19th., C Peterson Reading Pipe Button Repair

[The Mitre]

Hello there.
This lovely old, 19th., C., Peterson reading pipe arrived in stock recently. I knew when I bought it there was a problem with the button because the original stem would have extended right through to it. Obviously someone had lost the button and had the pipe repaired. On closer inspection a replacement amber button had also broken off. What to do next?

I had four choices. Leave it alone, butcher another Peterson, try and fashion a new button from a briar stem or, possibly, fashion a new amber piece from one of my old broken stems. I didn't like the first three options but had always had difficulty with amber because its so brittle. I had to think outside the box a bit.

I decided I needed to use a brass tube plug to join a new button onto the residual amber inside the silver band. I had a 4.5mm tube to hand and a piece of old amber with a smaller hole in it. In the past when I've tried to drill amber it's shattered. So I put a 4.5mm drill bit in my cordless, got out the gas torch, heated the tip of the drill till it was bright red and then tried to enlarge the hole in the amber. It worked! I knew it was amber because it smelt like pine when the bit went in.

OK, so now the hole was made I could match it in the pipe and cut a length of tube to join them up. However we still had to shape and shorten the piece of amber. I used two machines for this, a disc and a bobbin sander, (it's handy working with wood and having this kit available). With care I made my first attempt. no bad but I decided it was too long. Chopped a bit off, thinned it down and reshaped it. This done I then used a series of diminishing grade sand paper to finish off and finally cleaned up with some very fine steel wool, Job done.

The short tube was fixed into the button with some supper glue and the amber sprayed with a satin lacquer finish. Once set this assembly was then fixed in place with more super glue and the replacement repair was complete.


Hope you found this interesting.

 

[jhowell]

Nice work!

 

[The Mitre]

Thanks. Good to be appreciated.

 

[georged]

I encountered this thread by chance.

After reading it I tracked down more work posted by Mr. Mitre.

Oooooo boy...

If there's ever been a stronger case for practicing on pipes that have low historical or financial value until you know what you're doing, I've never seen it.

I'm reasonably sure that I'm shouting into the wind, here---that anyone who thought pursuing advanced projects with little more than "gut feel" methods and marginal shop skills was OK in the first place---will listen to me or anyone else, but for the sake of POSSIBLY saving an unknown number of FUTURE pipes, I'm giving it a whirl.

Stop, Mr. Mitre.

Just stop.

It's like watching a heart surgeon in an operating room work on a human patient with an impact driver, oxyacetylene torch, and tire bead breaker.

Get a nice load of scrap-grade / basket pipes, do some research about best practices in given situations, acquire the necessary tools, and gain sufficient knowledge and skill through repetition to assure a good result before turning your attention to valuable old pieces.

Because once they're gone, they're gone.

Not only will the pipes survive, but you'll find that slippery descriptions and tricky-angle photos will no longer be necessary when listing them for sale.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm confused about what exactly was done. The button is at the end of the stem, right after the bite zone. It's the part of the stem that widens out above and below the bite zone area of the stem to act as a break, against one's teeth, so that the pipe doesn't slip out of one's mouth.

Materials and Construction - Pipedia

pipedia.org

What parts of the pipe needed to be fixed?

 

[The Mitre]

Hello chaps.

Let me answer Sablebrush 52 first if I may.

To clarify what needed to be replaced it was a short, final section of stem including the bite zone and button. At some point in the past this had been lost and been replace with a repair that included a white metal band into which the small section was fitted. When the pipe came to me all that was left of this old repair was the white metal band. You'll see from my text that I decided to try and remake a similar section and fir tis onto the end of the stem where the original repair had been. I really only wrote this up because I found a way to bore and shape an old piece of amber and thought it might be of interest. As I'm sure you will understand any repair should be reversible. That would easily be achieved in this case with a gentle tap on the amber, it would shatter and fall away. The small section of brass tube could also be removed, it only had a touch of glue to hold it gently in place.

Hope that clarifies what was done. The pipe was sold to a very happy buyer who fully understood the previous and current work in restoring it had taken place.

Now Mr Georged, thank you for your comments.

Perhaps some of the reply above will help you understand the background to this repair. The key being that the pipe as it came to me has in no way been altered and that the new section could easily be removed. Perhaps I should not have considered the ascetic improvements but because they had been done before by someone who obviously valued this pipe I thought it best to proceed. Thought, no gut feel went into this process only a discussion with myself to decide what, in my opinion, would be the best outcome. The integrity of the pipe was already damaged and all the work I did was reversible as it always is. As mentioned the outcome was positive.

