Blog by Dave Gossett
This pipe was a pretty straight forward cleanup. It was in overall decent shape. It had some light rim char and the stem was out of alignment. Steve had recently posted an LHS repair with this very problem so it came in handy. I followed his process and sanded the aluminum shank cap gently on a flat sanding board until the stem was in proper position. I can’t imagine they left the factory out of alignment, so I don’t know how they end up like that.
Next I sanded the rim with 1000 grit until I reached fresh briar, and went over the rest of the stummel with 2000 grit to remove the nicks and scratches, then began working my way up the grit ladder until it was smooth.
A quick wipe down with alcohol was applied before adding Fiebings dark brown. I left it to cure for 24 hours. For a nice contrast stain, I lightly mist the briar with alcohol and use a very worn piece of 2000 grit. This removes the dark stain from the soft wood and makes the grain more prominent. After the pipe has been wiped down with a damp cloth to remove the excess stain, it was left to dry and then lightly sanded with micro mesh one last time.
I have to admit that the squashed tomato is not one of my favourite pipe shape, but I can’t fault the work you did on this one, Dave. It looks great!
That is some very fine work, right there. That’s a beautiful pipe. Im going to have to try that final 2000 grit sanding. Thanks for sharing
I agree with Upshallfan that the stain work is outstanding. That grain pops nicely. Great looking pipe overall.
I’m continually amazed at how Dave does a restain, but keeps the nomenclature looking so crisp.
Thanks Al. I don’t apply the stain as heavily around the stampings. I lightly blot the stampings with a cloth instead of the Fiebing applicator. After you do the final sanding for the contrast, it blends together. The only way to keep the stampings crisp, don’t touch them at all. The only treatment the stamps get through the whole process, is about 10 seconds with the wax wheel.
I’ll give that “blotting technique” a try, I usually get mine on too heavy.
Dave, your stain work is really excellent. And, what a magnificent shape to work with!