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I came across a box of pipes that were unfinished but had the bowls coated, they sat for at least a few months. the coating has patches of white/very light grey that appeared, instead of a uniform dark grey/black. I used lab grade sodium silicate mixed with carbon. Procedure I used to apply it was: mix sodium silicate with carbon until thick, apply to bowl evenly, let dry. has anyone else seen this happen? should I use a different process? I would just be concerned about a new pipe sitting on a store shelf and then developing the white haze.

This happens with sodium silicate based bowl coatings. If you want them to stay black, use an organic base. I don't mind they grayish white look of the sodium silicate.

I put a second coat on by a Q tip with the water glass, Then put powdered charcoal in it shake it up and let it dry overnight. Dump the charcoal then blow hard through the pipe to get any left. The white is water glass. Sometimes it seems to dry in stages.After a couple of days I repeat blowing through the pipe, just to get any leftovers! You may not have had enough charcoal in your solution. I'm thinking of going to the paint and powder method, wait a couple of days and blow method! Other solutions spoil and attract unwanted pest.

pipedreamer wrote:Other solutions spoil and attract unwanted pest.

Please expand upon this.

The white residue I've seen on sodium silicate coatings is one of the reasons I don't like it. I've never experienced spoiling or unwanted pests with my food grade bowl coating and am very confident I never will.

is there something easy i can just swap out the sodium silicate for and keep the carbon?

I've noticed the same. Ever since I apply the layer just a bit thicker and when it's dried for a couple of days I lightly sand it. Gives for a nice and smooth bowl coating (but not so smooth it won't decently build cake) and appears to get rid of the white spots too.

pipedreamer wrote:Other solutions spoil and attract unwanted pest.

This is true but only if you use something that has sugar in it, like honey. As long as you use an organic base which contains no sugar, it shouldn't be possible for anything nasty to happen.

d.huber wrote:

pipedreamer wrote:Other solutions spoil and attract unwanted pest.

This is true but only if you use something that has sugar in it, like honey. As long as you use an organic base which contains no sugar, it shouldn't be possible for anything nasty to happen.

Still not entirely true. I use a small amount of honey in my bowl coating and have never had a problem. EVER.

wdteipen wrote:

d.huber wrote:

pipedreamer wrote:Other solutions spoil and attract unwanted pest.

This is true but only if you use something that has sugar in it, like honey. As long as you use an organic base which contains no sugar, it shouldn't be possible for anything nasty to happen.

Still not entirely true. I use a small amount of honey in my bowl coating and have never had a problem. EVER.

That's good to hear, but... chemistry. In order for mold/yeast/etc to grow, they all require sugar. If you're using sugar in your bowl coating, then you're inviting the possibility of something nasty growing in your chamber, regardless if it's never happened before.

I think we've all heard complaints about mold growing on bowl coatings. Sugar is the reason that happens.

I was referring to sugar, especially in warm climates. Mold or fungus and small critters like it sweet. Anything that can spoil will give off a terrible taste.The best burnout protection is the water glass, slows it down tremendously.I beleive it was Todd Johnson that took two slices of briar, coated one with water glass and left the other without. Put a tea candle under both and waited. The un-protected burned out quickly, the one with WG lasted a very long time before showing signs of burn out.Here in Florida we have to watch out for the above mentioned pests.Also organic can become rancid or worse, quickly!

I do similar to Massis, but use a paper towel if my other way doesn't work.It usually does and looks good.

d.huber wrote:

wdteipen wrote:

d.huber wrote: Still not entirely true. I use a small amount of honey in my bowl coating and have never had a problem. EVER.

That's good to hear, but... chemistry. In order for mold/yeast/etc to grow, they all require sugar. If you're using sugar in your bowl coating, then you're inviting the possibility of something nasty growing in your chamber, regardless if it's never happened before.

I think we've all heard complaints about mold growing on bowl coatings. Sugar is the reason that happens.

