Brass Inlay on an Old Ropp Edil

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barepipe

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 29, 2017
134
0
A few months ago I picked up a sad old Ropp Edil shape 179 from eBay. The rim was burnt, the sides covered with tiny dents and the color was a dull dark brown with almost no grain showing. On top of that, once I started cleaning it, I found no less that 6 fills in random spots around the bowl and shank. Add to that the odd dent that was too deep to steam out. So what to do?
So I decided to try something different.
I cleaned out the fills to remove the old putty, sketched a continuous sinuous line around the pipe that connected all the holes and dents, Dremelled in a groove along the sketched line and filled it with brass, taking my inspiration from the Japanese pottery tradition of kintsugi. Some contrast staining later and after a coat of carnuba, she looks like new.
My wife says it looks like a pipe for an elve. There is certainly something archetypal in it, maybe the path of life, maybe something snake like, maybe smoke. I am quite happy with the outcome. A sad little pipe that was ready to be discarded has a new life










 

jazz

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 17, 2014
813
65
UK
Now that is really rather interesting. Tell me, how exactly do you get the brass in the groove?

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
Yes that is interesting. And, yes, how do you get it in there and keep it from falling out? I'm guessing that you hammer a brass wire in the groove, and attach it somehow. Are you expecting any issues with expansion/contraction of the brass causing any problems with the briar?

 

barepipe

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 29, 2017
134
0
I use cold casting, but I found that the standard epoxy used for cold casting did not give a good enough finish so after experimenting a bit I replaced the epoxy with a high viscosity superglue to bind the brass powder.
I did a video on my YouTube channel that shows how the technique works.
Here is the link: https://youtu.be/NJn2DlueApA

 
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