What do you guys think of this finish and color combo

[Sasquatch]

I did a pipe the other day, just horsing around with contrast staining, and this one was done by staining very deeply (read: kept wet) with cordovan, and then just grinding the thing into submission with tripoli, back right to wood color, and then done up with buckskin.

I got exactly what I was after, which was basically a pipe that matched the amber of the stem. But I'm still not sure I like it.

So. Better with a black stem? Awful no matter what the stem? Your favorite thing ever?

[bandkbrooks]

I love the contrast. What do you do to avoid the tripoli turning the wood red or brown (especially when buffing the crap out of it)?

[Sasquatch]

Umm, nothing?

Brown Tripoli in a bar (as opposed to say, jeweller's rouge) won't stain up a pipe as bad as some things. In this case, the pipe was stained anyhow, so a bit of brown packed into the pores is not going to change the look.

On a blonde pipe, a thin thin layer of shellac or polish applied (and dried) before buffing will keep the staining to a minimum.

[bandkbrooks]

Cool. Thank you.

[Sawdust]

Hi Sasquatch,
Being new to pipe making, you'll have to take this with a grain of salt, but I really like it. I think that the color is different enough and that the striations in the lucite going perpandicular to the grain in the shank make them complementary.

Jim

[Nate]

I do like that contrast Sas, very contrasty!

[JMG]

I do like that contrast Sas, very contrasty!

What Nate said.

[wdteipen]

I like it too. Especially with the faux amber acryllic stem (one of my favorites.) It looks like you just pulled that pipe out of the honey bee's hive. Yum!

[Boekweg]

Very nice pipe sasquatch. I love the color, it very much so does look like honey. I hope my pipes turn out to look half as good as the ones that i have been seeing on this forum. Keep up the good work!

[Thomas Tkach]

You should coat the bole with honey.