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