Re-staining a Rusticated Pipe

[buffalopat]

Hey everyone,
I decided to try my hand at restoring an estate pipe. Picked up a pipe for $6 on ebay that looked interesting, but the only downside is that it has a God-awful dark stain. The pipe is rusticated, so I was curious as to how difficult it will be to sand down to re-stain it and if you have any tips for me before I jump into it. To be honest, this is a bit of an experiment, and I'm not too worried about ruining the pipe, since I haven't put a lot of money in it anyways. Thanks!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You'll have a devil of a time sanding a rusticated pipe. But, you can use denatured alcohol to remove the finish and acetone will remove most of the stain. But, the problem is that even this will leave the deeper set stain in the grain. So, if you want just a lighter stain, it probably won't work. Plus, seeing streak of the darker stain within the rusticated surface, most likely won't be appealing. But, who knows, I might be wrong. YMMV

 

[mso489]

I think sanding would be too time consuming. How about cleaning up the briar and spend time on getting

the stem to look as new as possible, and going with the darker stain. Add a band? There might be ways to

pick up the pipe without refinishing the briar.

 

[jah76]

How deep is the rustication? If it's deep enough you can lightly sand the "top" layer and then give it a nice light stain. This can contrast with the deeper, darker, rusticated bits.
Must. See. Pics.

 

[purplemotoman]

I have sanded a rusticated pipe. I use a small wire wheel on a Dremel tool and it works very nice but you have to take your time. I also unrusticated a pipe once and you can be amazed at what's underneath.

 

[buffalopat]

jah76-Pipe hasn't arrive yet, so I don't know exactly how deep the rustication is, but that may be an option. I will get do some before and after pics once it arrives and I get I finish the process.

 

[goinslow]

Keep us posted I would love to see the project and how it turns out!

Pics please!

 

[hawke]

Yes, Id like to see this process too. Un-rusticating seemed like it would make the bowl too thin.

 

[buffalopat]

Got the pipe today. This is what is looked like before I did anything.

So, now that I have the pipe in hand, sanding it down completely is out of the question, so I decided to follow the tip from jah76 and sand the high points. I started by bathing the pipe in alcohol (Bacardi 151) to remove the finish. This also removed some of the stain, which happened to be purple of all things. After that I lightly sanded the pipe with 600 grit sandpaper which made the high points on the briar really pop. I liked the contrast between the dark and light, so I decided to go with it and applied wax. I followed the article here on the forums to take care of the stem. Below is the end result. Not sure what kind of pipe this is, as the only markings were that it was Made in London, but I like the look now and it has a nice big bowl.

 

[hawke]

Appears like it was a sandblasted rustication. Black when removed often looks purple so it was more than likely black or very darkly stained. Much more contrast now Mr Buffalo! Stem sure looks different! WOW. So did you use that heat treatment deal?

 

[buffalopat]

For the stem, I used oxyclean, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and micro mesh. Worked out great.

 

[jah76]

Nice job on the stem.
The bowl looks brindled.