JC's Third cleanup - Bari danish design

[JCinPA]

Well, I got a Bari fairly plain design off eBay today, $35 incl. shipping, and it's a tougher project than the first two. Not damaged that I can see, but it will be more work. OTOH, I now have my micromesh pads, and a little practice under my belt, and I have a cotton wheel on the way for my drill.

Here is what I found on Bari from pipedia.

Bari - Pipedia

pipedia.org

This will require some bowl reaming, and the rim is much worse than in my first two, admittedly easy projects. I'm happy it is an acrylic stem, though, they are a lot less of a PITA than the vulcanite. I'm not a huge bent fan, but this one spoke to me for some reason. It's not as bent as, say, a Peterson.

Here are the before photos. It won't arrive for a bit, and I won't get to it until after Christmas, most likely, but have the thread started.

 

[luvmysuper]

You take some amazing photos my friend!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

You take some amazing photos my friend!

Sellers pics, I think. He hasn't got it yet

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Looks like it should clean up nicely, John

 

[KellyG]

Looks to be a worthy project, have fun!

 

[JCinPA]

You take some amazing photos my friend!

LOL, Those are from the eBay listing, Phil!.

So, @Whisky Adam, how should I attack that rim char on this one? I’m guessing starting with 220 paper on a glass plate? Running it up through 800 then on to the full series of micro mesh pads? It looks pretty gruesome. Thanks.

Any other restorers, chime in too!

 

[luvmysuper]

LOL, Those are from the eBay listing, Phil!.

So, @Whisky Adam, how should I attack that rim char on this one? I’m guessing starting with 220 paper on a glass plate? Running it up through 800 then on to the full series of micro mesh pads? It looks pretty gruesome. Thanks.

Any other restorers, chime in too!

That guy takes some amazing pictures!

I used 600 emery on the Stanwell with the bad rim char. I got it all off down to clean wood, but - it also took off the finish of course.
I don't have faith in my ability to match the stain, so I stripped off the rest of the pipe with alcohol and magic eraser and I'll just stain it from scratch.

 

[JCinPA]

I’m thinking the same thing. Either two-tone it or do the whole thing. Want to respect what is there, but …

 

[luvmysuper]

I’m thinking the same thing. Either two-tone it or do the whole thing. Want to respect what is there, but …

Yeah, I really wish I could have kept it original, but it was just too much char.
Ultimately, the choice was a complete strip and restain, or try to be happy with a job that wasn't done right.
I guess I could have done a two tone, but the solid color was what drew me to it in the first place.

 

[nortac]

You may be surprised on the rim clean up. I'd start with much finer wet/dry paper. Slower process but may preserve some of the finish. I wouldn't start with 220, maybe 600 but more likely 1000. YMMV

 

[Whisky]

You may be surprised on the rim clean up. I'd start with much finer wet/dry paper. Slower process but may preserve some of the finish. I wouldn't start with 220, maybe 600 but more likely 1000. YMMV

I agree with this. If the rim is truly charred you’re going to have to take it down to bare wood anyway to remove the char. If the char doesn’t go through all the finish you may be able to take it down and then polish the finish that remains. If you have to take it down to bare wood and don’t want to try and re-stain it you can always wax/buff the rim and have it contrast the color of the rest of the pipe.

 

[luvmysuper]

You may be surprised on the rim clean up. I'd start with much finer wet/dry paper. Slower process but may preserve some of the finish. I wouldn't start with 220, maybe 600 but more likely 1000. YMMV

I started with 600, and truth be told I probably should have started at 800 or 1000

 

[nortac]

Another option is to just take the char down enough to make it smooth and accept some amount of rim darkening. This is where using finer grades of wet/dry (wet will give the smoothest surface) are important, taking care not to remove original finish. I noticed that the forward portion of the rim is relatively uncharred, care should be taken to preserve the remaining finish.

 

[alpster]

Before you do anything abrasive, try getting a single edge razor scraper, like you scrape stickers off glass. The blade alone will work. Gently and carefully scrape, staying on top of the finish as best you can. You may be surprised at how much of that char will come off. Finish with some spit and a cloth scrubbing. It will leave a little character and you might find it acceptable.

 

[Hirsute]

LOL, Those are from the eBay listing, Phil!.

So, @Whisky Adam, how should I attack that rim char on this one? I’m guessing starting with 220 paper on a glass plate? Running it up through 800 then on to the full series of micro mesh pads? It looks pretty gruesome. Thanks.

Any other restorers, chime in too!

First step on the rim is to remove the residue and see if you actually have any charred wood. Soak q-tips in spit and rub around the rim until all of the gunk is removed. It will take several. Once you're down to the finish, you can decide if you need to do anything more. In generally, if you start sanding the wood, you may need to restain it and wax it to complete the look, and matching stain can be a problem. I generally don't try to fix char.

But, if you want to attack it, it's a procedure called "topping" a pipe. Take a piece of high-grit micromesh or sandpaper on a flat surface and turn the pipe upsidedown and rub the rim on the sand paper. Check your progress frequently and go slow! Once that's done, you can try waxing to see if that darkens the wood sufficiently so you don't have to stain it to match. If it doesn't, you'll need to remove the wax (wipe off and then a few more passes on the sandpaper board), stain, then wax.

From the pictures, it does look like you have some char and what we call rim softening at the back inner edge of the rim. Be careful in this area so you don't round it over into the bowl more. A little high grit sandpaper wrapped around a pencil can be used for a little judicious sanding in the bowl to help keep the edge defined. Don't go crazy though, or you'll put the bowl out of round.

 

[KellyG]

Take a look at this video by George Dibos.

He shows how to remove rim char. His YouTube series has some amazing information.

 

[JCinPA]

^^^^^^^^^^
That's terrific!

 

[KellyG]

George is one of the, if not the top repairman in the business today. While most of his YouTube videos are geared toward difficult repair processes, he does have something to say to basic restoration folks like you and me. And, they are fun to watch, whatever your skill level; he does some amazing stuff.
A short George story, I bot a lot of 15 pipes a few years ago, one was a '49 Dunhill Shell LB F/T in decent condition but in need of stem work. I asked George if he would do it; after looking at the pictures, he advised to send the pipe to Anthony Cook, as the pipe didn't need his level of skill and I would be paying too much for the work needing done. George is a stand-up guy. BTW, Anthony did amazing work.

 

[luvmysuper]

George is one of the, if not the top repairman in the business today. While most of his YouTube videos are geared toward difficult repair processes, he does have something to say to basic restoration folks like you and me. And, they are fun to watch, whatever your skill level; he does some amazing stuff.
A short George story, I bot a lot of 15 pipes a few years ago, one was a '49 Dunhill Shell LB F/T in decent condition but in need of stem work. I asked George if he would do it; after looking at the pictures, he advised to send the pipe to Anthony Cook, as the pipe didn't need his level of skill and I would be paying too much for the work needing done. George is a stand-up guy. BTW, Anthony did amazing work.

I watched a bunch of his videos this morning. Amazing skill level this guy has, and stuff you wouldn't even think of.
He's a chatty fella though!

 

[JCinPA]

Yep! Another YouTube guy who’s vids are 4X too long My posts are too long, but if I ever figure out how to YouTube, those will be mercifully short