Question about color staining and wax

[LanfordB01]

I was staining a pipe for a friend who wanted a blue one and had it just the right tint.
I sanded with 8000 and 12000 with almost no pressure to even it out and then hit it with a heat gun to really set the stain solid.
After letting it set awhile I coated it with a beeswax/orange oil finish and it turned almost black! I was able to sand and buff it back a little, but still not to where I am happy. You have to be sunlight to really get the blue effect.
Did the orange oil screw me up?

 

[LanfordB01]

By the way, it’s my first time staining with a color so the posts on here were invaluable!!!!

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

What kind of stain was it? Alcohol, oil, lanolin, water based?

 

[LanfordB01]

Fiebings cut progressively thinner with alcohol each coat.

 

[Briarcutter]

It's too late for you now but you have to experement with colors. Even the browns will be different wet to dry, then add a finish on top, things change. You can try sanding it down again. I've no experience with the orange oil finish but I'd think that would also change things. You should also do your experiments with briar if your end purpose is staining a pipe. Different woods take stain differently. If you have a scrap piece of briar, slice it up on your band saw in thin slices and experement with that. It's a good idea if your experemental pieces have the same finish or smoothness as a pipe, different surface roughness will take stain differently also. You should stain it till you havevthe color you want, then apply the desired finish and only if you're satisfied, do the pipe exactly with the same process.

 

[LanfordB01]

Great advice as usual…. I was using an old cob as my test piece…. Totally wrong now I see. Absorbs differently.
I’m not “unhappy”…. Just wish it was a little lighter ….
Thanks for the help.

 

[georged]

It's too late for you now but you have to experement with colors. Even the browns will be different wet to dry, then add a finish on top, things change. You can try sanding it down again. I've no experience with the orange oil finish but I'd think that would also change things. You should also do your experiments with briar if your end purpose is staining a pipe. Different woods take stain differently. If you have a scrap piece of briar, slice it up on your band saw in thin slices and experement with that. It's a good idea if your experemental pieces have the same finish or smoothness as a pipe, different surface roughness will take stain differently also. You should stain it till you havevthe color you want, then apply the desired finish and only if you're satisfied, do the pipe exactly with the same process.

This ^^^^ This ^^^^ This ^^^^

(PS --- for anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, Briarcutter has made thousands of high grade pipes, and is one of the few people on Planet Earth to have developed a style that can be identified "across the room" at a glance. Here is what Greg Pease---as discerning and knowledgeable as anyone in the PipeWorld---had to say about his work twenty four years ago):

G. L. Pease - Pipe Reviews