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Who has restained a pipe - the whole stummel

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
Well, I screwed up. :001_rolle I was trying to reattach a brass piece in a Velani Cortina and accidentally got a bit of superglue on my finger, then on the pipe stummel. I tried to sand it off thinking I could get away with it, but nope. Did not work. In this photo it doesn't look too bad because of the bright light, but it is really bad, I've screwed the pooch on this one. The entire stummel will have to be stripped or sanded, this won't be a spot fix.

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It's a shame because it is a really nice stain job, with black underneath and a nice reddish-brown on top. On the one hand it's a shame because I really liked that pipe, but on the other it's not a disaster because I'm practicing restoring old pipes, and I was going to have to learn to stain eventually. So now I have a project pipe.

For those of you who have done this before, what do you suggest. Try to sand the whole thing evenly then restain? Or try to remove the stain with alcohol, then restain? Not sure how to attack this. And how would they have gotten the black under the brown on this?

I understand Feibing leather dye is the stuff to use, applied with a pipe cleaner, I've seen that on Youtube. It's the prep I'm looking for help with. If anyone has done this can you give me some tips?

My first thought was to:

  1. try to sand it evenly all over
  2. smooth it up using 1500-12000 micromesh sanding pads
  3. applying black dye, fix by burning alcohol off
  4. wipe some off with alcohol
  5. apply some brown stain, fix by burning alcohol off
  6. smooth with 12000 micromesh again
  7. polish by hand with Paragon wax
I also have buffing wheels for my drill now and little compound sticks. After 12000 micromesh, it should not take more than the fine blue I think, to polish it up pretty well. I'm finding I like the matte look of the hand-rubbed Paragon wax to the harder shine of carnauba, but I have a second wheel. Maybe buff up the Paragon a little.

Anyway, I may as well not cry over spilt milk and look at this as a fun learning experience! Any help appreciated.
 

Hirsute

Used to have fun with Commander Yellow Pantyhose
You might try taking a cloth with some alcohol on it, and rubbing the whole stummel, trying to even out the stain before you go after stripping and restaining the whole thing.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
You might try taking a cloth with some alcohol on it, and rubbing the whole stummel, trying to even out the stain before you go after stripping and restaining the whole thing.

That cannot hurt, certainly. May not help, but might I won't be in any worse shape that I was before.
 

Hirsute

Used to have fun with Commander Yellow Pantyhose
That cannot hurt, certainly. May not help, but might I won't be in any worse shape that I was before.
Exactly. If you're contemplating stripping the whole thing anyway, might as well try to "fix" it first. Worst case scenario is it doesn't work and you have a head start on stripping the whole thing.
 
If it blends when wet I might would try just waxing and polishing it as it is first. Might get lucky. Could very well have just removed some of the top finish when the ca glue was removed.

Sorta similar thing that happened with one of my estate neerups a while back but for a different reason. When I got the pipe there was some substantial tar buildup on the rim and I believe the finish was burnt. After removing the build up with finish was removed. It blended almost perfectly after adding a few layers of wax. This neerup had a lighter stain color than your pipe though. But its definitely worth a try 👍.

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Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member

If it blends that means you just scuffed the varnish/laquer/wax and didn’t get into the stain. You can try waxing it, or applying whatever varnish you have, taking care to match the sheen. So don’t use gloss on satin or vice versa.
This happens a lot on floors and cabinets where a scuff doesn’t go through the varnish.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
If it blends when wet I might would try just waxing and polishing it as it is first. Might get lucky. Could very well have just removed some of the top finish when the ca glue was removed.

Sorta similar thing that happened with one of my estate neerups a while back but for a different reason. When I got the pipe there was some substantial tar buildup on the rim and I believe the finish was burnt. After removing the build up with finish was removed. It blended almost perfectly after adding a few layers of wax. This neerup had a lighter stain color than your pipe though. But its definitely worth a try 👍.

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I dunno man that looks like virgin briar. You did a great job with that one.
 

Whisky

ATF. I use all three.
Staff member
I’ve got a similar stained pipe that I’m working on right now. The darker contrast stain has penetrated the wood deeper than the red stain. I’ve sanded most of the red stain off and the darker stain has remained. I’m going to restrain it with a lighter color in the hopes that the darker stain will still show through.
 
I dunno man that looks like virgin briar. You did a great job with that one.
Thanks! I have a hard time telling with lighter stains. Still amazes me how much wood will darken up with an uncolored wax or oil finish. Kinda off topic but this bowl I did a while back darkened up so much that my jaw dropped lol. Finish was a mix of clear shellac, boiled linseed oil, and denatured alcohol.

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JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
My gosh that's gorgeous! I love spalted wood. If they could get briar to do that and make a durable pipe out of it it would be awesome. I've never seen a spalted pipe, though.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
I emailed the fellow who did my three restored pipes from rebornpipes and I think he will give me some guidance. Not going to do anything yet until I hear from him. Certainly not an urgent project. I'm going to start cleaning that Bari bent that came in.
 
My gosh that's gorgeous! I love spalted wood. If they could get briar to do that and make a durable pipe out of it it would be awesome. I've never seen a spalted pipe, though.
Thanks! Even if they could get spalted briar I don't know that I would smoke it. Spalting is cause by molds and fungi if I remember correctly. Breathing the wood dust can be harmful when sanding. I doubt it would be safe to smoke from.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I emailed the fellow who did my three restored pipes from rebornpipes and I think he will give me some guidance. Not going to do anything yet until I hear from him. Certainly not an urgent project. I'm going to start cleaning that Bari bent that came in.
Did you get anywhere with this John?
Staining the whole stummel is pretty straight forward, but if you can get what you need without the extra work, so much the better!
 
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