Drying Briar

[LexKY_Pipe]

Have any of you used a regular kitchen oven to dry briar? What temp and how long? I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to dry whatever I buy, but thought I'd ask.

[pipemanruss]

i have not tried that but read once that it is very low heat probably as low as it can go and the door needs to be kept open. and as for time i think is was said over a few days i think. cant remember where i read id but i think it was from mike butera??
i just dry mine in my garage durring the summer it gets literally 150-160 easy so i just keep them on racks over the summer and that works for me but i do live where it gets 125 durring the summer all summer long

[Nick]

That jives with what I've read too. Low temp long time. A convection oven is best, but leaving the door open may be OK too. See if you can find some one with one of those wood humidity meters. Perhaps you need to, perhaps you don't.

[KurtHuhn]

I have done this and wasn't too impressed.

I left some stummels (rough shaped) in the oven for a couple days at low temp - whatever the lowest my oven would go. One of them I finished right away (within 48 hours), another I left out for two weeks before finishing, and another I left for a month.

The one I finished right away was *very* unstable dimensionally. After drilling, the mortis changed size severely. Also, the finish is pretty bad - it just didn't end up smooth despite being finished like I do the rest of my smooth pipes.

The one that got finished two weeks afterward was more stable, but the mortis still changed size somewhat. The finish was better, but not up to my normal standards. Unfortunately, the face of the shank changed slightly, and the stem no longer fits flush. The one above did not have this problem, but that is probably largely due to grain orientation.

The one that sat for a month was the most stable of all, and none of the mortis did not change appreciably. Also, the finish was just as good as any other pipe I finish smooth.

Now, the only reason I did this was because I had a batch of poor briar. This briar was improperly cured and dried to begin with, so I wanted to see if further drying would help. It did not. That briar still tasted very bad. If I had boiled them prior to oven-drying, I might have been able to see a benefit to oven drying.

I have not tried this on any of my briar that has been properly processed, as there simply isn't a good reason to. I do tend to let a rough-shaped stummels it for a couple weeks to a couple months (depending on my schedule) and that seems to be all the extra drying that my briar needs.

As always, your mileage may vary....

[LexKY_Pipe]

Kurt

My daddy didn't raise no fool . . . I'm going to lean into your experience and trash the idea from the get go.

I'll just be sure to buy better briar from now on.

Thanks for your detailed response.

[KurtHuhn]

I'll just be sure to buy better briar from now on.

That's really the key right there. Get good briar to begin with, and you won't need to worry about extra curing outside of just letting the pipes sit for a couple weeks after rough shaping to be usre they're completely dry. Nothing exotic is really necessary unless you're going to get into oil curing.

Glad I could help.

[pipemanruss]

speaking of oil curing has anyone tried it and if so was it worth it???
:think:

[JHowell]

I'll just be sure to buy better briar from now on.

That's really the key right there. Get good briar to begin with, and you won't need to worry about extra curing outside of just letting the pipes sit for a couple weeks after rough shaping to be usre they're completely dry. Nothing exotic is really necessary unless you're going to get into oil curing.

Glad I could help.

Or months. You don't want to try to cure briar fast, IMO. If it doesn't crack, it'll warp. Especially when I first get a shipment, I try to keep it out of drafts and avoid rapid temp/humidity changes. Probably a good idea to use your older blocks first and let the new stuff stabilize for as long as you can.

[KurtHuhn]

Ah, good point, Jack. I neglected to mention that I keep at least 18 months worth of briar on hand, and use the older stuff first while rotating in a fresh supply to sit.

When I get a shipment in, I open the box, then close it loosely and stash it in the workshop for a couple months to acclimate. Then I bring it in the house to the (finished) basement, still in the box, and let it sit there for a couple months. After that, I unbox it onto a wire shelf away from the baseboards and fans for about a year.

Now, that's a tad extreme for the hobbyist, admitedly. But it can't hurt to let your briar sit and acclimate for a month or two in order to stabilize. The payoff is really worth it.

[rathpipe]

speaking of oil curing has anyone tried it and if so was it worth it???

You know, I've been looking for that subject to come up but haven't found it yet. I know the guys at the local pipe shop talk highly of oil curing and I do like the way Lee Erck's pipe smoke and I know he cures his briar. Problem being, Lee keeps his process a secret. All he says is something about draining the oil from his old Ford truck and some kinda dance. Yeah, I'm stretching it a bit but I really would like to know if there is a way to do the oil curing at home, just for fun. I have had good luck with Tim West's briar or even Pipemakers Emporium. Again, the heavy Latikia I smoke probably has my tastebuds burnt, anyway.
Larry