Mineral Oil For Faded Finish

[mtwaller]

I saw an old thread about this a while back, but I thought I’d revive the subject in case it could help somebody else. I recently cleaned the gunk off a Radice Rind using spit and a paper towel, and while it worked great, the finish was severely faded afterward.

(Cue the mineral oil)

I dipped a pipe cleaner in the oil and rubbed it into all the nooks and crannies. One pass, rubbed off the excess with a paper towel, literally took 30 seconds. Color me freakin’ impressed. It’s incredibly gratifying to do practically zero work and get these kind of results.

Obviously, this probably doesn’t work great for every finish. A smooth virgin stain might be a totally different story. But I’m damn happy with what it did for this dark rind finish

 

[NookersTheCat]

Looks great, and great to know! Especially since that old halcyon mixture everyone swore by is now gonzo... I kept meaning to order a few but ofc kept putting it off and as usual paid the price (God knows how tacking on $18 worth of pipe finish would've just tanked my budget after dropping $500 on pipes and baccy )

I wonder how well it will hold up. As well as if it's more a touch up or something that could be used as a full-on finish on raw pipes. I still have quite a few unfinished briars stashed away from the heady RNATreasures days, perhaps I'll give it a shot on a 3 buck chuck.

PS what made you use saliva as a stripping agent... advice or blind curiosity? Lol

 

[Chasing Embers]

that old halcyon mixture

Too much mineral oil can darken briar and weep as the pipe warms up from smoking. Renaissance Wax is a fair replacement as is a jeweler's cloth.

what made you use saliva as a stripping agent.

Saliva enzymes break down tar and nicotine. A warm damp paper towel works as well.

 

[mtwaller]

Looks great, and great to know! Especially since that old halcyon mixture everyone swore by is now gonzo... I kept meaning to order a few but ofc kept putting it off and as usual paid the price (God knows how tacking on $18 worth of pipe finish would've just tanked my budget after dropping $500 on pipes and baccy )

I wonder how well it will hold up. As well as if it's more a touch up or something that could be used as a full-on finish on raw pipes. I still have quite a few unfinished briars stashed away from the heady RNATreasures days, perhaps I'll give it a shot on a 3 buck chuck.

PS what made you use saliva as a stripping agent... advice or blind curiosity? Lol

I’m in the same boat with halcyon, I didn’t realize it was gone until just recently. We’ll see how this holds up. And yes to what Embers said. I’ve seen the saliva and a paper towel method mentioned numerous times on the forum.

 

[sablebrush52]

Basically, anything that polishes a surface will increase depth and contrast.
Fortunately for moi, I scored 6 jars of Halcyon and Paragon waxes a couple of months ago. Renaissance wax will work just as well. I wouldn’t use oil.

 

[JackOrion]

Have you ever gone beach combing, came home with rocks that looked cool wet at the shoreline but dull when they were dry?

 

[mtwaller]

Have you ever gone beach combing, came home with rocks that looked cool wet at the shoreline but dull when they were dry?

Yeah I take your point. Rim looks good enough for me with a light coat of mineral oil and then I buffed with a silicone pipe cloth over top of it about 8 hrs afterward. It’s been almost 48 hrs since i applied the mineral oil and it looks exactly the same. Hopefully it doesn’t fade back out. Either way, I don’t plan on slathering oil on the rim repeatedly. If it keeps, great. If not, I’ll just run my thumb over the rim whenever I use the pipe and my finger oil will darken it back up lol, I’ve seen that plenty on my Peterson with a smooth natural finish haha.

 

[sablebrush52]

Have you ever gone beach combing, came home with rocks that looked cool wet at the shoreline but dull when they were dry?

Have you ever coated a painting with gloss varnish and then photographed under Polas?

 

[edger]

I use Howard Wax-It-All on briar and stem after every smoke. This stuff is beeswax,carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil.
Works great and keeps things simple. Try some!

 

[NookersTheCat]

I use Howard Wax-It-All on briar and stem after every smoke. This stuff is beeswax,carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil.
Works great and keeps things simple. Try some!

Will do! I'm currently about to use their "Restore-a-Finish" and "Feed-n-Wax" to quickly spruce up an old but decent enough solid oak entertainment center I found with a free sign on the road in the rain to use as cheap office furniture lol. Their products seem top quality and very reasonable but I didn't realize til now checking their site for that one how many they had for so many different applications. I'll probably try that as a finish on my raw ones, I'm sure the wax will help the durability... Cheers!

 

[Briarcutter]

PS what made you use saliva as a stripping agent

I don't know the technological aspects but I know it works. I heard museums use it to clean. But look it up, magical properties

 

[sablebrush52]

I don't know the technological aspects but I know it works. I heard museums use it to clean. But look it up, magical properties

PS what made you use saliva as a stripping agent... advice or blind curiosity? Lol

Enzymes in your saliva is what does the trick. There's nothing new about this. Pipe smokers have been doing it for decades.
Museums have used saliva as part of the cleaning process during restoration. Also nothing new.

 

[warren]

Some pipe smokers enjoy amassing "stuff" such as waxes, bags and such. Others of us are minimalists, keeping it simple. Strictly a personal choice, saliva or "stuff."

 

[sablebrush52]

Some pipe smokers enjoy amassing "stuff" such as waxes, bags and such. Others of us are minimalists, keeping it simple. Strictly a personal choice, saliva or "stuff."

Or, a bit of both.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I use Howard Wax-It-All on briar and stem after every smoke. This stuff is beeswax,carnauba wax, and food grade mineral oil.
Works great and keeps things simple. Try some!

I as well use Howard Butcher Block Conditioner. I keep about a third of a strip of paper towel folded up that has had a couple drops soaked in on my desk. After pipecleaner goes through airway, pipe gets a quick wipe with it (including vulcanite stems).
I used to use mineral oil, Renaissance, etc but the Howard product works better for me.
Caveat-I don’t strive for showpiece finish in my pipes to gaze upon, just maintenance to keep my smoking tools nice.
For top quality lasting beauty, a real polishing and buff with carnauba is probably the gold standard for a reason.

 

[warren]

Or, a bit of both.

Thanks for the coda. Perfect!

 

[NookersTheCat]

Enzymes in your saliva is what does the trick. There's nothing new about this. Pipe smokers have been doing it for decades.
Museums have used saliva as part of the cleaning process during restoration. Also nothing new.

I know it helps seal small wounds and clean/pretreat small stains on clothes in a pinch just didn't know about the tobacco residue. Also tbh I kinda misunderstood that he used it to strip and refinish the whole pipe in the beginning too lmao

 

[sablebrush52]

I know it helps seal small wounds and clean/pretreat small stains on clothes in a pinch just didn't know about the tobacco residue. Also tbh I kinda misunderstood that he used it to strip and refinish the whole pipe in the beginning too lmao

Something else about saliva as a cleaning agent. Blood stains are notoriously difficult to get out of fabric. Should you accidentally cut yourself and get blood on your clothes, wetting the stain with your saliva before washing will break down the blood stain and it will completely wash out. Being a bit of a klutz I’ve had occasion to accidentally cut myself without realizing it, and I’ve used this method to remove the occasional cuff or sleeve blood stain.
However, should you murder somebody else and try this trick to remove blood stains on your clothes before the cops come calling, your saliva won’t work on someone else’s blood.

 

[NookersTheCat]

However, should you murder somebody else and try this trick to remove blood stains on your clothes before the cops come calling, your saliva won’t work on someone else’s blood.

My Nana knew this as well. The old timers may not have understood the microbiology/enzyme science behind it but they knew what worked.