Finishing a natural pipe

[nogbert]

Has anyone ever bought a Natural (no finish) pipe from a manufacturer i.e. savinelli, and proceeded to finish it themselves?

could make for some interesting colors outside the norm.

im imagining staining and finishing one in some crazy color like blue just for kicks

 

[asmoke]

if you really want to keep it simple, use the food coloring you can get at the store. It's food safe and works well for coloring.

 

[nogbert]

i was more curious if any crafty/ DIY folks had ever done this. usually the natural finished ones are significantly cheaper. I would imagine staining and varnish/polishing it would allow for some interesting personalization

 

[Sasquatch]

Personalization yes, but those stummels are basically rejects from the factory line, so you can expect some pretty major ugliness to show up when you stain 'em.

 

[MartinH]

I've done this with cheap ebay pipes. I will sand them, and refinish them. Sometimes I have to even re-rusticate, when possible. Some of the rustications are so ugly (Dr. Grabow current series) that I practice my rustication on them. If you want some cool colors, look at Pipe Makers Emporium and check out their specialty colors. Some are really nice.

 

[George Kaplan]

If you're still pondering this, Nogbert, I can tell you those Sav Naturals are pretty nice. I've got one right here on my desk that I'm saving for my birthday. It's sanded smooth with no finish whatsoever, and while I've never stained a pipe before, (and don't intend to with this one) I've done a lot of finishing work back in my cabinet making days. In my estimation, these pipes should take quite well to a little stain. Sort of hard to see the grain pattern right now, as light as the briar is, and there is one TINY fill, but all-around a quality pipe.

 

[williamcharles]

Personalization yes, but those stummels are basically rejects from the factory line, so you can expect some pretty major ugliness to show up when you stain 'em.

That might make for a great conversation piece. Might make someone want to take up the pipe so they can have one of their own. Being disabled and on a damn tight budget all I can afford pipe wise is cheap shit anyway so to me it wouldn't be anything new. :lol:

 

[ejames]

If you have a leather or hobby shop near by you can get the Fiebing leather dyes there. The Greens,blues etc will not stay green or blue,with smoking over time they turn -mostly brown,with hints of green or blue.
Don't know how smooth you pipe is,but really smooth,finely sanded and buffed finishes will not absorb the stain to well. Might wanna sand with some 400,stain,sand 600and stain again. The only type of varnish/finish I would use on it is shellac.

 

[BuckeyeBoy34]

Nogbert

Its funny you bring this up. I had seen a savinelli unfinshed on an Italian website and was thinking of finishing one for myself. If you end up doing it tell me how things go.