pipemakersforum.com

Greetings!

Having read many of the posts on this site I can say many of you have been a great deal of help as I am working on my first pipe. One question I have that doesn't seem to have been addressed (maybe I just couldn't find it) is certain types of carnauba wax. When I bought some of their leather dye, I saw that there was some carnauba wax on a nearby shelf by the same company. It was almost white in color, in a similar bottle (like their dyes) but was in a liquid form. I had the impression that the wax usually came in a flake or bar form.

My concern is that there may be something added to the natural wax to keep it in its liquid form. I have had a hard time learning anything more about the product specifically online and have yet to hear back from Fiebing's customer service.

My question is: has anyone tried using a liquid carnauba? Do you guys think it is safe to try and use it?

-Kjell

The Fiebings wax has a solvent added to allow it to be worked into the leather, at one time it was mixed with lanolin (sheeps wool grease) I'm not sure what they used now. I used the last of what I had when I put a new top on a card table, it shined up really well for a day or so then went dull.

Most good wood turning companies will stock carnauba in small, expensive, bars, I buy flakes from Endless Green on ebay UK as they are a lot cheaper than most places I have found.

You can get 3 oz. of pure carnauba bar from PME for 8 bucks.

It will last you forever.

Rad

Thanks guys. I'm short on space and materials (haven't got a buffing wheel). I used a dremel to do most of the shaping before I got into the sanding and dying; would it be crazy to order a bar of carnauba and use a buffing accessory? They've got a Felt Polishing Wheel, should that suffice?

If you have an electric drill you should be able to find a way of mounting a 3 or 4" wheel on it which would be better than the little dremmel ones. If you do a search on ebay for polishing mops it normally turns up some of the drill mounted ones, once you know what to look for check out the bargain shops in your area.

A non powered method is to tie a piece of natural cloth (cotton or linnen) to a door knob pull it tight and rub on the wax, then rub the pipes up and down the cloth. It takes a bit of practice but works. Synthetic cloth generates static so should be avoided unless you want to collect all the dust in the house on your pipe.

Kjell wrote: They've got a Felt Polishing Wheel, should that suffice?

No. There's a very good chance that you'll sorch or score your pipe using a dremel. They just go too fast and have too small a surface area.

The buff on a drill as DMI suggests is a pretty good option.

Rad

Standard buffer for pipes rpm is 1750. FYI

DMI wrote:If you have an electric drill you should be able to find a way of mounting a 3 or 4" wheel on it which would be better than the little dremmel ones. If you do a search on ebay for polishing mops it normally turns up some of the drill mounted ones, once you know what to look for check out the bargain shops in your area.

Would 3 or 4 inches be referring to the circum., diam., or width of the wheel? I got the impression from Rad I would be better off using something thicker than the little wheels that would work on a dremel (i.e. more like a cylinder and less like a plate)? Having checked Ebay, most of the ones to pop up were around 60mm (diameter) and cylindrical.

-Kjell.

Assuming you are in the USA
ebay items:

230468261293
390200802771
400123495345
350163686131
390192324691- these are 5"
350225449146

This should give you an idea what to look for.

David.

Best buffs I ever bought, I bought from Delvies Plastics:
http://www.delviesplastics.com

Kjell wrote:

DMI wrote:If you have an electric drill you should be able to find a way of mounting a 3 or 4" wheel on it which would be better than the little dremmel ones. If you do a search on ebay for polishing mops it normally turns up some of the drill mounted ones, once you know what to look for check out the bargain shops in your area.

Would 3 or 4 inches be referring to the circum., diam., or width of the wheel? I got the impression from Rad I would be better off using something thicker than the little wheels that would work on a dremel (i.e. more like a cylinder and less like a plate)? Having checked Ebay, most of the ones to pop up were around 60mm (diameter) and cylindrical.

-Kjell.

If you want one for an electric drill, you can get a 4" buff at Ace Hardware. It comes with an arbor that will fit in your drill.

Rad