A Christmas Pipe and a Question if I may?

[billiard]

Howdy everyone,

I just made me a little Chistmas Pipe today:


More pics and specs here if anyone wants to look: http://billboylepipes.weebly.com/2011-c ... -pipe.html

Now if I may trouble you all with a question:

The stain seeped though into my bowl at the bottom near the front side of the bowl (Front side for me is away from the airway). Which is why I didn't include the top view pic on my website (FWIW, the drilling is spot on). I made this pipe for me, so I am not worried about it and will just load it up and smoke it... but what would I do if I had not made this pipe for me and wanted to sell it?

I'm thinking for the pro's here this is a reject (or perhaps a shop pipe) but is this something you might bowl coat? Would a light base coat of varnish, after rusticating but before staining, have sealed it so it would not seep in?

Many thanks,
Bill

[Sasquatch]

The stain thing sometimes happens - occassionally a piece of briar will wick the stain right through into the chamber. Ordinarily this only happens if you are really putting a lot on. So one way to reduce it would be to use less stain, and stain twice. You could try a thin coat of shellac, but I'd be worried that it would have the opposite affect - no use against the deeper penetration, but keeping it from setting in the top of the wood!

Anyway, it's not anathema to sell such a pipe - coating the bowl obscures this kind of thing. I think there's a limit to how much stain you should see, and if a ton comes through, you might have kind of a spongey piece of briar that you might not sell anyhow...

[Tyler]

Coat the bowl.

FWIW, I've only ever had stain leach through on a rusticated pipe. Anyone ever had it come through on a smooth?

[Tyler]

I think there's a limit to how much stain you should see, and if a ton comes through, you might have kind of a spongey piece of briar that you might not sell anyhow...

Or to look at it another way to look at it is you have a highly absorbent piece of briar, and this might be a good thing. (Not saying it necessarily is, but some people talk as if they want absorbent briar.)

I had a pipe one time leach stain through to the bowl on almost half the interior. I told the guy who wanted to buy it that this was the case. He didn't care. He said when he smoked it, he thought he might have tasted stain in the first bowl, but he wasn't sure it wasn't a psychosomatic thing. The second and every subsequent bowl he said he didn't have any off taste, and the pipe smoked like a champ.

[billiard]

Thanks to you both. Been awhile since I made myself one and this one I like, but I appreciate this knowledge for the future.

I have had minor spots before on rustics but never smooths... Very good question to ponder.

[KurtHuhn]

FWIW, I've only ever had stain leach through on a rusticated pipe. Anyone ever had it come through on a smooth?

The Algerian briar I have will wick stain through on a smooth finish sometimes. It's definitely a bit softer and more porous than other briar I've used.

[Sasquatch]

I think it really depends on a) porosity of the wood, and b) how much stain you have on for how long - a rustic pipe you tend to be globbing stain into the nooks and crannies, so there's just more liquid lurking around than you would ordinarily use on a smooth pipe.

IF I have a flaw on the outside of a pipe, and I suspect it goes through, I'll stain it, and if the stuff shows up in the chamber, the pipe's garbage.

[PremalChheda]

You could also just sand the chamber. The stain should only be on the surface of the chamber and a few swipes with 220 + 400 should be enough to remove it. The stain that is in the capillaries is dry and should not show up after the sanding.

Or to keep with the Christmas spirit - stain the tobacco chamber green!

[billiard]

You could also just sand the chamber. The stain should only be on the surface of the chamber and a few swipes with 220 + 400 should be enough to remove it. The stain that is in the capillaries is dry and should not show up after the sanding.

Interesting, thank you, I would have thought sanding the chamber would have been futile since the stain went all the way through. I will try this on the next one, this one now has a bowl coating of the Boswell's Christmas Cookie I smoked in it last night

[Growley]

You could also just sand the chamber. The stain should only be on the surface of the chamber and a few swipes with 220 + 400 should be enough to remove it. The stain that is in the capillaries is dry and should not show up after the sanding.

I've never run into this so I can't speak by experience here, but, if the stain has been pulled from the outside of the pipe all the way through to the chamber, wouldn't you run into stain no matter how much you sanded the inside of the bowl as you're only working your way closer to the source of the stain?

I can see sanding if you dripped stain into the bowl, but logically this doesn't add up to me. Does this really work?

Just curious.

[SimeonTurner]

Coat the bowl.

FWIW, I've only ever had stain leach through on a rusticated pipe. Anyone ever had it come through on a smooth?

Mimmo's wood does this pretty regularly, I find. It's SO light and porous! I find that the color and lack of weight in his blocks more than makes up for this though.

*shrug*

[PremalChheda]

You could also just sand the chamber. The stain should only be on the surface of the chamber and a few swipes with 220 + 400 should be enough to remove it. The stain that is in the capillaries is dry and should not show up after the sanding.

I've never run into this so I can't speak by experience here, but, if the stain has been pulled from the outside of the pipe all the way through to the chamber, wouldn't you run into stain no matter how much you sanded the inside of the bowl as you're only working your way closer to the source of the stain?

I can see sanding if you dripped stain into the bowl, but logically this doesn't add up to me. Does this really work?

Just curious.

The stain that travels through the briar goes through very tiny capillaries that are invisible to the human eye for the most part and then spread when it hits the surface of the chamber. The sanding of the chamber will remove the stain, but if you add moisture back to the chamber or swab it with alcohol, it will show up again. Usually, sanding of the chamber is the last step I do besides a quick buff on a clean wheel.

[Growley]

You could also just sand the chamber. The stain should only be on the surface of the chamber and a few swipes with 220 + 400 should be enough to remove it. The stain that is in the capillaries is dry and should not show up after the sanding.

I've never run into this so I can't speak by experience here, but, if the stain has been pulled from the outside of the pipe all the way through to the chamber, wouldn't you run into stain no matter how much you sanded the inside of the bowl as you're only working your way closer to the source of the stain?

I can see sanding if you dripped stain into the bowl, but logically this doesn't add up to me. Does this really work?

Just curious.

The stain that travels through the briar goes through very tiny capillaries that are invisible to the human eye for the most part and then spread when it hits the surface of the chamber. The sanding of the chamber will remove the stain, but if you add moisture back to the chamber or swab it with alcohol, it will show up again. Usually, sanding of the chamber is the last step I do besides a quick buff on a clean wheel.

Thanks for that explanation! I really appreciate you taking time to describe that further. I couldn't picture how that could be possible, but it makes sense now and is very good to know.

Thanks again.

Brian.

[billiard]

Thanks for the great info.

Bill