Hey Mark! Are you open for business yet? 
They look great. Well done, sir.
They look great. Well done, sir.
Fixing a pipe
- Thread starter Ponycarman
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #142
Hey Mark! Are you open for business yet?
They look great. Well done, sir.
Thanks guys! Hoping to work my way up to making a complete pipe someday. Still working up my lathe experience haha. Coming along though. Amazing how the right tools make the job easier haha.
- Thread starter
- #143
Been a bit since I've updated this thread. Been quite busy with having a second kiddo born last July and distracted by other hobbies haha. I still puff the occasional pipe but fixing them has been on the back burner. Wood lathe turning, fishing, and metal detecting has been distracting me haha. Today I actually did something on a pipe though 
.
A good while ago I scored a kiko african meer off ebay. Decent deal and it had a trashed stem. Horribly chewed and a large chunk missing. Instead of trying to repair the original stem I opted to buy a replacement (actually two just in case I messed one up haha).
Replacement vulcanite stems come unfinished rough casted. I was able to do the light shaping with a file and started the sanding. Also drilled for the tenon. This kiko has an odd mortise abd tenon arrangement. The tenon is on the stummel as apposed to the stem like usually. I drilled the mortise into the stem as best I could by hand. I think it will be serviceable but will require a little creative tweaking. So far I've got the stem wet sanded to 1800 grit.
Next stage will be to heat and bend the stem to the appropriate curve and then continue on with the wet sanding/ polishing/waxing.
First time ever doing a stem replacement but I think it is going pretty well considering haha.
The original stem was pretty bad but is was a pipe I couldn't pass up.
The stem fitting and progress so far
. A good while ago I scored a kiko african meer off ebay. Decent deal and it had a trashed stem. Horribly chewed and a large chunk missing. Instead of trying to repair the original stem I opted to buy a replacement (actually two just in case I messed one up haha).
Replacement vulcanite stems come unfinished rough casted. I was able to do the light shaping with a file and started the sanding. Also drilled for the tenon. This kiko has an odd mortise abd tenon arrangement. The tenon is on the stummel as apposed to the stem like usually. I drilled the mortise into the stem as best I could by hand. I think it will be serviceable but will require a little creative tweaking. So far I've got the stem wet sanded to 1800 grit.
Next stage will be to heat and bend the stem to the appropriate curve and then continue on with the wet sanding/ polishing/waxing.
First time ever doing a stem replacement but I think it is going pretty well considering haha.
The original stem was pretty bad but is was a pipe I couldn't pass up.
The stem fitting and progress so far
Thats is very well done sir 
- Thread starter
- #145
Thanks a bunch! Its a work in progress but seems to be going pretty well.Thats is very well done sir
I just bent the stem and it is looking great. Now on to snug up the fit a tad and finish the polishing. It still has a great draw and passes a pipe cleaner with ease.
- Thread starter
- #146
Done! It isn't perfect but I'm happy with it. Tweaked the fit of the mortise/ tennon, polished, and a coat of carnuaba wax. The stummel got a coat of bees wax and all was buffed. Enjoying the inaugural smoke now 
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #147
Actually did some work on a couple pipes this afternoon. Recently picked up a couple Peterson pipes. A rocky donegal 999 ad a kapet 221. The 999 was pretty clean but I needed to buff the stem and polish. The kapet I finished buffing out and polishing the stem. A coat of wax on both as well. Thirdly I worked on a strange oom paul I have had around for a while. Restored the stem a while back but I was still loly gagging on the stummel. Today I did some sanding and stained it. This is the first time I've stained a pipe with leather dye so be gentle lol. I filled some imperfections with some brair dust donated by @Mike H. Then gave it a few coat of wax. Not terrible but not great. The fills are still quite noticeable and a couple spots didn't stain around the fills. But it is good for a beat around pipe I think.
The 999
The 221
The oom paul
The 999
The 221
The oom paul
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- #148
Been a while sincle the last installment. Started cleaning up a batch of pipes today. Some worse than others but all should clean up well. Today all the stummels and bowls got reamed. Collected quite a bit of smelly old cake powder lol. Also all the stems were soaked in alcohol and scrubbed clean. Then soaked in oxiclean. Next will be removing the oxidation and polishing. Also bowl treatments and repairing anything that needs it.
- Thread starter
- #149
Finally have something more to add to this thread haha. The last year has been chaotic and pipe restoration has been way on the bottom of the list. Haven't been able to enjoy my pipes as much as I would have liked. Recently I grabbed a the "before and after" pipe stem restoration kit from La Belle Epoque pens. If mr. "rebornpipes" gave it a good review then I figured I would give it a try.
Got the chance this afternoon to test it out so I gave it a go. The solution is very goopy and needs to be stored in an airtight container. I put some in a mason jar and dropped in 10 stems of various levels of oxidation. In fact many of the stems in the pic above went in the jar. I let the stems soak for around 30min. Took them out and wiped them off but decided they needed a little longer soak.
