Sanding and polishing a meer

[caskwith]

Working on a couple of meer pipes, mostly just to use a block I have, I already know I don't want to do more of these.

Having trouble getting a smooth finish though, I cannot seem to get rid of the scratches and no matter how fine the paper it only gets worse. Any tips?

[WCannoy]

Assuming you're working with dry meerschaum at this point, get some 3M Trizact 3000, http://3mauto.com/products/3m-trizact-p ... CWFvJjM.97

Sand very lightly with the Trizact, almost like you're just trying to wipe the scratches off one stroke at a time. Material is sanded off very quickly with meerschaum! Do not let your sandpaper load up! Clean it off often! The loaded sandpaper will gouge your meerschaum!

Do the best you can, but take comfort in this fact:
Once you dip your meerschaum in beeswax, all of those tiny scratches that you couldn't get out will disappear!

[caskwith]

Ok thanks Walt. Do I need to buff the pipe or anything afterwards or is it just a case of super fine sanding and then wax?

[WCannoy]

No, do not buff it! Just sand the best you can, then dip it in the melted wax. The wax will cover all your sins!

[caskwith]

Ok great. I saw Chris Morgan's video and it shows a second of him buffing the pipe and I wondered if that was a proper full process like a briar. I'll see if I can order some trizact, in the mean time I have some micromesh so I might give that a try too. Do you do a full dip or do you just paint it on and melt it in with a heat gun?

[WCannoy]

I do a full dip after corking up the chamber and mortise. Leave it in for a couple of minutes... Then I use a heat gun to help the excess drip off. After it cools, take a clean white t-shirt cloth and hand buff it to a shine using a decent amount of pressure.

[caskwith]

Ok great, looks like I need to find a bigger pot for dipping lol.

[caskwith]

Little update. Many thanks to Walt, following his advice I got a pretty good finish, not perfect by any means (what pipe is?) but I am certainly happy enough to sell the pipes.
I wasn't ale to find trizact easily so instead had a go with micromesh which I had to hand, I sanded up to 6000 which gave an acceptable finish and after a few minutes submerged in wax followed by a buff with an old cotton handkerchief the pipes looks shiny and smooth.

[WCannoy]

Glad it worked out! Where are the pics????

[caskwith]

When I get around to taking them I will post them lol.

So far I only grabbed this quick snap for facebook.

[JMG]

Nice, Chris. I five dollars with your name on it for that bottom one.

[caskwith]

$5! Damn, wish I hadn't sold it for $3 now