Okay so I figured out today what not to do when restoring estate pipes. I got a few new pipes in a trade a while back and decided I was going to do a Alcohol & Salt treatment. Well, I didn't have anything better to do that day so I sat there with it next to my computer and every so often as alcohol either was absorbed or evaporated I added more with a dropper. I did this for several hours, I really wanted them good and clean.
My wife eventually came home and I got side tracked. Then life got busy and it wasn't until today when I got home from work early that I had time to go back and finish cleaning them. They have been sitting with the salt in them for about 3 weeks now. Now on a normal restoration when I come back no later then the next morning there is usually some crust on the top easily broken. This time, the damn salt had hardened half way down the bowl. A very deep bowl.
I did this on two pipes. I had to sit there very gently yet forcefully drilling into the salt. You never realized just how much salt a pipe can hold until you have to removed each grain individually. Alas, I did get all the salt out but it took be a good 2 hours to get it completely out of both pipes.
The only lucky part about it was I had just recently ordered some wire shank brushes. If I would not have had them, I would not have been able to get the salt out of the shank. As both pipe were long Canadians. Normal pipe cleaners just crumpled in my finger tips.
Lesson learned...but they came out very clean. 
