This Charatan's Make Belvedere #4 arrived today with a serious crack. The pipe surely exhibits the characteristics of a careless smoker. The rim is damaged from a torch lighter, the shank and stummel show evidence of being battered against something hard, the stem is dented behind the button from being clinched. I suspect the crack is the result of the pipe being bashed against something hard while still hot. It required considerable effort to clear the stem, resulting in my using a piece of bent guitar string to remove the debris before a pipe cleaner soaked in alcohol worked its way through. All in all, just another day in the workshop!
I thoroughly washed and lightly sanded the stummel to see the extent of the damage. As you can see from this picture, the crack runs through the bowl.
I pried the crack open as best I could and wicked in a considerable amount of thin SuperGlue. It seeped into the bowl, and I added a little more from the inside. I repeated this several times until the glue was flush to the surface. Of course, the glue got all over the place, but it was my intent to sand the stummel clear anyway. Once the glue dried, I worked the briar over with a 3M-pad type bit on my Dremmel. This roughed away the excess glue. I then switched to 320-grit sandpaper and worked the briar over before switching to wet sanding at 400-grit and 800-grit. Finished with the sanding, I then re-colored the pipe with Mahogany leather dye. Finishing the pipe required returning to my Dremmel with brown Tripoli, followed by white Diamond polishing compounds. Finally, a coat of carnauba wax was applied and buffed (with a buffing bit on the Dremmel).
I'm sorta okay with the result. The bowl interior needed a lot of work to remove the cake and char, so I'll need to go back and re-line it. The stem is cleaned and polished, but I'm going to leave the dents alone for now. I like the shape.
I thoroughly washed and lightly sanded the stummel to see the extent of the damage. As you can see from this picture, the crack runs through the bowl.
I pried the crack open as best I could and wicked in a considerable amount of thin SuperGlue. It seeped into the bowl, and I added a little more from the inside. I repeated this several times until the glue was flush to the surface. Of course, the glue got all over the place, but it was my intent to sand the stummel clear anyway. Once the glue dried, I worked the briar over with a 3M-pad type bit on my Dremmel. This roughed away the excess glue. I then switched to 320-grit sandpaper and worked the briar over before switching to wet sanding at 400-grit and 800-grit. Finished with the sanding, I then re-colored the pipe with Mahogany leather dye. Finishing the pipe required returning to my Dremmel with brown Tripoli, followed by white Diamond polishing compounds. Finally, a coat of carnauba wax was applied and buffed (with a buffing bit on the Dremmel).
I'm sorta okay with the result. The bowl interior needed a lot of work to remove the cake and char, so I'll need to go back and re-line it. The stem is cleaned and polished, but I'm going to leave the dents alone for now. I like the shape.
