The third pipe of my growing collection!

[meech]

My dad came over today and handed me a bag. He said he had been out and stopped at a flea market. In the bag I found a nice simple wood pipe rack and this

One the back of the shank it says 'Ben Wade Golden Walnut Handmade in Denmark'
So I was cleaning it up a bit and then discovered this!

I really like this pipe, I haven't smoked it yet because I'm worried about the crack. It doesn't seem deep. The picture makes it look worse than it is, but I wanted to check with you guys first. If its no good I'm not too worried, he said it found it in a pile of pipes at $5 a piece!
I really like this pipe.

 

[pawpaw]

is it all they way through?

 

[bentmike]

Awesome chunk of briar for $5. I like Ben Wades and hope to have one someday. I'm not a pipe repairman but I'm interested to learn what a proper fix would be. If it was mine I'd file some scrap briar to a very fine powder then mix with woodglue and work it into that crack with something flat like a putty knife.

 

[pawpaw]

then pipe mud/cement on the inside of the bowl

 

[meech]

The previous owner took the liberty of scraping almost all of the cake. It looks like the top half never saw baccy. I cant see the crack from the inside, and I gently stuck a razor into the crack. It's incredibly shallow.
And thanks.. I don't believe he only paid a fiver for it.. It's a beaut.

 

[lonestar]

Thats too bad man, from the photo it looks like a fatal flaw to me. But you cant lose anything by trying to smoke it. A little pipe mud (cigar ash mixed with water to form a paste) may be in order if the crack is visible inside the bowl.

It may stay just as it is and you can smoke it for some time, or it may split wide open from top to bottom with just a few smokes.

I'd say if burning embers fall out through the hole and land in your lap, probably a bad idea to smoke it. Otherwise the worst that you can do is make the split worse.

 

[lonestar]

Another thought, you could mix some JB Weld and fill the crack from the outside if you dont mind a big ugly grey streak on your pipe :D

 

[photoman13]

I would still have picked up that beauty even with the crack for 5 bucks!

 

[ejames]

JB Weld would work as a filler. As I type this I am smoking an Omega that I glued the shank back on with JB weld. Looks like hell but smokes fine.

If that crack isn't to deep you might be able to sand part of it out and then fill it with superglue,after cleaning the crack thoroughly.The super glue will look black,JB Weld will be gray.I've tried mixing briar sanding dust with several different glues and epoxies to use as a filler and everything I tried turned black.

The dark area to the left of the crack looks like it may be a "hot spot" and may be an indication of a bad spot in the wood or a partial burn out.

 

[kennerth]

I think I would cut a cut along the crack with my dovetail saw and splice in a thin piece of maple or birch (many hardware stores have thin stock), olivewood (from one of the kitchen spoons), or briar( from an broken pipe shank). I haven't decided the best adhesive. Epoxies are not the best as most are heat sensitive. Glue it in the crack, sand it down and stain the area to match. then definitely build up the bowl bottom with pipe mud. Because the mud will be in direct contact with the heat, you have a lot of choices with the type of wood you can use.
If the whole bottom of the bowl is about gone, then I would drill a large hole and fill it with a large hardwood dowel plug. If it is good enough for my cob, then it would work for your Ben Wade.
What a fun project! I guarantee that pipe will mean a lot to you when you get it going!

 

[tbradsim1]

Go to hardware store red devil or dap makes a firestove cement, I believe red devil is black and dap is tan, I"ve used the tan to build up an Ascotri 1/4 of an inch on bottom, cures with heat, stands up to 1100degrees, cartridges are about 5 to 6 dollars, used in a reg caulking gun. That pipe can be fixed and smoked, might not be pretty Tbradsim the old cajun

 

[meech]

Thanks for all the tips guys.. I'm going to do some shopping around town. I'll probably go with the JB Weld or the Red Devil. I'll be sure to post my project pictures

 

[hiplainsdrifter]

Ouch. That crack is a bummer

 

[rlunderhill]

He must have had some major heat in that bowl.

 

[hobie1dog]

Definitely give it a shot with a spot repair job. ::

 

[ohiopuffer]

Great pipe for 5 bucks.Myself I would get that crack fixed that pipe is too pretty to have a crack just my opinion though.