Polishing W/O Staining a Pipe

[xBengalSlicedx]

Hi all, I'm in the process of restoring a Stanwell pipe I got via as a Christmas gift for my friend. (I'm a beginner to the whole restoration process.) I've sanded it down to a point where I would do the first application of a contrast stain so I would later sand it down to a finished point, do a final stain, and then polish it.

I'm looking at the beautiful grain of this pipe and wondering how well it would go if chose not to stain it and instead to polish and wax it without a stain. I saw this quote from Trever Talbert via Pipedia: "Ironically, the highest grade pipes have the easiest finishes, because I don't stain them at all. Instead, I leave them in their natural golden-brown coloring and simply wax them and polish them." (Trever Talbert on Finishing - Pipedia - https://pipedia.org/wiki/Trever_Talbert_on_Finishing). Has anybody tried this or have any luck with this? Is something advisable to give a shot?

I can post pictures of what I'm working with but likely not until late tonight, but this is the image from the seller before I sanded it, cleaned it out, cleaned the stem, etc.


EDIT: FIxed Capitalization in Title - Bob

 

[Chasing Embers]

Just out of curiosity, why sand it during restoration?

 

[diamondback]

I love questions like this. It’s a huge learning opportunity for me

 

[retrogrouch]

You can polish a pipe that is unstained/natural. When you are done buffing it will be darker than when unpolished. I can't speak for others, but when I refinish a pipe, I use micromesh on the wood to make it very smooth before polishing. Was there something wrong with the finish that you needed to sand it down?

 

[jpmcwjr]

And photos of its current state will be very illustrative.

 

[greeneyes]

... this is the image from the seller before I sanded it...

What did you sand it with? Are the original Stanwell stampings still visible or is this now a 'xBengalSlicedx original'?

 

[xBengalSlicedx]

I'll post photos tonight. Unfortunately, I had to sand down the Stanwell print a little bit- one of the issues with it was a crack that went right through the stamp from the end of the shank that I filled with epoxy. Looking back, I could have been a little more creative in how I fixed that but at the time I thought my only way to fix it was to epoxy it over and then sand the epoxy down. The Stanwell stamp is marred but still present and identifiable.

You can polish a pipe that is unstained/natural. When you are done buffing it will be darker than when unpolished. I can't speak for others, but when I refinish a pipe, I use micromesh on the wood to make it very smooth before polishing. Was there something wrong with the finish that you needed to sand it down?

As I put in this post above, there is some issue with a crack that I felt I needed to sand part of it down and then all of it to make it look consistent. There were also some surface marring and issues that didn't come off during my scrub with Murphy's.

It is good to know that it will darken, that's one of the things I'd be concerned about.

What did you sand it with? Are the original Stanwell stampings still visible or is this now a 'xBengalSlicedx original'?

As an amateur, I sanded it with 220 then 320 then 600 then went to the micromesh. I now know that I should be sanding with more inbetween those, and I will before I do any staining or polishing.


Thanks everybody for responding, but also for your patience- I'm new about this and looking to learn as much as I can! Things like taking care to preserve the original stamp are things I don't have the awareness to think of on my own.

As I said, I'll post images this evening.

 

[diamondback]

I can’t wait to see pics, Bengal.

I’ve got a box with 15 or so pipes in it, for the purpose of learning on. Some are garbage bag weights, some just need a bit of TLC. None of them are worth anything really so they’re perfect for gaining experience. If I mess one up badly, no big deal.

Not sure what the mods would think, but I think it’d be cool to have some threads where some of us restoration beginners can post pics of progress, or threads like “Okay, I’m stuck. Here’s my progress/issue. What should I do next?”

 

[greeneyes]

As an amateur, I sanded it with 220 then 320 then 600 then went to the micromesh.

Understood. Started with 220 grit, which is a bold choice to begin a restoration. I can't wait to see the photos either.

 

[xBengalSlicedx]

Understood. Started with 220 grit, which is a bold choice to begin a restoration. I can't wait to see the photos either.

Like I said, I'm an amateur. Not only a beginner at pipe restoration, but also at woodworking in general. What would have been better to start with?

 

[Chasing Embers]

There were also some surface marring and issues that didn't come off during my scrub with Murphy's.

I would have gone with acetone.

 

[diamondback]

I would have gone with acetone.

Ahh! That’s another tip for the bit-bucket.

