Fixing a pipe

[Ponycarman]

I didn't want to change their appearance too much. Mainly clean up the stems, remove any tar buildup, remove the shellac, sanitize, and repolish.

This oom paul need some serious stem work. I don't think the stem that came with the pipe is what fits it. The fit is loose and it isn't shaped to match. But it does have the right bend. I got lots of crud off and the finish off the pipe with some acetone. Almost got the name written on it off lol.

There are some dents in the side of the pipe. Not sure if the pipe was dropped or if it was that way from the start. They were poorly filled. I am thinking about trying to do a partial rustication on it to somewhat hide the bad spots. I think it would look pretty neat. Got lots of work to do on this one for sure.

 

[Ponycarman]

This "volcano" brand pipe is a bit of an odd shape. Also some odd designs carved into it. Sadly one of the carvings has cause a crack that extends into the bowl. I'm going to try to salvage it as best I can to make beater pipe I guess. Going to try to at least keep the crack from continuing. I might attemp to shorten the stem some. Then just smoke it till it falls apart haha.

Gave it a wipe down with the acetone as well. To remove any wax or remaining finish.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

This "volcano" brand pipe is a bit of an odd shape. Also some odd designs carved into it. Sadly one of the carvings has cause a crack that extends into the bowl. I'm going to try to salvage it as best I can to make beater pipe I guess. Going to try to at least keep the crack from continuing. I might attemp to shorten the stem some. Then just smoke it till it falls apart haha.

Gave it a wipe down with the acetone as well. To remove any wax or remaining finish.

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Pop a metal cap on or a band around that sucker.

 

[Ponycarman]

This "Garrison" is pretty neat. I like the shape and thought the carving was kinda cool. It was coated in some thick crazy shellac. I am learning tinted shellac can hide a multitude of bad things. The drilling is is odd as well. It enters directly at the base of the bowl and the bit continued beyond slightly. Doubt it will make a difference. Just thought it was odd. I removed the shellac that was almost to the point of paint it was tinted so dark. There were some large fills underneath. The stain ended up a kinda dark red underneath. Going to be fun!

 

[Ponycarman]

Pop a metal cap on or a band around that sucker.

Hadn't thought of that! A possibility! I do have some sheet brass hmmmm.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

Hadn't thought of that! A possibility! I do have some sheet brass hmmmm.

I'm far from knowledged with this type of thing, but brass might be too soft of a metal to use to really be effective. I could be wrong though.

 

[Ponycarman]

Last one for now. This "medico" is one of my favorite from the lot. I like the bend and and the design carved into it is pretty neat and feels nice in hand. I'm still in the process of getting all the shellac from the nooks and crannies. The shellac wasn't as tinted as the garrison but there are a couple fills. No clue why the fills were red lol. Its getting there though.

I have a few more to get started. Hopefully will get some done tomorrow.

 

[Ponycarman]

I'm far from knowledged with this type of thing, but brass might be too soft of a metal to use to really be effective. I could be wrong though.

Yeah it certainly isn't the popular choice. Lots more silver. I am definitely not going to put silver on this pipe haha. Lipstick on a pig comes to mind .

Brass is soft but not too bad. Silver is pretty soft too. I don't think it would need to be too ridged I guess. Might give it a try. Maybe not haha.

 

[Ponycarman]

I'm far from knowledged with this type of thing, but brass might be too soft of a metal to use to really be effective. I could be wrong though.

Interesting info. I researched the hardness of brass compaired to silver being it is be far the most common capping metal. On the "Mohs" scale for jewelry metals the two metals are almost exactly the same hardness. Depending on the silver content, silver may even be softer than brass. The scale gives silver and gold a 2.5-3.0 rating and brass a rating of 3. Tungsten carbide being the hardest at 8.5-9.0. Pretty cool stuff!

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

Interesting info. I researched the hardness of brass compaired to silver being it is be far the most common capping metal. On the "Mohs" scale for jewelry metals the two metals are almost exactly the same hardness. Depending on the silver content, silver may even be softer than brass. The scale gives silver and gold a 2.5-3.0 rating and brass a rating of 3. Tungsten carbide being the hardest at 8.5-9.0. Pretty cool stuff!

Nice. I was also thinking about it in terms malleability after putting a flame to it dozens of time and thermal expansion. Again, I'm no pro. and have very little knowledge when it comes to forging and working metals, but it's just something that popped into my head that might be worth considering.

