Hail Forum!
New member here. Thought I'd follow-up my introduction with my first post about how my pipe collection doubled in about a year (from about 10-20) from amassing and restoring some estate pipes. The ones posted herein I bought from eBay and restored, and I will soon post about the other restored estates I inherited so to speak. Restoring pipes has been very rewarding - addictive even! But it's time to stop and start smoking them I'll say..
Here are come crude collages I made of the before/after. The pipes are as follows:
Group 1: Peterson Sherlock Holmes c. 1989, "Straight Grain" English estate, n.d., and "Cake Box" English estate, n.d.
Group 2: Dr. Grabow Regal and Mastercraft Sychromatic c. 1960s.
I could speak a bit more to the process, but in general I soaked the stems several hours/overnight in a mixture of Borax, Hydrogen Peroxide, and warm water as it provides the same de-oxidizing chemicals as OxyClean without the harshness of bleach. Then I used several cloths from shop-towels to washcloths to soft cotton shirts or dust-cloths to scrub, clean, and polish the stems. After reaming the chambers and draught holes, I used the same order of cloths to clean the bowls. A cleaning kit from my old clarinet came in handy with various brushes for inside the pipes. After this, I used q-tips and pipe cleaners in Everclear to clean the insides of the stems and shanks and gently wipe down the insides of the bowls. Some of the pipes came reamed but not restored, so I applied a mixture of tobacco ash and charcoal pellets from a pipe filter to coat the wood in the chamber. However, others I simply left with a sheer layer of the old cake to preserve the seasoning as they did not smell sour. After this, I gave the stems a bath in Everclear for a final sanitation treatment before polishing the briar with a fine cloth and assembling the finished pipes. The only processes left out from a traditional full restoration, I suppose, would be any type of sanding and wax-buffing. Any teeth-chatter, pits, dents, blemished on stems and bowls were no match for my secret technique, so I felt both of these processes unnecessary for my wishes (The secret is tons and tons of elbow-grease! Seriously, cramping-levels of it!) The results were great, and the pipes were quickly made at-home with the others of their kind. Fresh, clean, and ready to smoke.
Please feel free to ask questions or comment on this process, as I do not seem to be tiring of it and would love to improve my work.
-HH
New member here. Thought I'd follow-up my introduction with my first post about how my pipe collection doubled in about a year (from about 10-20) from amassing and restoring some estate pipes. The ones posted herein I bought from eBay and restored, and I will soon post about the other restored estates I inherited so to speak. Restoring pipes has been very rewarding - addictive even! But it's time to stop and start smoking them I'll say..
Here are come crude collages I made of the before/after. The pipes are as follows:
Group 1: Peterson Sherlock Holmes c. 1989, "Straight Grain" English estate, n.d., and "Cake Box" English estate, n.d.
Group 2: Dr. Grabow Regal and Mastercraft Sychromatic c. 1960s.
I could speak a bit more to the process, but in general I soaked the stems several hours/overnight in a mixture of Borax, Hydrogen Peroxide, and warm water as it provides the same de-oxidizing chemicals as OxyClean without the harshness of bleach. Then I used several cloths from shop-towels to washcloths to soft cotton shirts or dust-cloths to scrub, clean, and polish the stems. After reaming the chambers and draught holes, I used the same order of cloths to clean the bowls. A cleaning kit from my old clarinet came in handy with various brushes for inside the pipes. After this, I used q-tips and pipe cleaners in Everclear to clean the insides of the stems and shanks and gently wipe down the insides of the bowls. Some of the pipes came reamed but not restored, so I applied a mixture of tobacco ash and charcoal pellets from a pipe filter to coat the wood in the chamber. However, others I simply left with a sheer layer of the old cake to preserve the seasoning as they did not smell sour. After this, I gave the stems a bath in Everclear for a final sanitation treatment before polishing the briar with a fine cloth and assembling the finished pipes. The only processes left out from a traditional full restoration, I suppose, would be any type of sanding and wax-buffing. Any teeth-chatter, pits, dents, blemished on stems and bowls were no match for my secret technique, so I felt both of these processes unnecessary for my wishes (The secret is tons and tons of elbow-grease! Seriously, cramping-levels of it!) The results were great, and the pipes were quickly made at-home with the others of their kind. Fresh, clean, and ready to smoke.
Please feel free to ask questions or comment on this process, as I do not seem to be tiring of it and would love to improve my work.
-HH