/cheers

Oh: OP, do you know that YouTube is going to start shutting down channels that they can’t advertise on? I’m cramming restoration videos. I think they’re dropping the axe on 12/10/19. They might not get everything right away, but these pipe channels will be on the chopping block sooner or later.

 

[craig61a]

Buy some 9$ ebay junkers and work on them... until you get some experience. And take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt. Even though somebody can do a writeup of how to restore it doesn't really mean that they know WTF they're talking about.

And if you get to a point where you don't know how to proceed, or need advice on a plan of action, ask for help here. You'll get myriad opinions on how to do things here, some good, some totally ridiculous. You'll have to sort it out.

Get a copy of "The Weekend Refinisher" on Amazon or some other place. It's dated, and has to do mainly with refinishing furniture, but it will give you some good insights into working with wood.

Years ago, I refinished stocks on old military surplus rifles. One of the wonder methods that was circulating on the interwebs to strip an old oil soaked cruddy stock was to spray it liberally with Easy Off Oven Cleaner... yeah, lye does wonders for wood...

 

[craig61a]

Understood. Started with 220 grit, which is a bold choice to begin a restoration. I can't wait to see the photos either.

I usually break out the belt sander and some 80 grit...

 

[saintpeter]

I usually break out the belt sander and some 80 grit...

One I got just for pipes, LOL

 

[greeneyes]

Like I said, I'm an amateur. Not only a beginner at pipe restoration, but also at woodworking in general. What would have been better to start with?

To sand and restain a pipe, over, means that the pipe somehow had a flaw that needed to be corrected. Each pipe (I'm generalizing) is an artist's creation. You stripped the wood back significantly, and possibly effaced many of the unique identifying stamps the pipe had. The question I have is: was the pipe a "junker," was it on its "last legs" to warrant such an extreme treatment?

It's only a pipe, yes, but it may have been unique and valuable, and worthy of a restoration that preserved its original condition to the extent possible. It's somewhat of a horn transitioning to a Dublin.

The photos I posted were a bit of a nudge in that sense. It's the Ecce Homo "restoration" done by a well-intentioned elderly parishioner. She took a work of art with historical value and did what she thought she ought to in order to "fix" it.

Again, it's just a pipe. It may never be a Stanwell again. Can you identify your pipe before (or after) your treatment?

Here's a link Stanwell - Pipedia - https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell

 

[diamondback]

Buy some 9$ ebay junkers and work on them... until you get some experience. And take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt. Even though somebody can do a writeup of how to restore it doesn't really mean that they know WTF they're talking about.

And if you get to a point where you don't know how to proceed, or need advice on a plan of action, ask for help here. You'll get myriad opinions on how to do things here, some good, some totally ridiculous. You'll have to sort it out.

Get a copy of "The Weekend Refinisher" on Amazon or some other place. It's dated, and has to do mainly with refinishing furniture, but it will give you some good insights into working with wood.

Years ago, I refinished stocks on old military surplus rifles. One of the wonder methods that was circulating on the interwebs to strip an old oil soaked cruddy stock was to spray it liberally with Easy Off Oven Cleaner... yeah, lye does wonders for wood...

Oh yes!!!

Here’s my ‘to-do’ list:



Gouges, dings, dents, carbonization, oxidation, holes in stems, loose stems, stummels-only, uber-cake, cracked bowls, clogged draft holes... you name it, it’s in this pic.

It’s a collection just like Craig61a suggested. Best part? I screw one up, just toss it.

ETA: many of these pipes have no nomenclature. There’s a Dr. G or two, a Kaywoodie, and a Chacom stummel-only that I’d love to fit a danish style straight stem into. It’d make for a dapper straight billiard.

 

[diamondback]

Oh, not showing off, or, I certainly don’t mean to! All told I’ve got ~$40 in on these. I had the box. Wife found a lot of ~12 at a yard sale for ~$10. A couple picks off eBagz for ~$30 == a collection of garbage-bound pipes that I can futz around with

 

[xBengalSlicedx]

Sorry for not posting last night, things got busy.

Here's my update: I decided to go ahead and polish/wax the pipe without wax. Here's my result- I'm really happy with it.



As you can see, the Stanwell logo and print is still visible above the crack (its easier to see in real life.) (The crack is filled with epoxy, and the inside of the bowl is white due to a layer of pipe mud to patch some charring). The entire thing isn't perfect by any stretch, but for a first major restoration, I feel pretty good. Thanks everybody for your advice!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Nice work! But "without wax"? Did you use mineral oil?