Umm....honey doesn't mold......chemistry I guess. Look, there are enough myths out there. Let's not add to it. M'kay?

wdteipen wrote:Umm....honey doesn't mold......chemistry I guess. Look, there are enough myths out there. Let's not add to it. M'kay?

Well, it's not a myth that mold requires food (sugar) to grow. I had to look it up and you're right, honey doesn't mold.

There is more than one version of wasserglass. .. Kali wasserglass ... Calcium based .. Doesn't turn white... Natron based.. Does turn white

James

d.huber wrote:

wdteipen wrote:Umm....honey doesn't mold......chemistry I guess. Look, there are enough myths out there. Let's not add to it. M'kay?

Well, it's not a myth that mold requires food (sugar) to grow. I had to look it up and you're right, honey doesn't mold.

Mold will grow on just about anything given the right conditions but I'm not convinced that any of the professional bowl coating recipes precipitate mold growth. Even the milk paint variety. Is this claim anecdotal or is there some hard facts to support it? If there's mold growing in a tobacco chamber, I tend to believe it has more to do with the conditions in which someone is storing their pipes.

As we've experienced many times before here at PMF and other forums, when you start criticizing bowl coating recipes without substantial evidence to back up your claims, folks can get defensive. I think we all take a lot of things into consideration when we settle on the recipe that works for us and none of us would coat our bowls with a recipe known to precipitate the growth of mold.

If it's turning white after a little while, y'all are mixing it in the wrong ratio--basically too much Sodium Silicate to whatever else you're adding. You can use water to cut it and get the right consistency, but then you have to spit in it to neutralize the chlorine from the water. I guess you could use distilled water, but that's a bit too fussy for my tastes when you're coating 2-5 pipes. If you're mixing it in larger batches--say for 200 pipes--it's a slightly different animal.

The white powdery stuff isn't gonna hurt anything, but it is unsightly. We've had a few batches of Icarus and Neptune go out that did this, so I've tried to pass on my alchemist talents to our employees who typically mix it. Sometimes, though, I just have to do it myself.

Also, I have no opinion on what you think about bowl coating or which type you prefer or don't prefer or detest or can taste or can not taste or whether they spoil or don't spoil, or which kind of sugar is better or worse or anything else. I am only addressing the technical aspects of the question that was asked. And . . . drumroll, please . . .

I hope this helps©

TJ

ToddJohnson wrote:You can use water to cut it and get the right consistency, but then you have to spit in it to neutralize the chlorine from the water.

Now we know what makes Todd's pipes so special.

In all seriousness, though, thanks for the information.

wdteipen wrote:

d.huber wrote:

wdteipen wrote:Umm....honey doesn't mold......chemistry I guess. Look, there are enough myths out there. Let's not add to it. M'kay?

Well, it's not a myth that mold requires food (sugar) to grow. I had to look it up and you're right, honey doesn't mold.

Mold will grow on just about anything given the right conditions but I'm not convinced that any of the professional bowl coating recipes precipitate mold growth. Even the milk paint variety. Is this claim anecdotal or is there some hard facts to support it? If there's mold growing in a tobacco chamber, I tend to believe it has more to do with the conditions in which someone is storing their pipes.

As we've experienced many times before here at PMF and other forums, when you start criticizing bowl coating recipes without substantial evidence to back up your claims, folks can get defensive. I think we all take a lot of things into consideration when we settle on the recipe that works for us and none of us would coat our bowls with a recipe known to precipitate the growth of mold.

Too anecdotal to be accepted as fact. I tied a few things together. Sugar + humidity = mold. I've heard people complain about mold growing in their tobacco chamber as a result of the bowl coating on unsmoked pipes. I took it at face value that they were right and tried to figure out why. Knowing that some bowl coatings contain sugar, I put two and two together. Without the sugar, mold shouldn't be able to grow on a bowl coating. There's no food for it so how could it? I didn't know that honey doesn't grow mold and ignorantly used it as an example because it's what came to mind as a sugary substance that some use in their bowl coatings.

I apologize for casting fear on your recipe in my ignorance.