After the soak I took the stems out and gave them a wipe down. This is where I need to hone my technique. Cotton rags are recommended for the wipe down but I tried paper towels. Going to have to get some rags haha. The goopy solution destroys the paper towels pretty easily and I wasted quite a bit. I tried using mineral oil to clean off the residue but being new to this products use I couldn't make this work well for me. I turned to isopropyl alcohol and it worked decently. After a thorough cleaning and some elbow grease the stems were free of oxidation and looked way better! I still need to try out the included polishes to "brighten" the stems a bit but I would call it a success!
The pipes above are coming together finally. Left one of the 10 put by accident
. Next time I'm going to try to more closely follow the video the fellow put out demonstrating the product. But so far I like it! Stems are back to black with no sandpaper as of yet .
Got the chance this afternoon to test it out so I gave it a go. The solution is very goopy and needs to be stored in an airtight container. I put some in a mason jar and dropped in 10 stems of various levels of oxidation. In fact many of the stems in the pic above went in the jar. I let the stems soak for around 30min. Took them out and wiped them off but decided they needed a little longer soak.
After the soak I took the stems out and gave them a wipe down. This is where I need to hone my technique. Cotton rags are recommended for the wipe down but I tried paper towels. Going to have to get some rags haha. The goopy solution destroys the paper towels pretty easily and I wasted quite a bit. I tried using mineral oil to clean off the residue but being new to this products use I couldn't make this work well for me. I turned to isopropyl alcohol and it worked decently. After a thorough cleaning and some elbow grease the stems were free of oxidation and looked way better! I still need to try out the included polishes to "brighten" the stems a bit but I would call it a success!
The pipes above are coming together finally. Left one of the 10 put by accident
. Next time I'm going to try to more closely follow the video the fellow put out demonstrating the product. But so far I like it! Stems are back to black with no sandpaper as of yet .
I may need to try some of that stuff!
- Thread starter
- #151
I was skeptical to be honest. But it works! I hate all the sanding involved with stem restoration lol.
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- #152
Productive day! Used the deoxidizer solution more and have figured out the technique. Also tried the polishing compounds, briar cleaner, and restoration balm. Ended up getting 21 pipes of various levels of dirty back to where they needed to be. Some were bad and some were pretty clean with just a little oxidation.
Once again the deoxidizer works. Its wayyy easier to use with rags. Cotton was recommended but I microfiber because its what I had.
The briar cleaner sample is interesting stuff. Definitely gets dust and dirt out of rustication and sandblasts. The polishing compounds work great too. Just a tiny bit is needed and I could see the surface improve as well as removing any residual oxidation that can't be seen with the eye.
The restoration balm is pretty amazing. Kinda goopy but give the whole pipe a light coating. Let it sit for a little bit and then buff it off and it puts an impressive shine on both the stem and the briar. Even put a nice shine on a few of the pipes that were almost completely missing their finishes. I buffed everything with a microfiber rag and used a shoe buffing brush of sandblasted and rusticated surfaces just to make sure there wasn't a ton of the balm gooped into crevices. The stuff goes on transparent too so no need to worry about white residue in the rough surfaces.
I took group pics to keep from having to post a ton of photos lol. Can post individuals if anyone wants to see one closer haha.
Once again the deoxidizer works. Its wayyy easier to use with rags. Cotton was recommended but I microfiber because its what I had.
The briar cleaner sample is interesting stuff. Definitely gets dust and dirt out of rustication and sandblasts. The polishing compounds work great too. Just a tiny bit is needed and I could see the surface improve as well as removing any residual oxidation that can't be seen with the eye.
The restoration balm is pretty amazing. Kinda goopy but give the whole pipe a light coating. Let it sit for a little bit and then buff it off and it puts an impressive shine on both the stem and the briar. Even put a nice shine on a few of the pipes that were almost completely missing their finishes. I buffed everything with a microfiber rag and used a shoe buffing brush of sandblasted and rusticated surfaces just to make sure there wasn't a ton of the balm gooped into crevices. The stuff goes on transparent too so no need to worry about white residue in the rough surfaces.
I took group pics to keep from having to post a ton of photos lol. Can post individuals if anyone wants to see one closer haha.
- Thread starter
- #153
Cleaned up a couple more. The sculptura I got in the mail yesterday and a peterson tankard I forgot about lol.
- Thread starter
- #154
The savinelli alligator 316 that arrived today was a quick and easy clean up. The oxidation on the cumberland stem cleaned up very quickly in the deoxidizer goop. A quick polish and wax and it was pretty much good to go. There was a bit of stubborn tar on the rim and some white residue on the side but nothing too horrible. Must have been taken care of pretty well or not smoked much as there is almost no cake at all or odor. Didn't even have to ream it lol. Looks good all shined up!
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