes through the mahogany and fiebing's dye or calcine just doesn't achieve that but when you see blood spilt when killing an animal you see that reaction of the blood with the air on a surface and its oxidation. That's the hue that makes those old pipes apart from their age so desirable.

 

[huntertrw]

Fieblings Oxblood stain, heavily diluted.

I have successfully used Everclear 190-proof grain alcohol.

 

[Dixie Piper]

You could be old school and get ahold of some real ox blood. It's where that particular shade of purplish red gets it's name from. And yeah the real thing was used for that color prior to modern stains.

I'm literally going to be smoking my oxblood pipes in a cow pasture at times.

 

[anotherbob]

I'm literally going to be smoking my oxblood pipes in a cow pasture at times.

well fortunately it will show them whos boss.