Gran' Pappy's Medico

[jiminyshiznit]

So, I found my grandpa's old pipe the other day, and I'd like to fix 'er up a little. I've been reading up on the salt/alcohol method to clean it out, so I'll start with that. It has a clear finish that's chipped up, and I'd like to get that off, too. Should I sand it off, or is there a better way to get the clear finish off? When the finish is out of the way, is something like renaissance wax an ok thing to use on the raw wood? Also, I couldn't get a photo of it, but there's a gouge at the bottom of the bowl that looks like he poked something down in there many times.. it's right in the center and it's about the sized of a split pea.. since it's so close to the draft hole, will that affect the way it smokes, or should I not worry about it?

 

[Argonaut]

Personally, if it was my grandfather's pipe, I might do the salt/everclear treatment and leave the rest alone. If you go sanding or trying to strip the finish off the pipe, you might mess up the look of the pipe. I'd buff it with carnuba wax and see if that evens out the finish, pure carnuba though, not the car wax stuff. Some pipe mud made from cigar ash should fill in the divot you're talking about.

 

[WithTheGrain]

+1
When it comes to "heirlooms", I would clean it up but leave the finish alone. Keeps its character intact. Just call it a patina...

Personally, if it was my grandfather's pipe, I might do the salt/everclear treatment and leave the rest alone. If you go sanding or trying to strip the finish off the pipe, you might mess up the look of the pipe. I'd buff it with carnuba wax and see if that evens out the finish, pure carnuba though, not the car wax stuff. Some pipe mud made from cigar ash should fill in the divot you're talking about.

 

[jiminyshiznit]

I hear ya on the leaving it alone angle, but the dings are unfortunately my doing.. from tossing it in a box 25 years ago with a bunch of other junk. I'd feel better about it if I gave it a little love, I think. I was hoping to get the clear off without sanding, but I also don't want to get harsh chemicals in the mix. Just Googled "pipe mud" and came up with lots of stuff to read.. thanks for that!

 

[Shave_Rat]

I hear ya on the leaving it alone angle, but the dings are unfortunately my doing.. from tossing it in a box 25 years ago with a bunch of other junk. I'd feel better about it if I gave it a little love, I think. I was hoping to get the clear off without sanding, but I also don't want to get harsh chemicals in the mix. Just Googled "pipe mud" and came up with lots of stuff to read.. thanks for that!

For an heirloom pipe like that, it could be worth looking into having a pro do the restore for you then. That's how I'm going forward for restores on heirloom razors.

 

[brother cavefish]

its a nice pipe, me i would try to microfiber or very very easy sanding cloth the areas just enough to even the coat and then hand massage some carnauba/sweet almond mixture , but thats me, i might even sand the whole thing but the band will scratch and one would have to buff that out, my 2 cents

 

[the_edski]

Personally, if it was my grandfather's pipe, I might do the salt/everclear treatment and leave the rest alone. If you go sanding or trying to strip the finish off the pipe, you might mess up the look of the pipe. I'd buff it with carnuba wax and see if that evens out the finish, pure carnuba though, not the car wax stuff. Some pipe mud made from cigar ash should fill in the divot you're talking about.

+1
When it comes to "heirlooms", I would clean it up but leave the finish alone. Keeps its character intact. Just call it a patina...

+2, exactly the advice I would give!

 

[jiminyshiznit]

Well, I'm not always so good at taking advice, once I've already made up my mind. I appreciate all of the sentimentally-inspired words, but I really feel like I disrespected this pipe when I was a kid, by throwing it in a box with a bunch of junk, and I know I can make it right. Plus, my grandpa was the type of guy that would respect the fix more than keeping it just as it was. That said, there's a ding on the rim that I know is from him, and I'll leave that one there, even though I know I could steam it out. So, I guess this is going to turn into a slight-restore/clean-up thread.

The super shiny, chipped-up finish really made this thing look cheap and abused, so it simply had to go.. I read up on finished pipes and determined that it was most likely shellac, then I found that denatured alcohol would dissolve the shellac. Not wanting to put that stuff on the pie, I tried some everclear.. started to haze the finish, which confirmed the shellac, so I went for it. Step one done.. finish removed, no damage to the briar. I'm already feeling better about the ol' Medico. Now I'm on my way to get some micro mesh to very carefully smooth out a little bit of the teeth marks on the stem, while I do the salt/everclear treatment to the bowl. It's a plastic stem, so I'll do a small test before I get very far. I'm also going to pick up a fresh buffing wheel for my drill, along with some carnauba wax.. I'm not going to go super high gloss, but I think I'll use the carnauba instead of the renaissance wax, since the renaissance is petroleum based.

Here's the pipe with the finish removed and the aluminum part of the stem cleaned a bit..

 

[WithTheGrain]

Looks good, can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[jiminyshiznit]

OK, so the bowl is almost half-way done cookin' and I just finished up some touch up on the stem. I used 2400 > 3600> 6000 > 12000 Micro Mesh pads to polish out the bulk of the teeth marks on the stem, then Flitz on a t-Shirt to blend it all together and polish the metal bands. I also got rid of the little dent marks on the tip from the manufacturing process.

 

[the_edski]

Looking good! We can get a little sentimental, but I'm glad in the end that you did what you felt was right!

 

[Argonaut]

Looking really nice, well done! Great pictures too.

 

[jiminyshiznit]

Thanks, guys.. I'm really trying to right a wrong, so it feels good to get a little validation!

This pic was taken yesterday morning, and I cleaned the salt out shortly thereafter. It's not perfect inside, but it doesn't smell funky, so I think I'll move on to the final steps. I hope to get it finished up tonight or tomorrow night.

 

[Shave_Rat]

It's looking great. I'd have done some sort of restore on it myself, were I in your spot. I am just pretty sure I would not have managed to do as good of a job at it as you have. lol

 

[jiminyshiznit]

Alright, aside from patching the little divot at the bottom of the bowl, which I may just leave, she's back together. Didn't do any sanding on the briar, or get too carried away trying to make it look too new again.. just wanted it to look old and cared for, as opposed to old and abused. I also like the look of the satin finish a lot more than the high gloss.

I saved one pack of Grandpa Harold's matches that were sitting by his pipe, and I'm so glad I did. I used up the other dozen packs in my early 20's, smokin' cig'rettes & stuff.

So, without further adieu, here she is..

 

[the_edski]

Fantastic job! Thanks for sharing the whole journey!

 

[jiminyshiznit]

Thanks, Ed! This was really fun, and I think the first of many. I bought 9 dirt-cheap pipes recently, so I'll at least do those. I need to get a reamer soon, since those have mega-huge stale cake goin' on. Anyway, it feels good to have fixed my mistake, and I think my Grandpa would really like what I did with it.

 

[WithTheGrain]

Agreed- looks great. I am looking forward to see how the rest of those pipes go as well.

 

[jiminyshiznit]

Thanks! I just came inside from a beautiful first smoke with the pipe..

 

[oc_in_fw]

Great job and nice heirloom