My Latest- MasterCraft

gmwolford

Lifer

Jul 26, 2012

1,355

5

WV, USA

• Aug 29, 2012

• #1

This is my latest "restoration"; I know it's not on par with what many of you can do but it came out pretty well in my eyes. I wish I'd taken a before photo (have to try to remember to do that from now on). It's an old Master Craft; I have a couple of these and just really like them. The other one has a cracked shank and you fine folks gave me some good advice on it in another thread. Anyway, the finish was in bad shape so I removed it with some alcohol and steel wool. Then it got a light sanding and buffed by hand. The stem was very oxidized and it took a good bit of time/work to get it off and then wetsanded. I tried heating it a bit to pop out the tooth indentations but with limited success. Tips and advise on any part welcome and appreciated.

 

rigmedic1

Lifer

May 29, 2011

3,896

76

• Aug 29, 2012

• #2

It looks nice, if a bit beat up, lol. Those old Mastercrafts are nice pipes.

 

tbradsim1

Lifer

Jan 14, 2012

9,219

11,878

Southwest Louisiana

• Aug 29, 2012

• #3

Looks like you did a pretty good job GM. The old cajun

 

ejames

Lifer

Oct 6, 2009

3,916

24

• Aug 29, 2012

• #4

Some tooth marks you will not be able to get out. I usually try to lift them as you did with heat, then go after them with sandpaper and or a file. Sometimes it's possible to do some subtle reshaping of the stem to take them out but that can be done only on the sides of the stem,you can't take a lot of material off directly above the airway and funnel. Some can be filled with Super glue or an epoxy. On some types of plastic (black) such as the ABS stems on a lot of Grabows or the nylon as used on some Medicos I have used a product called "Plastex". It can be used on vulcanite stems in certain cases.

 

yuri66

Starting to Get Obsessed

Nov 17, 2010

287

0

• Aug 30, 2012

• #5

Nice Job I like it, I would not sweat a few tooth marks, it looks great :clap:

 

martiniman

Part of the Furniture Now

Apr 6, 2012

885

2

• Aug 30, 2012

• #6

Nice job Greg..

 

photoman13

Lifer

Mar 30, 2012

2,825

2

• Aug 30, 2012

• #7

Great job. I wouldn't sweat the tooth mark either. It is a good looking pipe as is.

 

sjpipesmoker

Lifer

Apr 17, 2011

1,071

2

• Aug 30, 2012

• #8

A little teeth marks never hurt anyone... Looks like a great smoker!!
Another question, is master craft and chacom under the same company? I had a chacom and it had the silver oval in the same place as your master craft but it had a CC instead of a MC??

 

numbersix

Lifer

Jul 27, 2012

5,449

63

• Aug 30, 2012

• #9

The pipe looks very nice - beautiful grain on it too, but we definitely need to see a before picture (I did the same thing with my Hardcastle - didn't bother to get a before picture either, there's always a next time...). :wink:

 

gmwolford

Lifer

Jul 26, 2012

1,355

5

WV, USA

• Aug 30, 2012

• #10

After living with the teeth marks for a day, they don't really bother me (especially since it looks like they arent removable lol). I do need to get a hold of some carnauba wax though I'm pretty certain.
I do really wish I'd remembered before I stripped it to get a "before" shot. With my "old-timers" I'll probably forget more often than not though.
Thanks for all the input thus far. These thoughts and tips are invaluable fo me.

 

gmwolford

Lifer

Jul 26, 2012

1,355

5

WV, USA

• Aug 30, 2012

• #11

is master craft and chacom under the same company?

Click to expand...

From the research I've done, no, they aren't. If you look at pipephile.eu they seem to be totally Independant companies with different "seconds" and everything. I'm sure if that's wrong someone will correct me though.

 

gwtwdbss

Lifer

Jun 13, 2012

2,945

21

54

• Aug 30, 2012

• #12

Nice job on the one Greg!

 

ejames

Lifer

Oct 6, 2009

3,916

24

• Aug 31, 2012

• #13

Greg,Mastercraft,to my knowledge never made pipes. Their pipes were made by many different companies,mostly Italian and French I believe. Grabow made some after UST bought Mastercraft and merged it with Grabow.
Some good info on Mastercraft here-- http://drgrabows.myfreeforum.org/archive/mastercraft-pipes-grabow-parallel-universe__o_t__t_155.html

 

fnord

Lifer

Dec 28, 2011

2,746

8

Topeka, KS

• Aug 31, 2012

• #14

That's a beautiful billiard you've got there, Greg. I hope it smokes well. You did a swell job bringing it back to life.

 

gmwolford

Lifer

Jul 26, 2012

1,355

5

WV, USA

• Aug 31, 2012

• #15

Ejames, thanks for the link. Seeing how these MCs interest me I'm looking forward to learning more about them.
My son cropped this before photo down of the MC I just did. You can get some idea of how it looked before now:

I tried her out last night and was real pleased. I think she's definitly a keeper! ::

 

gmwolford

Lifer

Jul 26, 2012

1,355

5

WV, USA

• Aug 31, 2012

• #16

Ejames, thanks again for that thread, very interesting. I love history anyway and reading about my hobbies makes it all the more so.
In retrospect, with all the different countries of origin on the MCs I should've guessed they never "made" any but brokered them. Neat to see the link with Grabow, too.

 

ejames

Lifer

Oct 6, 2009

3,916

24

• Aug 31, 2012

• #17

You're welcome Greg. I once read that Mastercraft was at one time the largest seller of pipes in the USA.

BTW-nice job on the restoration of that M/C !