Messing around at work, cheap pipe refurb

[phatmax]

Well, I had some spare time, and this ugly Ebay acquisition. A C.B.P Viking, made in Italy. I would say it was a 70's era pipe. Kind of a cheesy imitation of the danish pipes, with lots of fills. Also, it was varnished over a red color, so it looked like a red plastic pipe with some masked woodgrain.

I did not take a before picture, dang it, I was not expecting much, but for a cheap pipe, what the heck...

I wet sanded it down and then (here comes the wrath) used some neutral shoe polish on the outside of the briar to tint the wood just a bit. After a hard buffing, it really does not smell, but when I light it up??? I think it has a partial crack in the stem anyhow, so this was just playing around.

In the rustication and on the stem and rim you can kind of see the original finish color.

[phatmax]

By the way, looking at the grain, should their be birdseye underneath that Faux-Plateau? I was thinking of sanding that smooth too, maybe doing something curvy even...but smooth to show grain.

[phatmax]

Not the best birdseye, but better then before: