refinishing a pipe

[flytyer]

I bought a beater pipe on ebay, i dont have alot invested about 18 dollars. Long story short it smoked horrible, and had what looked like polyurethane finish inside and out. Tasted like smoking a chemical fire.
I sanded off all of the finish inside and out.Now i want to stain it and put a
some kind of finnish on it just to see how it will come out.Just looking for some input and dirction as to stain or finnishes. Or should i just leave the bare briar......its going to be a fishing pipe mostly.

 

[Ol'Dawg]

On a few of my fishing/hunting pipes, I've sanded to bare briar then used some walnut gun stock stain. Then used either Arango Briar Pipe Wipe or nose oil (not kidding) to add some shine and protection from dirt. On a warm day, just rub the outside of your nose with clean fingers then apply to the outside of the pipe and buff with a clean cotton cloth.

If there's a pipe shop nearby with a buffer, they can apply carnuba wax with their buffer to polish and protect the briar. It will darken the briar and after several smokes will look as if it were stained a golden brown.

Good luck,

Jim

 

[Mikem]

The best stains to use on briar IMHO are the alcohol based stains. I "think" that they use the same stains for dying leather goods. I usually get mine at Pipe Makers Emporium http://www.pipemakers.org/misc_products.htm but have also purchased them from a local wood working store here in Phoenix called Woodworkers Source. I know that Rocklers also sells them. I would tend to stay away from stains used for refinishing cabinets and furniture due to the chemicals in them, but that is just my preference. You can really get some nice colors when using two different stains. I like using an orangish (spelling) looking stain followed by a reddish stain. I will apply a coat of stain, light it with a match, let it burn off to dry a little, blow it out, buff it down with tripoli, repeat, depending on how dark I want the base color. Then basically due the same thing with the second color. When I'm satisfied on what color I like/have I then buff it with carnuba.

 

[Stefanos]

I had a friend carve a pipe from a kit, and I stained it with shoe dye from a shoe repair shop. Came out great.
It's alcohol based. Just like regular stain, you want to use multiple layers and wipe the excess each time.
Sand with very fine sandpaper.
OTOH if looks aren't important the pipe will work the same as is.

 

[flytyer]

Thanks for the useful advice......well appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a similar situation, with the heavy poly on the ouside. I just sanded it off and put several coats of olive oil on it, no wax or heavy coating. I feel like it smokes better now, like maybe the briar can breathe better. Whenever it gets skuffed or something I just go to the kitchen and reapply the oil, let it soak in overnight, wipe off the excess in the morning and she's ready to smoke.

 

[woody]

I had a similar situation, with the heavy poly on the ouside. I just sanded it off and put several coats of olive oil on it, no wax or heavy coating. I feel like it smokes better now, like maybe the briar can breathe better. Whenever it gets skuffed or something I just go to the kitchen and reapply the oil, let it soak in overnight, wipe off the excess in the morning and she's ready to smoke.

My pipes love Olive Oil.