Who Does Good Work With Silver Bands on Meerschaum?

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lawmax3

Can't Leave
Jan 18, 2013
405
12
Dang it!! My Peterson Baskerville Meer cracked right down the back of the shank.

Didn't drop it or anything. was just smokingit and there it was.

It was beginning to color nicely too. :cry:

Any suggestions for who does great band work?

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
A cracked shank on a briar pipe is usually fixable by banding because the technique involves a slightly tapered (conical) band and shockingly high compressive force to install.
Meer is an entirely different animal. It would be instantly destroyed if handled in the same way as briar. Any band used on it is purely decorative, and the shank material must be cut to fit a pre-existing tubular (parallel sided) band at the time of manufacture. "Retro fitting" a band to a meer would require the band to be made afterward to fit a specific pipe, jeweler-style; and then it couldn't be compressively functional, just a slip-fit tube.
I think you're screwed, in other words.
SP.com owns Peterson now, and they are, in my experience, excellent when it comes to customer service and customer relations. Try calling them before doing anything else. I predict you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

lawmax3

Can't Leave
Jan 18, 2013
405
12
Thanks George.

Makes sense, compression, especially on a crack won't work.

I had hoped it might have a chance to be saved. Oh well.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Whoops.
For some reason I had it in my head you bought it from SP.
Sorry.
Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one. :(

 

weezell

Lifer
Oct 12, 2011
13,653
49,163
This is a meer that broke in half that Ric @Briarville fixed for me. Looks good and still smokes like a champ. 2nd time he's fixed a break on this pipe for me.Put a band on it for me. Just sayin...
K4CdHmr.jpg


 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
This is a meer that broke in half that Ric @Briarville fixed for me. Looks good and still smokes like a champ. 2nd time he's fixed a break on this pipe for me.
Where were the breaks? Or was it the same place the second time?
Was the pipe banded when new?

 

weezell

Lifer
Oct 12, 2011
13,653
49,163
The first break was about a eighth inch past the stem. Clean break so Ric just glued it. Second was dead center of where the band is now and jagged.The band is new.

Was the pipe banded when new?
Nope...

 

weezell

Lifer
Oct 12, 2011
13,653
49,163
My good friend Simon has a few that have repair bands. Example, second from the left...
HvOMgu0.jpg


 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Looks like this:
"Retro fitting" a band to a meer would require the band to be made afterward to fit a specific pipe, jeweler-style; and then it couldn't be compressively functional, just a slip-fit tube.
...is something more jeweler types do than I would have guessed. I figured hiring someone like Cosmic would cost more than a stone meer was worth.
After that, you just use all the glue you can get away with and hope for the best, apparently. :lol:
Looks like there's hope for you after all, lawmax! (though probably only if your pipe's shank is round)

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,996
26,614
New York
Thank you Dave! You are a bloody mind reader since I can never seem to upload pictures these days and I wanted to post a few of my repaired pipes! There is a guy in the U.K called I think Northern Briars that put a band on one of my meerschaum 'cutty' pipes recently for about Forty Pounds. Ric at Briarville is pretty good at this type of work and certainly worth reaching out too. The pipe with the three bands in the picture was a repair done in the early 1990s by Shervington's at 338 High Holborn London. They would repair cases, do very delicate silver banding and make new amber stems, sadly they are no longer in business.

 
I would be very reluctant to work on a meerm unless the band was merely decorative. As George says, the reason bands work to repair splits in briar is by compression. But, in stone a crack happens for completely different reasons and cannot be compressed the same way as briar. Maybe these band repairs on meers are to merely cover up where the stone was repaired with epoxy? Just a guess.
I hope you get it fixed and can continue to enjoy your pipe.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,996
26,614
New York
Actually it was a type of cement that was used and the band was applied whilst very hot and as it contracted it pulled everything into place. I have a few invoices somewhere from the 1900s regarding stem repairs on meerschaum pipes.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,080
Carmel Valley, CA
Dang it!! My Peterson Baskerville Meer cracked right down the back of the shank.

Didn't drop it or anything. was just smoking it and there it was.

It was beginning to color nicely too. :cry:
How bout some photos, please?

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,859
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Actually it was a type of cement that was used and the band was applied whilst very hot and as it contracted it pulled everything into place. I have a few invoices somewhere from the 1900s regarding stem repairs on meerschaum pipes.
Well, that definitely reads like a lost craft requiring great skill and experience to pull off. You'll need the services of a master jeweler, or equivalent.
Maybe Gorilla glue and band-aids? Or maybe a new meer, cause this repair won't come cheap.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,996
26,614
New York
Neither myself or Weezell ever dismantle a vintage meerschaum pipe - just put a long fluffy pipe cleaner in the stem and occasionally scrape the bowl and your good for the next 100+ years.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,080
Carmel Valley, CA
Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Postimage; Dropbox, etc. Photobucket), or on virtually any site, including this site's album such as eBay; Amazon Pinterest; Facebook; an online Pipe retailer; you-name-it, select the full sized image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose "copy image location" or similar words. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg or .png) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.
There are other good illustrations and steps on how to post photos under "Latest Discussions" in different formats:

LINK to that thread

 

lawmax3

Can't Leave
Jan 18, 2013
405
12
Thanks folks for the help.

jpmcwjr sorry no photos yet been working tons, watching my son play baseball (alot of baseball!!!) and about to head to Memphis to see my other son. maybe in a couple of days.

 
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