Items of value, like this Peterson, that come along needing attention are rare. As they do I will consider sharing my knowledge for the benefit of others.

ATB Peter the Mitre

 

[georged]

The key being that the pipe as it came to me has in no way been altered and that the new section could easily be removed.

The integrity of the pipe was already damaged and all the work I did was reversible as it always is. As mentioned the outcome was positive.

No, it isn't reversible.

By hogging out the airway to fit a "connector tube", you made it necessary to shorten the remaining stem even further---remove the length of the reamed portion---to do what should have been done in the first place.

The proper fix when you received the pipe was to re-cut, re-funnel, and re-bend the end of the stem. Cut an entirely new button, in other words, and work back from it. Properly done it would have been invisible.

Those things could still be done but would now require dramatically more effort because of the stem's full length taper, PLUS you're now into full-diameter airway and past the original funnel neck. Now, Its thickness would have to be reduced overall for a considerable distance toward the bowl (probably about halfway to it) to gracefully arrive at the correct thickness at the button end---maintain the stem's lines---AND the height of the airway would have to be reduced by squeezing + heat, which will distort the lines even further, requiring still MORE cutting.

Since the feature that makes the pipe so rare and remarkable is the surreal stem length---only a very few of these pipes were ever made and fewer still have survived---shortening it more than necessary as a by-product of a hatchet-job fix shows a profound lack of understanding of what you were even working with.

Your push-back and the satisfaction you describe with the outcome of your "repair" after (presumably) considering what I said in my last post makes the situation even more distressing, because it makes clear you intend to keep doing stuff like this.

You are in over your head, sir.

I repeat: Work on pipes all you want, but please leave the historical pieces alone until you have gained sufficient knowledge and skill to avoid butchering them.

 

[The Mitre]

Oh dear Georged, slow down man, you're not listening, sorry, reading what I've said. The procedure I undertook IS reversible.

So, you think that I've caused more damage than the original, historical short section repair? What you're not aware of is that when I "hogged out" a socket for the short brass connector I did only remove part of the old amber and NOTHING ELSE. Thus the whole procedure is fully reversible and the pipe stem could be returned to the pre break stage.

Actually I think if we were to follow your drift the stem would need to be cut off and reshaped at the start of the white metal band but I'm not that much of an idiot to take the chance.

Please stop badgering me about something you have no knowledge of. Have a nice day.

 

[georged]

What you're not aware of is that when I "hogged out" a socket for the short brass connector I did only remove part of the old amber and NOTHING ELSE.

 

[The Mitre]

Exactly, that's amber you can see and only a very shallow hole to take the brass insert, NONE of the original stem was removed!

ATB Peter.

 

[craig61a]

Don’t quit your day job…

 

[The Mitre]

Hi Graig61A,

Too late for that mate'y, I think I might be a wee bit older and wiser than you!

Yes, thanks again, the image, which is mine of course, shows that the socket ONLY penetrates the old, broken amber. Not sure what your problem is but are you qualified to criticize I wonder?

Time to knock this on the head me thinks. If you wish to carry on the moderator can decide what to do.

Have a nice day, Peter.

 

[scloyd]

@The Mitre is this the same pipe repair that was posted on Peterson Pipe Notes?

311. Paul Combs, CPG on Repairing the House Pipe Stem of an 1898 Dutch Billiard

The 1898 Shape 4 came to me with a broken off bit tip, location of the missing piece unknown, and the previous owner(s) had affixed a part of another bit in its place with some glue and a metal ban…

petersonpipenotes.org

 

[The Mitre]

Indeed it is and what a brilliant Job Paul has done. I'm glad that there was a happy resolution and that the pipe is now being enjoyed fully.

 

[scloyd]

Indeed it is and what a brilliant Job Paul has done. I'm glad that there was a happy resolution and that the pipe is now being enjoyed fully.

Paul did an excellent job. I think it looks great

 

[Piping Rooster]

Hi Graig61A,

Too late for that mate'y, I think I might be a wee bit older and wiser than you!

 

[mso489]

I had trouble following the text, but it sounds like you navigated through the repair pretty well and ended up with a good fix. I've always steered clear of amber because of its brittleness, but if you can make it work, good!

 

[simong]

 

[The Mitre]

I love it! Time for this to be knocked on the head.

So endith the first lesson, you can't please everyone all of the time - night night all.

 

[greeneyes]

The new owner seems to have done a wonderful job of completely undoing everything that The Mitre did and performed a repair in the manner which was most suitable to him which is what we were suggesting The Mitre do all along.