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I'm busy with a commission at the moment, where the client asked for a "matt" finish. The photo he supplied with the mail, looked like an "oil cure" pipe.
There's no way I'm going into the whole oilcure process, just way too much schlep. Anybody have a quick an easy way for a once off pipe?
Or do I just leave the polishing and waxing out?
I would appreciate any ideas!

Charl wrote:I'm busy with a commission at the moment, where the client asked for a "matt" finish. The photo he supplied with the mail, looked like an "oil cure" pipe.
There's no way I'm going into the whole oilcure process, just way too much schlep. Anybody have a quick an easy way for a once off pipe?
Or do I just leave the polishing and waxing out?
I would appreciate any ideas!

I mean... I'm no pro, but I'd say just buff the pipe with tripoli and call it done.

Sand to 400, then rub a light coat of EV olive oil on it!

WCannoy wrote:Sand to 400, then rub a light coat of EV olive oil on it!

That's how I got the matte finish on this pipe. Of course, I stained it after sanding. No buffing, no wax...

You could also buff on beeswax- get a new wheel if you choose that.

However, Walt seems to be on to something here!

Briar that's left raw discolors from handling pretty quickly. Carbon dust from smoking, ash, skin acid from your fingers, and so forth get ground into the pores of the wood. The handled areas also burnish with time which makes the matte effect uneven.

The way I do it, and it stays looking good for a long time, is to heat the stummel with hot air (or an oven set to 150F would work), and dust it evenly with finely powdered carnauba. A really fine-mesh kitchen strainer with a handle, so you can tap it to "release" the wax powder where you want it, is all you need. Once the pipe is uniformly covered, let it cool a bit and zap the surface directly with a heat gun. It will flow into a smoothly textured, suede-like sort of thing.

Contrary to expectation, carnauba applied that way is not soft, and will not shine from handling after it cools and hardens, or, (believe it or not) even when buffed. It stays matte, and is amazingly durable. In fact, you should practice the technique on an old/junker pipe before finishing a commission that way, because it's time consuming to remove and re-do if you mess up. (Remove with alcohol, re-stain, and start over).

Thanks for the replies, gents. I eventually did use olive oil. The finished one is posted on the Gallery.