Advice for first burnout repair of an abused Peterson

[dac223]

Recently purchased a Peterson 314 System 0 (Made in England) & was really exited when in came in the mail... until I looked inside the bowl.

There is some pretty deep pits and charring going around about 3/4 of the bowl. Nothing going all the way through though. The chamber was also pretty wallowed out, because of bad reaming or fire I don't know. I really like the pipe but am not really interested in a show piece. So for better or worse, I intend to smoke it (till the top pops off if necessary.)
So far, I've cleaned the gunk out and went to town with my reamer. After removing some cake (and also a bit of briar) I have somewhat corrected the bowl geometry. My thinking here is that it would be better to have slightly thinner walls that are even, opposed to trying to build fake walls to replace what is already lost. Here is where I'm at.

I've been reading lots of threads here, on pipe mud and thinking of trying it with this pipe. Here are my questions.

1. Even though I have slightly expanded the chamber, there is still a charred ring that I haven't touched with the reamer. Should I continue and try to remove more of the damaged wood or would this be a good time to bring in the pipe mud?

2. What are the odds that pipe mud will do the trick here? Or should I consider another type of repair?

3. Recommend pipe coating after repair to help build cake?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[toobfreak]

I'm not the expert here but I would STOP where you are at and not remove a hair more. Do ya think the previous owner was a HOT smoker? 8O Looks like you are a candidate for either:
1). A good pipe mud filling (my choice).

2). Or some of that water glass furnace mortar silicate stuff.
I would mix up an extra wet pipe mud and work it in carefully and deep one section at a time being sure no air pockets remained. Let dry and redo as needed until fully built up and all wood covered, then move on to the next section working my way around as the previous section fully dried, keeping the bowl on its side until done.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I echo toobfreak, emphasizing I am no expert, either. But I compliment you on the illustrations: Well done!

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

Yeah, mud it up and smoke slow.

 

[toobfreak]

As to the cake part, I've never had so damaged a pipe as that but I would wipe the inside with something sweet and sticky like honey, then fill with an easy burning blend. Once smoked down gently, allow the ash to remain on the walls and don't work too hard at removing it too much. Kind of rub it around evenly and let it develop. Recoat, and let the ash build up.

 

[stvalentine]

I have a rundown Dunhill on the bench that is even worse like this one. The walls are really thin by now and I try the JB Weld method and see if it works. Pipe mud over JB Weld might do the trick but it is just an experiment and concept of proof. I don´t expect that old Dunhill to become a stellar smoker again. Good luck with the Pete!

 

[hextor]

that sucks, i hope you can repair it.

 

[smoothsailing]

Shoot Steve from Reborn Pipes an Email at slaug@uniserve.com , include photos, he's covered it all.

 

[dac223]

I'm not convinced that the previous owner smoked hot. Looks to me like they ran out of tobacco and tried to smoke the cake.
I appreciate the suggestions and I think I will try to see what I can do to shore it up with some pipe mud. Honestly a bit relieved. Producing cigar ash will certainly be more relaxing than hopping my pipe doesn't split with every turn. I was worried that I needed to take it all the way down (and wouldn't be left with much.)
I'll update my progress and let you know how it turns out

 

[jpmcwjr]

Can anyone say why cigar ash is so oft mentioned and not pipe ash? Hard to conceive why that would be so.

 

[drennan]

Can anyone say why cigar ash is so oft mentioned and not pipe ash? Hard to conceive why that would be so.

Cigar ash is finer than pipe ash so it makes a smoother paste when mixed with water.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Can anyone say why cigar ash is so oft mentioned and not pipe ash?"
I've often pondered on that one John. If cigar ash is indeed finer than pipe ash then surely by the action of mixing (with pipe ash) the resulting paste would have the same consistency as with cigar ash no?
I have to say I have always had my doubts about pipe mud as I fail to see how just ash (cigar, pipe or cigarette) mixed with water can create anything with any solidity or strength. That said, many folks swear by the stuff.
Dac, you must let us know how you get on, preferably with pictures. Welcome to the forum by the way ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[perdurabo]

Cigar ash is pure ash and pipe ash has granulated tobacco throughout in most cases. I've used both, but cigar ash is some strong shit. It's like Gorilla glue for pipes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Can anyone say why cigar ash is so oft mentioned and not pipe ash? Hard to conceive why that would be so.

Cigar ash is finer than pipe ash so it makes a smoother paste when mixed with water.

Well, the ash could be ground finer for one, and two, either one makes a smooth enough paste for the job.
Still wonder if it's just one of those things that gets repeated until it seems gospel.

 

[jndyer]

The debate about types of ash could be a situation where it has been repeated so many time that it is now seen as the only truth, or it is possible that cigar ash is better as it is pure tobacco ash. Pipe ash could contain remnants of casings and toppings.

 

[snagstangl]

I guess I don't know the difference other than I would have to sift my pipe ash to get the unburned tobacco out of it to use it for mud. If you can smoke the bowl to fine white ash, then go ahead and use that instead.
I don't think that the ash paste has to be strong. I thought was just an insulator until it gets the tars and oils from smoking in it. It would make sense that it would harden up after that. I thought it was similar to people who walk on hot coals and could do that because the ash itself is a good insulator around the hot coals.
Ash plus tar seems like that would be some stout stuff that would hold together. If you don't have tar or gummy build up ever in your pipe after smoking it, then you smoke a cob a day and throw it away and you will never have to worry about using pipe mud.
I didn't think it made much sense at first, but I have used it a few times and it worked fine. Just PM me if anyone would like burned out pipe to test it on.

 

[dac223]

I have no clue as to what type of ash is better, first time I've had to try anything. I went with straight cigar ash and water.
First I worked it in all the way around the bowl, filling all of the pitted areas even to the level of the charred wood.

At this point I was still left with the areas that were wallowed out to be filled, but I wanted to make sure that the deeper areas were dried completely before adding more pipe mud.

So I let this sit up for 3 or 4 days and then mixed up some more cigar ash and water. I packed it in pretty heavy to the worst of the charred areas. Then I robbed a thin metal arm off of a protractor type angle finder I had in my toolbox to use as a straight edge. I lined this up with the bottom of the bowl and the rim where I had reamed down to good wood, & used that as a guide. Working around the bowl I used my straight edge like a screet board to pack the pipemud down and remove any excess. Then as it started to dry a bit, I used my finger to pat it down and smooth out any uneven areas.
So I'll let this sit up for a few more days and see where I'm at once it's dried.

So far so good. It seems to be leveling out nicely. We'll see how it holds up once I start breaking it in.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Looks excellent!

 

[throbinson]

Just stumbled across this post and curious, when dried, the cigar ash/water mix, does it become solid? Like, if you went to use a pipe reamer after a few smokes, would the insides be smooth when done? or would all that mixture just break out and crumble?
I have a couple of estate pipes that due to the burn out, I just left untouched and moved on to the others. If that works well, I have a cigar sitting next to my pipes and might give that a try.

 

[didimauw]

Wow nice job, you can't even tell!