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Question for you pipe refinishers.
PappyJoe
Master
I have a hobby of rescuing abused pipes from junktique shops posing as antique/collectible malls. Except in rare cases, I do the cleaning and polishing myself and have always been satisfied with the results. Usually this involves just lightly scrubbing the outside of the pipe with water and a magic eraser to remove grime and tape residue.
The question(s) for you guys who do refinishing is, "How do your remove the old stain and finish?" A suggestion from a reputable source is to soak the briar in an isopropyl alcohol or grain alcohol bath. He didn't provide much detail beyond that as it's probably a craft secret.
After removing the stain and finish, I plan on not applying a new stain (would have used leather dye) but I am looking at options for a new finish. One option seems to be lightly sanding the briar with 6,000 to 12,000 grit finishing sand paper and then coating with carnauba wax. The other is to apply Formby's Tung Oil, lightly sand and then wax.
What are your methods/suggestions.
The question(s) for you guys who do refinishing is, "How do your remove the old stain and finish?" A suggestion from a reputable source is to soak the briar in an isopropyl alcohol or grain alcohol bath. He didn't provide much detail beyond that as it's probably a craft secret.
After removing the stain and finish, I plan on not applying a new stain (would have used leather dye) but I am looking at options for a new finish. One option seems to be lightly sanding the briar with 6,000 to 12,000 grit finishing sand paper and then coating with carnauba wax. The other is to apply Formby's Tung Oil, lightly sand and then wax.
What are your methods/suggestions.
Comments
If you are looking for a lighter more natural look, you might try leather dyes in saddle or yellow. They tend to give me that light natural shade(s) you might be looking for. Naturally a wax and buff will slightly darken the original look of the dye, but overall I think it might give you the look you are looking for.
I also have applied NO dye, just waxed and polished and was pleased with the outcome.
Hope something there helps...
So I dropped my Big Ben Crosley in a jar of isopropyl and a Royal Sovereign in a jar of Everclear to see what the difference will be.
@PappyJoe I had a real old-timer (like we're not) that I met the STL pipe show tell me that some of the effectiveness of the bath depends on the pipe. That is, the grain of the pipe, whether the stummel was heated prior to staining (stain goes deeper), whether it was two-toned stained, the type of "varnish" used (I hate to even use that word), and how many layers, the duration of the bath (he recommended a minimum of 24 hrs., and naturally the amount of dirt and grim accumulated from use over the years. He also said to watch out for an over-active result that can strip some of the stamping to almost unreadable. That actually happened to me on one of my pipes.
He then told me that one given procedure will not work for all pipes because of all the variables. Kind of makes sense.
I have had a couple of pipes that almost reached 80% / 90% stripped, but I have never had 100% success. But that's just me. I am very curious to see how your experiment turns out. Please keep me informed...
One thing I was told though, is to just put a lid on the jars and save the alcohol, that its reusable. It also eliminates the need for salt and alcohol treatments.
@PappyJoe - That's correct about reusing the alcohol. There are some that continue to use it even after turning black from numerous uses. I personally change it out when it turns a strong tea tinge, but it still works as good as the first pipe.
As far as stripping the remaining stain to natural briar, I usually use 400 wet sand paper, then go to 1000 wet, after that I start using micro mesh pads. I have found that for me, the 400 grit greatly cuts the stripping process time with no adverse affects on the final finish of the pipe once I follow up with the 1000 and micro mesh... You do have to be careful to avoid any stamping with the 400...
Some people also put a very small percentage of high proof rum, or brandy, or whiskey, whatever, to enhance the "flavor and aroma" from the bowl. I personally have not done that, but it may be an alternative in your experiments...