Refinishing a pipe

DavidR002 · March 2018

I brought a pipe on EBay. Just for fun I am refinishing it. After sanding the stain off what type of finish should I but on it. A stain, teak oil or something different.

Woodsman · March 2018

If you sand the Brier very fine,natural with an oil finish is nice, stained and oiled makes a nice mat finish. Fine polishing with Jeweler's Rouge then buffed with Carnauba Wax leaves nice shine on any color.

Kmhartle · March 2018

I use leather dye. It works great! Use a darker dye first, lightly sand so that the deep grain remains stained, then use a lighter dye over it. Here's a fishing pipe I made for myself a few years back with black dye then a mahogany dye.

DavidR002 · March 2018

Where do you find a leather dye.
Walmart. Also can you use a wood stain

Kmhartle · March 2018

I get my dye through Amazon. I seem to recall something about stain "sealing" briar but @Corey562 is probably better at answering that question than I am.

DavidR002 · March 2018

A friend that does wood work said maybe linseed oil

motie2 · March 2018

@DavidR002 -- What you want is FIEBING'S ALCOHOL BASED LEATHER DYE <====click here

It works great and is easy to work with (-10 pts. for ending sentence with preposition....)

hairrell · March 2018

The key is to use aniline-based, alcohol or water soluble dye, not oil stain, which has nasty smelling solvents. Use alcohol as the solvent if you buy a concentrate like TransTint wood dye. That's the brand that I use, but only because I have them around in my woodshop. Since you're working with tiny volumes of dye, I mix them fresh every time. With the concentrates, it's easy to mix custom colors. The Fiebing's shoe dye is a solid choice and used by many pipe makers. If you're just dying one or two pipes, it's also a lot less expensive than the TransTint.

DavidR002 · March 2018

Thanks
I will try the leather. Michael's sells it. Maybe I could refurbish some for EBay

AnantaAndroscoggin · March 2018

Tandy Leather is another place. One actually opened nearby in Lewiston last year.

KA9FFJ · March 2018

Just like @2motie2 says, Fiebing's Leather dye is the thing to use. Sometimes eBay is a good source also... Another tip @Kmhartle is to use a heat gun on the stummel prior to using your first layer of dye (in most cases, like yours, black). It allows the dye to penetrate deeper and hold the grain contrast a little better... Really nice job and I like the shape of that pipe. I'm assuming you have a push stem to go with it.?.?.

mfresa · March 2018

@DavidR002, don't use any wax but carnauba, It stands up the best and gives the best gloss.

KA9FFJ · March 2018

@mfresa Recheck my measurements I gave you earlier. I think I was wrong and did an edit. I suggest you use a few of your pipes and see what spacing will work best for you...

mfresa · March 2018

@KA9FFJ, will do.

Kmhartle · March 2018

@KA9FFJ Thanks for the tip. I'll do that when I get around to making my next pipe. I was relatively pleased with my first attempt. I decided to go old school and shape the stummel with only hand tools. I used a coping saw and numerous files. The only power I used was for the final buffing, polishing and bending the stem. It's nothing fancy and I wanted a good fishing pipe but I smoke it quite a bit. It's a really good smoker. It has a lot of imperfections, but I guess that gives it character. Here's the finished pipe.

jfreedy · March 2018

@Kmhartle -- This is the FIRST pipe you carved??!! Well done!!

KA9FFJ · March 2018

Great looker @Kmhartle You should be proud of your effort. Let us know how it smokes...

Kmhartle · March 2018

@KA9FFJ I actually made that pipe about 2 years ago. Although I intended it to be one of my fishing pipes, I end up smoking it about once a week. It's a great smoker that I've dedicated to aromatics. I've got another block of briar sitting on the workbench. I need to get inspired to make something of it. I just got another eBay find delivered so maybe this weekend after I finish restoring it, I may work on my next pipe.

@jfreedy Thanks for the kind words!

KA9FFJ · March 2018

@Kmhartle Sounds great...

Kmhartle · March 2018

My latest eBay find. A $12.99 Alpha Rex. This one didn't need much. I reamed and sanitized the bowl, then hit it with white and red jewelers rouge. Finished it with carnauba wax and giving it an overnight coffee ground treatment. I'll fire it up tomorrow.

motie2 · March 2018

@Kmhartle -- Congrats on your acquisition. I, too, have purchased some really nice used pipes on eBay; oftentimes their prices are ridiculously low. I've never paid more than $20.00

KA9FFJ · March 2018

@Kmhartle Nice pipe! Obviously I'm looking at the wrong place on eBay. All the estate pipes I find are 30, 40, etc. bucks unless their junk! Then again, I have more pipes than I know what to do with ( -10 points @motie2), so it's not really a big deal...

motie2 · March 2018

@KA9FFJ -- You get your 10 pts back as you ended a clause with a preposition, not a full sentence.

KA9FFJ · March 2018

Thanks @motie2 I'm sure I 'll need those points for a later date...

motie2 · March 2018

Kmhartle · March 2018

@KA9FFJ I have to sift through a lot of garbage to find decent pipes. Like @motie2, I try not to buy a pipe over $20. It's a challenge but it's rewarding when a frog turns into a prince on occasion. Also, the cheaper pipes help me hone my restorations skills.

Kmhartle · March 2018

I just scored a killer deal on a Meerschaum on eBay. I'm hoping it's as good as it looks and that I don't have an experience like @PappyJoe had recently. I'm researching Meerschaum restoration online, but if anyone has any tips based on experience, I'd greatly appreciate hearing them. I figure for the price, even if it is cracked, it will be good experience in trying my hand at Meerschaum restoration.

KA9FFJ · March 2018

@Kmhartle Agree with all. Love that meerschaum. Hope it turns out flawless. I only have one. It's a sultan head had to put a little work in it to be "acceptable". I have planned to smoke it later this spring and I'll post a pic then..

Corey562 · March 2018

@DavidR002 it really depends in what you are looking for fiebings makes a wide variety of colors and is available at most hobby shops but to get the scale of color you will more than likely have to order on line as far as wax I use a purified for of block carnuba for briar and bees wax for meershuams if you have any questions on staining I will be happy to help best I can.

DavidR002 · March 2018

Thanks, for the help. I got my wax in how is the best way to apply it to the pipe

motie2 · March 2018

A word in support of Fiebing's leather dye: Terrific!!!!!!!!

Refinishing a pipe

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