Repairing a Charred Briar Chamber (video set)
- Thread starter georged
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
Thank you for this set of videos George. I have quite a few beater and mid to higher grade pipes I've been meaning to try to fix up with waterglass. The method eluded me until now. I understood why you kept this top secret. Hopefully, the information will not be abused. If it is, what goes around comes around. The people who practice deceit will live in it. Your methods never cease to amaze us. Thank you!
I used to do chamber coatings exactly like that but my carpal tunnel finally said, "Nope!" I've also been chided by other carvers for using water glass.
Coating the chamber of a new, unsmoked pipe is a separate subject from rescuing an already-charred one.
As for waterglass... as with most things, the devil is in the details. How it is applied can result in everything from a virtual glass bowl insert to occupying/filling only the damaged portions of wood.
I'm aware that the online pipe world loves few things more than arguing about waterglass. That's because arguing about shit in general is how humans tend to behave when shielded by anonymity, and waterglass just happened to be handy 20 years ago. Now, there are arguments about previous arguments concerning it. (I kid you not)
Me? Objective reality is all I pay attention to, and the subjective reality (emotion based) occupants of Planet Earth have my full blessing to claw each other's eyes out while riding around in their clown car. And OBJECTIVELY, a chamber wall with a spiderweb of cured waterglass inhabiting the fissures of a previous burn behaves/smokes no differently than one which has no such repair.
You'll get no argument from me, I think it's great for repair work as well as a bowl coating. Just too taxing on my wrists now. These days I just press fireplace mortar into cracks but water glass is far superior.
10-4.
Fireplace mortar falls somewhere between a WG/charcoal powder mix and ash mud regarding permanence. Sometimes it stays when scraped, sometimes not.
Sucks about your wrists. fwiw, know that what used to be an iffy, lay-open-your-palm operation is now an arthroscopic one that heals fast and has a very high success rate.
That's good to know. Last time I talked to a doctor they said the surgery worked 50% of the time with 50% chance of no change at all. Will definitely look into that.
Another great video, George. I did a waterglass and charcoal powder repair on a poor a couple months ago. I see that the one thing I managed to do right was mixing the materials. So far, it seems to be okay in spite of my errors. I assumed that I wanted to restrict the waterglass to the area needing reinforcement, so my application wasn't nearly as even as yours.
YMMV is obviously a very important thing to say with any medical condition. However, I put off carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists for years and have been very happy with it now that I have "pulled the trigger".
I was worried about being able to press on things open palmed (like push ups). I was right, I can't do that as well, but the alleviation of symptoms otherwise has made it well worth that.
I was worried about being able to press on things open palmed (like push ups). I was right, I can't do that as well, but the alleviation of symptoms otherwise has made it well worth that.
- Status