Heat Damage: When to Coat and When to Cake Over?

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buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Those of us who buy estate pipes in unrestored condition sometimes find under the cake varying degrees of heat damage. During my time as an estate pipe enthusiast I have heard conflicting advice regarding the remedy for heat damage. The conflict basically forms up into two opposing camps. One argues against coating over damaged areas with a patching compound, preferring instead to cake over any and all heat damage. The other advocates coating, at least in some cases. I am inclined to the view that some damage can be caked over, while other damage requires a protective coating. What I have yet to figure out is the point at which caking over is inappropriate and coating becomes necessary. How do you decide what route to take?
Here are some photos to illustrate various degrees of damage. The photos are arranged in order of increasingly severe damage.
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image21-600x450.jpg


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georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Pipe mud (cigar ash & water) is easily scraped off when reaming. A proper cake CAN be built over it, but care must be used both in getting there and maintaining it.
Much more durable is using a paste made of waterglass and superfine (powdered) activated charcoal to "patch" significant burns. (Not the entire bowl, just fill the low spots---heat damage always causes shrinkage, which creates a sunken area.)
Remove the carbonized wood first with a popsicle stick (the rounded end is a natural), and when the burned stuff is gone and what remains feels solid, apply the paste while rotating the bowl using another popsicle stick. Think butter knife or pastry spatula. Press hard enough to scrape it off the high areas and level the lows.
Allow to dry for several days.
The only tricky part is getting the viscosity of the paste just right. It must be flowable enough to fill cracks & etc., but dry enough that it doesn't run or move AFTER being applied. Definitely go slow when mixing, mix thoroughly, and check the viscosity often.
What's the threshold for doing such a procedure? Whenever fissures are present, either horizontal or vertical. Checking or crazing by itself should be OK if left as-is and the pipe smoked with care.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,079
Carmel Valley, CA
IN the third one down, is that cake or briar that's cracked?
And were the first two partially reamed?
Great questions, and great answer by George.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Silicate-40%25-Solution-32oz/dp/B009GAQFJA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1456540652&sr=8-4&keywords=waterglass

 
M

mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast

Guest
The first two, smoke and build cake. The last three... what @georged said; with several days of drying being about a week.

 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Georged, Thank you for a very comprehensive answer. All but the first pipe have crossed the threshold into patching territory. I can see the pipe in the final photo requiring multiple layers. How someone could create that kind of damage is beyond me. The taste of the smoke would have to be horrible.
Jpmcwjr, Georged's take on the pipes is spot on, but I will expand on the specifics where I can. The first pipe is as I received it. The bowl was reamed and apparently sanded. Judging by the oxidation on the stem and other clues, the work was done long before I laid hands on it. The pipe is an enigmatic early Sasieni I picked up on the cheap.
The second pipe was reamed by someone with rudimentary kit. I photographed it prior to additional work in hopes of better capturing the heat damage (my nerdish and OCD tendencies really come out in this hobby).
The third and fifth pipes came to me without alteration by the sellers. I softened the cake build-up and reamed the cake to a relatively thin layer. From that point I sanded down the remaining cake. The odd contours you see in the third photo are the result of the shrinkage georged noted. The fissures are definitely in the the briar.
The fourth pipe was one of my earliest estate buys and has been a key learning experience. It was "worked on" by the seller and by a pipe repairman. What you see in the photo is the result of my effort to probe the true extent of the damage. It was an excellent smoker even before I realized how badly it was damaged. Now I am going to ensure its preservation.
Mother, The second pipe will need a coating over the damaged areas, too. It has fairly straight grain and thus requires inordinate babying, at least in my judgment.

 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Jpmcwjr, Thank you. If they don't come out the other side as champions, it won't be for a lack of trying.

 
Wow, those are really damaged. I would have wonder what the point would be in trying to keep something as cooked as those going. Surely, they don't have any value in that condition, unless the restorer is going to attempt to cover it up without disclosure, which keeps the pipes worthless, IMO.

Or, if just smoking a pipe that is just a shell of a burnout has some sort of antiquated value, pending that the pipe was rare or something.

Then, even after caking or covering the burns up, would the thing smoke worth a durn?
I would toss them, if they were mine, but folks can do what they want.
Who knows maybe covering this up makes for a better pipe?

 
Sorry, I've just never had a pipe that did this. Did this come to you like this? Or was did it happen while you were smoking it? If so, did you notice it (taste it) happening?
I would worry that it wouldn't smoke well or have an "off' taste after repairing, since the warm briar adds so much to the flavor (for me anyways).

 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Cosmic, all of the pipes in my photos came to me that way. I have no intention of selling them, only saving them. Sometimes one just doesn't know what is under the cake.
Doctorbob, I would coat the charred parts in that bowl. There looks to be a fissure carrying over onto the rim at the twelve o' clock position.

 

doctorbob

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 18, 2014
772
1,157
Grand Ledge, Michigan
There is, it is about 1 mm deep, on the other side there is another that extends to the rim, but not into it. That side had no other heat damage to the wood.
Doc

 
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