Polishing a Refinished Pipe

There are a few...I use Paragon wax when I'm too lazy to go out to my shed where I have my buffing station set up.
Paragon Wax does a good job and is easy to use.

Raw linseed oil is toxic to humans and takes a long time to dry. Boiled linseed oil is considered to be “food safe” and is often used to treat and seal wooden cutting boards. What effect it could have on the taste of your tobacco, should it penetrate your pipe, is a mystery to me. 

AJ

I never knew that. Thanks for sharing. I think I rubbed a bit on one of my ebay pipes. Damned of I know which one. Lol

You can use Shine Juice. It is a mixture of BLO,DNA and Bees Wax. Wood turners use this on their pie as.

Carnauba as applied very carefully via cotton wheel on a dremel or bench buffer.

Yep. Carnauba with a wheel is the finest shine.  I use it after the white diamond on all my pipes, about 3 coats the first time. 

Since I don’t have a buffing wheel, and have heard many examples of people using one that launched their pipe into a wall, and have seen where a careless moment can buff off the stamps, I chose an unorthodox route.

I have used this wax on my wood stocks on my military weapons and it has proven itself in that regard.

thegunstockdoctor.com/Products.html

I rub it on the pipe, and heat with my old Makita heatgun and polish with a soft cloth.

I have had really good results... I do the same with clear beeswax on my meerschaum pipes... I melt the beeswax with the heatgun ((a step not necessary with Toms gunstock wax), apply it and heat with gun and polish.

I've buffed a lot of pipes, and one would have to have one hell of a careless moment to buff off the stamps -- like about 10 minutes in one place  . Unless of course one is using pumice instead of Tripoli or wax. BTW, I use a 3600 rpm buffer too. Takes about 2 minutes if that. Just hold the pipe tightly but apply it lightly to the wheel.

Charlie....yes...and....yes...you are absolutely correct.  In my early days on a bench buffer, there were some known warnings...but I still wasn't quite prepared...a few bowls hit the wall...the floor...one of them was an Ardor!!!          Fortunately, that was several years and a thousand pipes ago.  And there are plenty of guys like yourself who do a fine job without a buffer! 

I'd say that one really ought to watch a very carefully demonstrated process via video (or better yet...see it in person)...and then if possible, get just a bit of mentoring on the buffer before going off on their own.  And I say that even more so due to your 2nd great point...that a buffer will also take the stampings right off of a pipe, as well as buffing away the softer grain, leaving an uneven finish on the bowl.  Surprisingly, many guys don't realize that a wheel with buffing compound (including tripoli, white diamond and others) is not simply "shining up" the pipe...the buffing compound is REMOVING WOOD.  These compounds are not just shining up the dull, scratched-up surface...they're removing those scratches by removing the wood surface which has been scratched.  Whereas...a product such as carnauba is 'filling' the scratches, and not removing material.  Nope...not suggesting wax 'instead of' sanding / finishing / buffing.  It's a careful and mixed process.  

An old timer once told me...when buffing..."keep your finger in the bowl"!!!!  

I don't know what in hell people might be buffing with to "take fhe stampings right off a pipe". Sand paper? It takes years of aggressive buffing in my experience to do that. No, you don't try to buff out deep scratches. That won't work. Buffing is to polish already smooth wood. Waxing shines buffed wood. Neither require much pressure. I touch up all my pipes frequently on the buffer without dsmagecto stamps, and I buff the hell out of the pipes I make. Deep Scratches are either lived with, sanded out, it filled with carnauba or colored lacquer sticks. Now, the stem stamping on Savinellis is an issue into itself. They are very shallow, so a light touch is required. Post sanding and buffing, one can put white lacquer (whiteout) in the stem stamping, let it dry a day, and sand over it to bring out the edges full of paint, then buff very lightly.

Bear in mind, if buffing was so dangerous, pipe makers would have to charge a hell of lot more, and production pipe makers wouldn't put apprentices on the buffer.  

Tripoli is offered in multiple grits, as you may know.  Heavier grit tripoli, for example, will quickly buff away a shallow stamping in a single application...if done too aggressively.   

Hence my admonition above to buff lightly, not aggressively.  The point I'm merely trying to make is that folks shouldn't be nervous about using time saving tools.