LaRoca - Dolce - Refurb/Refinish

[bandkbrooks]

This pipe was found in an old shop and it had been there for years. It was faded on one side from being in a display case on the one side for so long. I removed the old finish and did a burst similar to old 1960's Fender Guitars. This one is in a tobacco burst (that's what Fender called it. I did not make that up.) I also removed the oxidation from the stem.
3 before pics and 3 after.


Before:






After:

[pennsyscot]

Nice restoration. Could you provide some details about your finishing technique.

[bandkbrooks]

WARNING:
Length and wordy explanation to follow!

Nothing really special on the sanding part. First I sanded down the old finish on the pipe with a coarse grain paper and worked my way up to finer grits (1000 or 1500 - I can't remember), making sure to work the stem as well.

Second step was basic grain enhancement - dye darker color - let pipe sit or burn off alcohol. Lightly sand off darker color.


WARNING:
The following steps are a pain in the a** and are time consuming (we're all used to that anyway).

Third I took the dark stain used previously and divided it up into 3 to 4 separate jars. Then I dilute the divided dyes with varying degrees of distilled alcohol or added varying degrees of darker stain (just a basic brown). Basically that gives me a gradual change from lighter to darker stain.

Before moving on, I take some plastic cling wrap (the kind you use in the kitchen) and stuff it down in the tobacco chamber.

Now comes the fun part (it takes a bit of practice to get the gradual change). You can do this one of two ways. #1 work darker to lighter (the method Fender used in the 60's). #2 work lighter to darker (method used for this pipe).

I wiped on the lightest stain and let it dry (crucial or you get a mess). Using an airbrush kit I got at a hobby shop I sprayed on the next darkest stain working from bottom of bow towards top of bowl and then the same for the stem. LET DRY! Then I moved on to to the next darkest stain overlapping with the previous stain. LET DRY! Keep doing the same until you get to the darkest stain at the stem and also at the bowl. The trick here is to get it as gradual as possible (no big jumps from light to dark).

From there on out it's the basic buffing procedure. I tend to stain darker than I would want the final finish of course because I'll lose some of the stain when I buff.

Time consuming but really fun when it comes out right.

Then the really hard part. Is this and English tobacco pipe or Virginia's/VAPER pipe.

Now everyone knows! Please steal/use this technique,
but say "Brandon had a cool idea".
I seriously doubt I was the first to use this on a pipe.

I'm really interested in improving my finishing techniques and getting different techniques from people on this forum so any suggestions/lessons are greatly appreciated.

Brandon

[Charl]

Really nice! And thanks for the recipe.

[bandkbrooks]

Thank you. Sharing's what it's all about here.