My Stems Don't Fit.

zanthal · Mar 7, 2016

Long time no see, fellow puffers.
I've been storing my briars in the garage and it's been a pretty cold California winter, plenty of days down in the 30s and 40s. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but nearly all my briar pipes, lucite and vulcanite stems it doesn't seem to make any difference, are loose. Loose enough to fall out or be removed with only a tiny tug.
No idea whether the stems shrunk or the briar expanded. I do know they were not exposed to any unusual moisture, and that they stayed loose even after being exposed to 60-70 degree temps for several days.
So two questions if I may, is there a known cause for this, and is there a fix or repair that is short of having them all re-fitted with new stems?
Thanks
Fixed thread title, please see rule number 9. Pertinent portion: Please capitalize words in the thread titles. Thank you, Robert.

clickklick · Mar 7, 2016

Better invest in a tenon expanding tool.
Looks like the temperature shifts were enough to expand the mortise hole a bit too much.

aldecaker · Mar 7, 2016

Were they in a very dry location? Perhaps the wood of the stummels just needs a little re-humidification. When I leave a briar in my outside (hot and dry) workshop, the stems get pretty loose. Storing them back in the house where the humidity is normal eventually sets them back to rights.

warren · Mar 7, 2016

I take it the garage is unheated. Your pipes have been through a lot of cold, heat and humidity changes. They're wood so they react. I'd bet that at least some will need new bits if they are really loose. Some may continue to adjust over time and may return to close to original.
I can only speak as a wood worker. When I bring wood into the shop from outside storage it may sit for weeks before I get the moisture content I desire. Brier? I've never worked with it but, I suspect your pipe should be left sitting, assembled, in the house, not smoked and returned to in a couple of weeks.

cosmicfolklore · Mar 7, 2016

There was a great video posted a few days ago, maybe weeks. It showed how you can heat up the tenon and it will expand back out to it's material memory. It's worth a shot, just heat up the tenon with a candle, just a tad, don't melt it. Then let it cool off on its own, then try the fit.

frozenchurchwarden · Mar 7, 2016

Billkay:

Smoke them a few times and they should go back to normal.

That's my bet.
Sometimes I've had tenons go really, really tight after a bowl, actually I snapped the tenon off one of my Nordings that way. Wood expands with moisture. If it's too loose to smoke, just wet the mortise with a Q-tip and I'm betting it'll go back to fitting reasonably well.
As Warren notes, make sure it's assembled during any drastic moisture changes, otherwise it might shift to out of round (which is the whole point of people saying not to disassemble a pipe after smoking a bowl).

zanthal · Mar 7, 2016

Wow, in a half hour, I've got nigh unto half a dozen things to try.
That's awesome, thank you all.

halfy · Mar 7, 2016

I'm with Bill.
Winter is the humid season in CA. The briar expanded uniformly due to leveraged moisture thus the mortise hole is bigger.
Smoke it!

dukdalf · Mar 7, 2016

A few years ago I left some pipes in the boot of my car during winter and they all suffered from loose tenons in spring. A move to more favourable conditions helped a lot, but smoking them solved the problem almost immediately. This being a non-invasive procedure I'd try it for a few bowls, before considering mechanical or thermoplastic surgery.

Chasing Embers · Mar 7, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khWHIzdBbhw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

zanthal · Mar 7, 2016

That example pipe is a very shiny black and I almost would have thought it was just black lucite except that he started referring to vulcanite after the demonstration there.
I'd be interested to know if I'd have to be more careful with lucite in this method.

zanthal · Mar 7, 2016

This candle method was easy enough to give a little try, and it worked to varying degrees with all my vulcanite stemmed pipes and solved the problem. I hesitate to use the same method with lucite though.

jpmcwjr · Mar 7, 2016

Winter is the humid season in CA. The briar expanded uniformly due to leveraged moisture thus the mortise hole is bigger.

The pipes dried out significantly in the Summer heat. Excessive moisture would tighten the mortise. Wood shrinks when dry, expands when moist.

fnord · Mar 8, 2016

Zanthal:
I had the same problem several years ago during an unusually dry Kansas spring and summer. I made a similar post and a wonderful, long time member, Beewrangler, sent me a lifetime supply of bees wax. This stuff works in the heat and the cold, so a chunk will will cover years of environmental changes.
You can buy large blocks at Hobby Lobby - but I'd just ask around for local appiarians. They're everywhere and have product to spare.
Fnord

clickklick · Mar 8, 2016

It will work to a degree with acrylic, but you have to be very careful as pitting or "boiling" of the acrylic surface is very easy to do if too much heat gets applied. Even then, it doesn't seem to expand back as well as vulcanite or ebonite. If you have delrin tenons, you are SOL without the expanding tool if the above suggestions haven't worked.
This is why I suggested a tenon expanding tool initially, no guesswork involved.

zanthal · Mar 8, 2016

clickklick - I bent my own lucite stem once without the heat gun a pipe maker would instruct you to use, and it was a precarious process so I know what you're talking about.
Fnord - that sounds like a solution, particularly if you know a Beewrangler. So you coat the tenon whenever it gets loose and since you've got a bunch, you're set for life, right? I might make a trip to the Hobby Lobby, why not.
Thus far I'm doing a combination of the candle method and the puff treatment.

yohanan · Mar 8, 2016

Hello zanthal, long time no see...it's good to see you here again, and Welcome Back!!! : puffy

:

clickklick · Mar 8, 2016

A thin layer of clear nail polish works, but you have to reapply it after a handful of smokes.

beefeater33 · Mar 9, 2016

Smoke them, they will come back to normal......

zanthal · Mar 18, 2016

@fnord - thanks for the beeswax. I tried it, and it works famously.

My Stems Don't Fit.

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