 

[Ponycarman]

Nice. I was also thinking about it in terms malleability after putting a flame to it dozens of time and thermal expansion. Again, I'm no pro. and have very little knowledge when it comes to forging and working metals, but it's just something that popped into my head that might be worth considering.

No worries. Might be worth a try. But also might be too much to try to save an old beater pipe. My orignal plan is to glue the crack from the outside (black super glue). Then stain all the carvings very dark to try to hide it. Leaving the inside as is with the putty fill.

 

[Ponycarman]

Did some work today

I don't think I'm going to do anything more to this kaywoodie than just cleanup and oxidation removal. I really like kaywoodie pipes. I scrubbed this one with some Murphy's oil soap to clean out the sandblast. Going to clean up the stem and polish everything up nice. Going to be a good pipe.

 

[Ponycarman]

I also really like this dr graybow bulldog. Seems like a great size and in good shape. I would be surprised if it was smoked more than a couple bowls. The bowl appears to have no cake and only the bowl coating showing. There was no tar buildup at all on the wide rim. This pipe has lots of nice grain and birdseye.

I removed the shellac with acetone and during this process the grain seemed to darked and pop more. There was a small chip at the front in the slot cut around the bowl. I was able to put a tiny dab of glue behind it and push it back into place. Can't even see where it was chipped now lol.

 

[Ponycarman]

This dr graybow is really small. Has a weird carved look to it too. I tried to remove the shellac with just acetone but that wasn't enough. Had to use steel wool with the acetone to help get it gone. Might still have some on it but no biggie.

 

[Price]

I also really like this dr graybow bulldog. Seems like a great size and in good shape. I would be surprised if it was smoked more than a couple bowls. The bowl appears to have no cake and only the bowl coating showing. There was no tar buildup at all on the wide rim. This pipe has lots of nice grain and birdseye.

I removed the shellac with acetone and during this process the grain seemed to darked and pop more. There was a small chip at the front in the slot cut around the bowl. I was able to put a tiny dab of glue behind it and push it back into place. Can't even see where it was chipped now lol.

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This pipe is the pick of the litter, IMO. That's a real winner.

 

[Ponycarman]

A couple updates on the others from yesterday. The "volcano" has quite a crack. Going to be fun trying to fix it.

The garrison is coming along. Most of the fills aren't very noticeable after I darken them with a touchup pen. One is pretty deep and ugly though. I don't have any briar dust to fill it the correct way so I have had to improvise to make it less ugly. I filled the huge gouge with a wax furniture scratch crayon. Then put a layer of glue overtop. My hope is that it will blend in somewhat once it is all polished up.

Big ugly spot.

 

[Ponycarman]

This pipe is the pick of the litter, IMO. That's a real winner.

Definitely. It's going to be very pretty all shined back up.

 

[Ponycarman]

Lastly the medico. Got it all cleaned up and darked the red fill putty with a touch up pen. Most of these are now just needing stem work and waxing yayyy

 

[Ponycarman]

Did some waxing on a few of the estates. They are looking pretty good shined up. I'll have to add some more wax I think. The carved ones are quite challenging to wax. My larger buffer may work better if I can set it up correctly.

The garrison shined up nicely. Kinda a reddish hue to the stain. My attempted fill failed when waxing so the sizeable gouge has just been waxed as the rest of the pipe.

The medico was even more difficult to wax in the carved areas. But it looks pretty good.

The kaywoodie shined up quite nicely.

The dr graybow is the nicest of the bunch. It will need to more wax but the grain is very nice.

Haven't started the stem work yet. Hoping to knocked them out soon.

 

[Ponycarman]

Before pics of the savinelli 611ks I picked up. It is a "florence" pipe. From what I can tell it was a line of seconds. It was coated in a red tinted varnish of some kind. Pretty tough stuff. It wouldn't come off like other finishes when I wiped it with a cotton ball or acetone.

My wife suggested putting the cotton balls with acetone on it and wrapping in aluminum foil. Something they do at the salon she works at to remove tough stuff. It worked! I'm still in the process of removing all of the finish but it is coming off. I'm hoping to get all the red gone. Use a brown stain possibly and wax to a shine. I've thought about just waxing it and leaving it natural too.

Here are the before pics