sandahlpipe wrote:To polish the slot, fold sandpaper into a long thin triangle and sand 220 grit, 320, 400, 600, and 1000. Maybe even 2000 if you want.
As for stain, make sure you're sanding in good light. Make sure you have sanded evenly at whatever grit you're staining after. If you've got some 120 grit spots and some 320 grit spots, stain will soak in differently on each. Personally, I like to sand to 400 or 600 grit before I stain so it goes on even. Then you can heat up the briar before staining to let the grain open.
The good light might currently be an issue as all I have is a window (not much use at 11pm) and a single fluorescent tube... I still haven't found the right transfo for my dentist light (need a 240V => 24V transfo which can handle 150W) so no focus light yet.
I usually sand to 320, then add the base stain (usually black) and then move to 400,stain a first layer of colour and then after 600 add the final stain before buffing.
I also heat up the briar, maybe the difference in temperature on certain pieces of the pipe might let it soak in differently?
How about lighting alcohol-based stains on fire after applying? I saw this technique being used by BigBen in their factory and have been doing it since, but maybe it's a bad idea?
d.huber wrote:The lack of feedback is your feedback, I'm sorry to say. Harry and Jeremiah gave you some good tips but they're just scratching the surface. I'm not going to lay out everything that I see wrong because it's a lot.
Seeing this pipe, my first thought is: you need to make more pipes.
On your next one, focus on the things that have been mentioned and, if your next is a poker, create a wider angle between the bowl and the shank.
I interpreted the lack of feedback as this pipe being rather terrible, but I find it hard to see why, which is why I made that second post. I don't expect everyone to point out every little detail or to take an hour to analyse it. Just like I don't expect to be able to fix all of them in the next pipe (or even the next 50), but I did hope for some pointers on what to focus on first.
Luckily now that there's some response, I've got some focuspoints for the next ones.
I don't really understand the last remark though. The angle is now near 90 degrees (perpendicular is what I went for). Did you mean it would be preferrable to have the bowl canted forward, away from the shank?