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Just finished this a little while ago. Turned my back on my daughter and she took a file to the stem ....gonna have to sand it again. At least it was just the stem and not the stummel

I had trouble getting this to take stain evenly. I sanded it back to 220 twice to start over on the stain. I think I finally got it to at least look acceptable. And don't worry Wayne....I sanded the chamber

Length: 6.2"
Height: 2.9"
Chamber: .8125" x 1.94"
Weight: 58 grams (she's a big girl!)
Algerian Briar
Cumberland Stem

All comments and critiques welcome.









I know my stems still need some refining. The good news is I have 5 stummels sitting on the bench that will all be getting stems this week......lots of practice.

Thanks for looking

Scottie

Have you tried wiping the stummel down with denatured alcohol right after you apply the stain? It can do a lot to even out the dye.

I sure did. I tried that all three times I stained it. This was by far the best of all three.

Looks great. I like the fact you left some of the plateaux, have always enjoyed that look.

Really good one, congrat'

Best regards,

I like it scottie..

james

Did everyone make Dublins for st.pattys day? nice job Scotties!

those light stains are hard to coat evenly, they like to lap try keeping the edge wet and work quickly

Ocelot55 wrote:Have you tried wiping the stummel down with denatured alcohol right after you apply the stain? It can do a lot to even out the dye.

Newb question: I assume your talking about the final, light stain layer and not the initial heavy stain layers?

GPipe wrote:

Ocelot55 wrote:Have you tried wiping the stummel down with denatured alcohol right after you apply the stain? It can do a lot to even out the dye.

Newb question: I assume your talking about the final, light stain layer and not the initial heavy stain layers?

Depends what you're trying to accomplish, but generally, yes.

In this instance it is the undercoat that is uneven. The top coat isn't and is actually just amber colored shellac. I applied stain between 220, 320, and 400 and it came out uneven. Soooo, I sanded back to 220 and started again...twice. The last time I did wipe the excess off with DA right after I applied the stain. By far the worst piece of briar I've had as far as accepting stain goes. Up close it looks like the ring grain is what didn't want to accept the stain. You can actually follow them all the way around the bowl.

Maybe this one would have made a good blasting candidate?

If I had the setup....Yes

Scottie, ring grain can give patterns to the stain, I've learned to be okay with it. One way to help get an even undercoat, is to heat the briar, and apply stain repeatedly, continue heating, apply more stain, repeat until the stain looks black and funky on the surface. When you sand back it'll be really deep in the briar, and much more even.

I hadn't thought oif heating the briar. I usually apply my first coat until the stummel is almost black (I don't use black as an undercoat. Most of the time it is a dark brown. On this pipe it was a reddish brown)...just keep slapping it on. Maybe I'll try heating the next one and see how it turns out. Thanks.

Pretty Sweet Pipe

Very nicely done,plateau is nice good job.

I love the elegant shank/stem on this especially. Really nice Scottie.

Brandon