Cleaning Pipe Stems

unclefester13 · Sep 30, 2013

I know you're supposed to put some petroleum jelly on the logo to protect it from coming off when soaking it, but there is always a discoloration aura around the logo after doing so. Does anyone know what to us to re-paint the logo and lettering as I was thinking of trying some white out and wiping off the excess? Do any of you pros think this will work? I quickly washed three pipe stems thinking it would not affect the logo, but alas it did, lol. The BC (Butz Chopin) and KE (Karl Erik) came right off and I see now that the previous owner used the p jelly as I now see the brown aura. I am planning to use emery cloth to sand, then polish, and re paint the lettering and logo. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

ghost · Sep 30, 2013

White out can, and does, work. However, I prefer nail polish. It gets nice and hard, and looks great...
EDIT- I should note that the white out I used are the white out "pens" you can get. The small tip is easier to use, in my experience...

voorhees · Sep 30, 2013

I ran into this problem yesterday, a pipe I picked up had a encircled white "H". After soaking in Oxyclean the white was gone, so I cleaned the stem as usual. Then I took some white out(the kind in the roller) and pressed it onto the logo. Then very gently used a new razor blade to remove the excess. Leaving the white in the logo behind.

Beware, as you can scrub a bit of the engraved portion away if not careful.

ghost · Sep 30, 2013

@Matt - do you not have trouble with the excess?

No Sir. You do need to wipe as much excess off as you can right away without ruining the logo again, but any 'leftovers' can be easily polished off with a few micromesh pads.
Here's a pic of a Peterson meer I used the nail polish on. I snagged a silver coloured nail polish from my wife, I like how it turned out...You really don't need a lot of polish. Just a dot of it, then push it in the logo with your finger and wipe the excess as best you can.

boudreaux · Sep 30, 2013

Related pipe stem question here.
Bought the set of micro mesh pads and used 1500 grit to take hard water stain off bathroom sink and chrome stopper, so they seem to work well.
My question is... To remove vulcanite stem oxidation, can it be done just by hand scrubbing with these micro mesh pads? Or won't using them remove the greenish color and return them to shiny black?
Would like to avoid using OxyClean or bleaching agents on anything that goes into my mouth, even after thoroughly rinsing it.

pruss · Sep 30, 2013

You'll be able to sand off most oxidation using varying grits/grades of abrasive. I do use oxyclean, and have been very happy with the results, but I should think that skipping this step won't make or break your clean-up.
If skipping a bath, I'd start with wet sanding with 0000 steel wool, then what scrubbing with a magic eraser before using micro-mesh from 1500 up to 12000 grit.
Let us know how you make out.
-- Pat

boudreaux · Sep 30, 2013

Thanks, Pat. Will do.

unclefester13 · Oct 19, 2013

Thanks for the tip with the nail polish. I will give it a try although the white out worked well. Would like to warn anyone who soaks their stems in oxyclean as I have and do, because if you have any metal logo pieces for example on my ROPP cherry pipes when I soaked them the logos came out. I didn't notice this until I went to polish them and was wondering what the hole was from (novice, lol). I found one in the sink and the other went down the drain (what a bummer!). Looking now for junk ropp stems to salvage the logos for replacement parts.

sparrowhawk · Oct 19, 2013

Has anyone ever tried silver enamel paint, the type sold in hobby stores. I have some, but am afraid to try it on my Peterson stems and have no spares to work with.

wilson · Oct 20, 2013

Boudreaux, I find that magic erasers remove oxidation pretty well and start the clean-up with one of those, though there would be no harm in using steel wool first and it might even speed up the process a bit. The magic eraser will leave you with a matte finish. If you want your stem to shine like a new dime, you'll need to have a go with the micromesh after the magic eraser. For some of my old basket pipes, I don't bother going past the magic eraser step. Something about a sow's ear and a purse . . .
Not that I have a huge amount of pipe stem cleaning experience, but I never use oxy-clean for cleaning a pipe stem. I find the chemistry of the oxy-clean step somewhat counter-intuitive, so I don't bother.

pipingruotsi · Oct 20, 2013

I've used white Rustoleum spray paint with success. I just dab it on with a toothpick, let it dry and then sand off the excess with wet micro-mesh pads.

bullbriar · Oct 20, 2013

+1 on the white nail polish. I put quite a bit on, let it dry, then buff off the excess with tripoli on a buffing head. Unless the lettering is too shallow, it works great. After three coats of carnauba, that logo isn't goin anywhere.

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