Rusticated Pipe and Wax

[adui]

Put simply, does one wax a rusticated pipe, or is there another method of polishing / sealing it?

 

[lochinvar]

I've used beeswax, a soft brush, cloth and a hair dryer to polish some of my rusticated pipes. Works well if the rustication is not too deep.

 

[sasquatch]

Almost every rusticated pipe on the market has a hard finish of either shellac or urethane or acrylic etc. Take a dry toothbrush and give it a scrub. Wax will really just fill the texture and gum things up.

 

[jpmcwjr]

What sas said. You really don't want to "seal" a pipe.
How 'bout a photo of said pipe?
Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Postimage; Dropbox, etc. Photobucket), or on virtually any site, including this site's album such as eBay; Amazon Pinterest; Facebook; an online Pipe retailer; you-name-it, select the full sized image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose "copy image location" or similar words. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg or .png) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.
There are other good illustrations and steps on how to post photos under "Latest Discussions" in different formats:

LINK to that thread
And a how to on shooting: LINK to the thread.

 

[pepesdad1]

Sas knows what he is talking about...gum city!

 

[trubka2]

I don't wax anything except my toe knuckles, so I wouldn't know. Wax on pipes grosses me out. Don't know why, it just does.

Almost every rusticated pipe on the market

Does that include old pipes, sasquatch? i.e. has this been common practice for a long time? And is the same true of blasts?

 

[mikethompson]

What about Paragon / Halcyon wax? I thought one of those were made specifically for rusticated pipes.
What about using mineral oil on a rusticated finish?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Certainly, you can. But why? I like the contrast in color when the outer bits get darker from handling and the inner bits stay a bit lighter. As to waxes, I don't on blasts or rusticated.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

Almost every rusticated pipe on the market has a hard finish of either shellac or urethane or acrylic etc.

Castello Sea Rocks? Not sure anyone really would know about all of the various finishes they have come out with on this line since they stopped making them all black. I see many Castello Sea Rocks with stains that are to my eye impaired, most likely by a buffing wheel, so it doesn’t seem like they would have a hard finish. BTW, Bob Hamlin, who was the agent for the US importer, told me back in the 1990’s that Franco Coppo mixed all the stains and that no one else (Carlo Scotti was deceased by then) had the formulas. I asked what would happen if Coppo died. He said he guessed that Scotti’s daughter (Coppo’s wife) would have the formulas.
All I ever use on rusticated/sandblast pipes is a soft dry toothbrush (and a lot of elbow grease on estate pipes with wax buildup)

 

[adui]

All good info. When I get my block and carve it I'll remember these tips

 

[hauntedmyst]

Halcyon works well on rusticated/sandblasted surfaces. I use a toothbrush to put it on, then rub it out with a microfiber or terry cloth. If you see build up, hit it with a hair dryer lightly.