Rescue, Restore Of An Old Comoy's - PIC HEAVY

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agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,332
3,413
In the sticks in Mississippi
Being the sucker I am for attempting difficult restorations of debatable worth, I just couldn't resist this pipe. It's an old Comoy Grand Slam made, as near as I can tell, between 1933 and 1945. Any experts feel free to correct me if this is wrong. The pipe was partly in good condition, no chatter, but mostly in bad condition, with two one inch long vertical cracks in the bowl that went all the way through. It was cheap enough that I felt obligated to try to rescue it.

So long story short, with the use of a few different glues and wood putty, and a hose clamp, I managed to get the bowl whole again. Yes you can see some of the cracks yet, and I could have hidden them better with a darker stain, but it doesn't bother me too much as is. Mixed up some pipe mud slurry with a little rum and a drop of honey to make it a little sticky and coated the inside of the bowl to cover the crack repair, and start a cake. These pipes come with one of the weirder stingers I've seen. The stem was stuck in a partially out position, but after an hour in the freezer it came out, but only so far. I didn't know what exactly I was dealing with but I knew the stinger was hung up. So I half filled the bowl with alcohol and let it set over night. It finally worked free, but was a disgusting mess. It has two leather washers on the end and numerous holes of sorts, and I have no idea what it was supposed to accomplish, but I'm sure if I looked up the patent I'd find out. I managed to unscrew it from the stem and will save it as a curiosity. The little bar on the top of the stem was missing, and looking online it was said the the early Grand Slam pipes had a white and turquoise bar on the stem. The pics that I saw the blue looked more gray than blue, so I made mine a real turquoise color. The silver band looks original to the pipe as I see no cracks in the shank, and it's rather thick and well fitted. Then again I may be wrong.

So I guess all that's left to do is load it up and smoke it and see if it cracks open again...

Before:

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After:

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img_00116-600x449.jpg


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eriksmokes85

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 24, 2015
172
0
You sir are a magician! That doesn't even look possible. Nicely done! Happy piping!

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,568
27,070
Carmel Valley, CA
Ho-Lee Cow! Great job, but what a shame such a beauty was either terribly mistreated or had really bad briar.
And your middle three photos (horizontal ones) of after resto show how pipes could be photographed, with out PS, and give a very different impression than what really is there, which the final photos make very clear.
Ideas of how the cracks came about?

 

agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,332
3,413
In the sticks in Mississippi
I often wonder what happens to pipes like this too. There was some cake in the bowl but not a huge amount, and when I touched it with a pen knife, it literally just all fell out! What you see in the before pic is all that was left in the bowl. The only thing I can think of is, that it was just smoked too hot.

 

kaan

Lurker
Nov 20, 2015
49
0
Your effort and craftsmanship is laudable and i hope you enjoy your smokes sir! "Stop and smell the tobacco" instead of roses! :)

 

averagegent

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 22, 2016
127
0
An incredible bit of work, and well worth it, regardless of cost. You can truly call that pipe your own! :wink:

 

simong

Lifer
Oct 13, 2015
2,532
15,277
UK
Unbelievable restoration! Hopefully it shall reward the work you put in, by the way of many sweet smokes to come. I'm sure it will, well done!

 

agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,332
3,413
In the sticks in Mississippi
Jay, I kinda forgot about this post, but I have to admit that this has been a great smoking pipe, and after smoking it about a dozen times in the last few months, it hasn't cracked open again.

I use a couple of different glues depending on the repair I'm doing. For this pipe, I used WoodWeld, an epoxy made by JB Weld to to glue the bowl together using pressure from a hose clamp on the bowl. I didn't use too much, because I wanted to use some super glue with briar dust to finish off the crack inside and outside of the bowl. It didn't really hide the crack that well, but the flash pics show it more than in real life. I've used these glues a number of times in repairing major problems in pipes before, and it has worked well. Putting pipe mud inside the bowl is really necessary though to give it some cake to start so you won't be smoking any glue.

 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
Thanks for the info Orley. I personally have used 'Rapide Epoxy Putty' for similar repairs with success but am running low on it. I will be trying JB Weld as this seems a popular alternative with the pipe repair community.
I've yet to try pipe mud as I am not 100% convinced that it actually works though I do appreciate it is a popular method.
Regards,
Jay.

 
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