Memorial Day Weekend project- Tinsky pipe kit

**Argonaut** · 05-27-2012, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by Kentos

I will try that. Upon closer inspection I need to do a LOT more sanding on it, so I might as well finish off the shank. I will admit I am tempted to just light it up already and call it a weekend!

You'd regret it later on. So far it's coming along nicely, you should try to get it as close to your original plan as you can. The experience gained will pay off tremendously on your next pipe. I can't wait to see the finished pipe, good luck.

**cb91710** · 05-27-2012, 04:29 PM

Originally Posted by jmallen5

You'd regret it later on. So far it's coming along nicely, you should try to get it as close to your original plan as you can. The experience gained will pay off tremendously on your next pipe. I can't wait to see the finished pipe, good luck.

+1

My freehand evolved during construction from the planned "panel freehand" into what it is, but if you aren't happy with that you have now, every time you look at it, you'll be saying "Why didn't I do this or that?" and eventually you will.

So get it the way you want it before you make future staining difficult with a layer of wax.

**DC_MPA** · 05-27-2012, 04:31 PM

Great job, you've achieved what I like and that's something I've never seen that's sweet on the eye. If Bluto from Popeye was a pipe smoker, that would be his pipe.

Many thanks for the sample! I smoked it yesterday and it was fabulous!

**Kentos** · 05-27-2012, 08:24 PM

Second test finish

The metal file did wonders! I don't have carnauba wax so buffed it out with beeswax which doesn't give that nice shine. I need to eBay some. The shank came out not bad, but I need to bust out the Fein tool to do some more shaping.

DCA- glad you liked the maple!

**Argonaut** · 05-27-2012, 08:41 PM

That looks ten times better, nice work! I suggest a set of needle files and fingernail files for the fine detail work. Not that I'm enabling or anything.

**cb91710** · 05-27-2012, 08:43 PM

Looking better and better! That new stain really pops the grain!

**nrdoty** · 05-27-2012, 08:56 PM

Wow, that sunburst look the grain has is awesome. Great work.

**Kentos** · 05-27-2012, 09:54 PM

Thanks. I picked up a bottle of powdered water soluble stain on the hope that it would be soluble in alcohol. Happily it did. I mixed up one batch of dark stain for the first two, sanded, then mixed up a slightly lighter batch for the final. Came out astonishingly well considering the lack of experience with this stuff.

All the thanks goes to Mark Tinsky for getting me a nice piece of briar, and you guys for all the great advice!

**jdto** · 05-28-2012, 08:50 AM

Very cool. I think I'm going to have to do one of these.

**Slash McCoy** · 05-28-2012, 09:37 AM

Nice. I made a meerschaum from a kit once. A half bent featuring two prominent bare breasts instead of the more common face, which I wouldn't have been able to carve well, anyway. The pipe got lots of attention.

**oc_in_fw** · 05-28-2012, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Slash McCoy

Nice. I made a meerschaum from a kit once. A half bent featuring two prominent bare breasts instead of the more common face, which I wouldn't have been able to carve well, anyway. The pipe got lots of attention.

What, no pictures?

**Slash McCoy** · 05-28-2012, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by oc_in_fw

What, no pictures?

Digital cameras weren't around back then.

**Kentos** · 06-02-2012, 09:00 PM

I have had enough of sanding...it is as done as it will ever be!

My next one will likely be a bent, and smaller for sure.

Finished this time with 4 coats of an extra strong batch of alcohol stain burnt off, then sanded with 320 600 and 1000, then buffed with red compound, then with carnauba.

**jdto** · 06-02-2012, 09:32 PM

That's a beauty! Great work.

**cb91710** · 06-02-2012, 09:57 PM

That turned out REALLY awesome.
I'd love to get a gloss like that on mine, but the buffing wheel that I bought from PIMO is a worthless floppy rag... won't even load the wax, much less buff it off. I can do better with a paper towel.

**73mountaineer** · 06-02-2012, 10:41 PM

That looks great, nicely done!!

The grain on that pipe is beautiful!!

I find myself wanting to buy a kit now.

**mdunn** · 06-02-2012, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by 73mountaineer

That looks great, nicely done!!

The grain on that pipe is beautiful!!

I find myself wanting to buy a kit now.

Exactly!

**Kentos** · 06-03-2012, 12:10 AM

Thanks guys. It was astonishingly easy. However, I believe access to some kind of power sanding equipment is greatly beneficial, as well as a vice and files. I am looking now to do some funky freehand pipes a la Wallenstein's stuff. Some thing small, light, possibly assymetrical, bent for easy clenching and a bore just big enough for a half hour to 45 minute smoke. Somehow packing a larger pipe less than half full for a 45 minute commute is unfulfilling.

**jwhite** · 06-03-2012, 06:28 AM

Originally Posted by cb91710

That turned out REALLY awesome.
I'd love to get a gloss like that on mine, but the buffing wheel that I bought from PIMO is a worthless floppy rag... won't even load the wax, much less buff it off. I can do better with a paper towel.

The floppy wheels are good for dry buffing to bring the gloss out after wax has been applied with a firmer wheel, or using a white compound to do very fine smoothing on contoured surfaces.

**cb91710** · 06-03-2012, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by jwhite

The floppy wheels are good for dry buffing to bring the gloss out after wax has been applied with a firmer wheel, or using a white compound to do very fine smoothing on contoured surfaces.

I can hold my hand in it with no problem at all, it just lays over, won't even make a mark on the puck when trying to load. I got both the flannel and the muslin buff, one is supposed to be for applying the wax and the other for buffing, and I got two bits for chucking them into the drill press. Neither did anything that I couldn't do better by hand. Is my press running too slow?