Restoring a pipe for a friend of mine

lightmyfire

Starting to Get Obsessed

Oct 23, 2013

102

0

Belgium

• Jul 29, 2015

• #1

I just wanted to share a recent restoration I made for a friend of mine, living in Switzerland.

He left me a pipe that he found on a flea market for almost nothing and told me 'You do as you want', in french we say 'tu as carte blanche'.

The pipe is stamped 'Timber' and, based on the stem's condition, it could be an old italian vulcanite stem.
The pipe had a little strike on one side and the stem was overoxidised. The chamber was well coated but I decided to remove the cake, this was the best way to avoid any crossover and moreover there was far enough wood width.

To remove this poor strike, I decided to sandblast it again :

That was the result after stain and clearing :

Galerie: http://estate-pipes-belgium.com//galerie/galerie.php?pipe=0485e1d75ce5bd3cbf4df696525c159107cd02d7

 

okiescout

Lifer

Jan 27, 2013

1,530

6

• Jul 29, 2015

• #2

Great job, lightmyfire. The sandblast came out really nice. I love the new stain too.

 

captainprophesy

Lifer

Sep 27, 2012

1,779

0

Upland, CA.

• Jul 29, 2015

• #3

Very nice job... for a second there i thought you were going to do a Dr. Suess stem :P

 

jkrug

Lifer

Jan 23, 2015

2,867

8

• Jul 29, 2015

• #4

Very nice...a fresh blast really brought that pipe back to life. Well done. :clap:

 

mranglophile

Can't Leave

May 11, 2015

390

4

United States

• Jul 29, 2015

• #5

I have never seen a stem oxidized so white before, amazing transformation.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator

Staff member

May 12, 2015

24,708

27,308

Carmel Valley, CA

• Jul 30, 2015

• #6

Nor have I.
Extraordinarily nice restoration! Did you have to top the bowl?

 

papipeguy

Lifer

Jul 31, 2010

15,778

35

Bethlehem, Pa.

• Jul 30, 2015

• #7

Excellent work. Your friend should be very pleased.

 

shaintiques

Lifer

Jul 13, 2011

3,615

227

Georgia

• Jul 30, 2015

• #8

Very cool, but you have gone and given me yet another reason to by a sandblaster. That will def be my next tool purchase.

 

lightmyfire

Starting to Get Obsessed

Oct 23, 2013

102

0

Belgium

• Jul 30, 2015

• #9

jpmcwjr > "Extraordinarily nice restoration! Did you have to top the bowl? "

What do you mean by 'to top the bowl'? I just sandblasted the whole stummel, top rims too of course, that only removed maybe 0.3 milimeters (0.012 inches).
shainriques > "Very cool, but you have gone and given me yet another reason to by a sandblaster. That will def be my next tool purchase. " You definitively will love that ! :D

 

lightmyfire

Starting to Get Obsessed

Oct 23, 2013

102

0

Belgium

• Jul 30, 2015

• #10

mranglophile > "I have never seen a stem oxidized so white before"
Nor have I, believe me !!! :evil:

 

ericusrex

Lifer

Feb 27, 2015

1,175

3

• Jul 30, 2015

• #11

Looks better than the original

 

brudnod

Part of the Furniture Now

Aug 26, 2013

938

6

Great Falls, VA

• Jul 30, 2015

• #12

How the hell does a stem get that oxidized?!? Kryptonite???

 

okiescout

Lifer

Jan 27, 2013

1,530

6

• Aug 4, 2015

• #13

I wonder if someone left it in bleach or some other caustic cleaning agent?

 

nelsongruber

Might Stick Around

Aug 11, 2015

50

0

Caracas, Venezuela

• Aug 13, 2015

• #14

Very nice work. One question though, how did you paint/stain the stem. I'm fairly new to pipe smoking and I'm pretty good with craftsmanships like this.

 

jeepnewbie

Part of the Furniture Now

Jul 12, 2013

952

157

Byron

www.facebook.com

• Aug 13, 2015

• #15

That is a beautiful restore to a pipe, Lightmyfire.
I have seen some pretty nasty looking stems when restoring pipes. I use oxyclean and they would come out looking that white.
Nelsongruber, I doubt he stained or painted the stem. The way you usually tackle those is a cleaning agent and a magic eraser, or go with very high grit buffing pads. After you get the oxidation removed you put the stem to a buffing wheel or had buff it with a paste to start bringing the shine back out. There are multiple ways of going about it all though.

 

danielplainview

Lifer

Mar 30, 2014

2,853

78

wv

• Aug 13, 2015

• #16

Well done. That's looks fantastic.

 

mso489

Lifer

Feb 21, 2013

41,210

60,455

• Aug 13, 2015

• #17

Beautiful job. Your friend will suspect you've bought him a new and better pipe.

 

lightmyfire

Starting to Get Obsessed

Oct 23, 2013

102

0

Belgium

• Aug 14, 2015

• #18

You said well Jeepnewbie, at the moment of the photo, (I decided too late to take pictures) I had indeed used an oxypowder that made it became white but before that it was a deep yellow stem. The process is like you explained, buffing with paste and using micropads till 12000.
My friend from Switzerland is very happy with it and I can't wait to see him again because I know he will give me other pipes to bring back to life.