Received My First Estate for Restoration

[chiefwannapuff]

I picked up an old Frank Medico Standard Briar to practice restoration. I already soak it in alcohol and scraped the cake to just within the briar. Then cleaned out the stem.
The finish is worn down to the bare briar in places. The finish also appears to be cracking and ready to flake off.
My question: Is the finish just wax that can be softened via buffing? What's the best approach to restoring to factory or better? Strip it or?

Thanks.
Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Probably some sort of varnish. Acetone and a paper towel will make short work of that. From there, you can leave it be, or wax it.

 

[chiefwannapuff]

Thanks Chasing. I'll have to pick up some acetone, then. If I buff to a gloss, any recommendations as to what I should use? Turtle wax?

 

[mayfair70]

Carnauba wax or bees wax are the usual candidates. For simplicity, I always think "food grade" for anything pipe related, except acetone to remove a finish. 8)

 

[Chasing Embers]

With that rustication, I would say Halcyon wax, or the old reliable "nose" oil.

 

[uperepik]

That halcyon wax is good stuff as far as rusticated pipes go

 

[uperepik]

Also rebornpipes.com is a great site to comb around, they give step by step details on how they restore their pipes.

 

[chiefwannapuff]

It's not rusticated, but I do have another bowl that has chips and rustication would be perfect for that.
Ok. So, use a natural wax, got it. I need to get a buffing wheel for my grinder.
Thanks for the link, uperepik. Very detailed and photo rich site, just what I needed.
I think I'll got this route until I can settle on a style that I like, then buy a new one herein.
Thanks again!

 

[mawnansmiff]

"I need to get a buffing wheel for my grinder."
Slow down chum. Grinders tend to spin at much higher revs than dedicated buffing wheels. It can be done using a bench grinder but for optimum results a buffer spinning at about 1750 RPM is the way to go. Bench grinders work in the range ~3,000 - 7,000 RPM.
I myself use a pillar drill that I select 1800 RPM gearing and that is nigh on perfect though of course I am working at a different angle than if I had a bench mounted buffer.
Also, you will need at least two buffing wheels, one to apply the wax and one to polish it up. Always keep them separate.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[chiefwannapuff]

Ok, Jay. Guess I'll have to visit Harbor Freight. Bummer.

 

[uperepik]

Jay if you don't find the wax you need or buffing supplies, Paragon wax is a pipe wax designed to be used without a buffer. +1 on harbor freight, they will have all the drill adapters, pads and compound like white diamond, I think they just call it white compound. Not sure if they have carnauba wax. Sanding to the higher fine grained sandpaper is where you'll get a nice shine though. You can find mesh sandpaper pads at hobby lobby in the model section. They go from 3200-12,000 grain. Just a warning, this is how I became a crazed addict to this hobby.

 

[madox07]

Well .. where are the pictures of the finished product?

 

[chiefwannapuff]

I used acetone and since I could not find a shop in my area that sells polishing pads, I opted to use polishing compound to smooth things out. Removing the old polish revealed lots of fills. I guess at the time these were the cheaper, drug store variety? Anyway, I decided to try my hand at rustication via a butchered Phillips head screw driver to correct those fills. Then buffed with turtle wax (it's the only natural wax I could find on hand - I'll have to order some online).
I also soak her in kosher sale and alcohol, then coated the bowl with raw honey.

I hope to have better tools/materials on hand for the next one. She smokes nicely.

 

[chiefwannapuff]

Update.
I'm smoking carter hall, alongside one my Bamboo's, the MacArthur style one, here:

I can tell that the briar is imparting a taste of it's own into the mix. The bamboo is dry and tastes a little sweeter.

The bamboo does get hot on the draw, but cools quickly. I'd say that the briar is a better insulator.
I like both of them.