Alternative to the CA/Charcoal filler for vulcanite stems

[craiginthecorn]

I've been reading about using activated charcoal and superglue to fill dents and rebuild buttons on beaten-up vulcanite stems. My understanding is that the repairs look good, but that as the stem oxidizes it becomes obvious. Has anyone tried a mixture of powdered vulcanite and superglue instead? I'm thinking that it might oxidize along with the stem, making the repair less obvious over time. I'm interested if my theory has merit, but I won't know for months or years. Has anyone else tried this?
I tried a quick experiment last night. I filed a hopelessly broken stem to create the powdered vulcanite. I mixed it with CA gel, waited a oouple hours and sanded. Seems OK to me. My first attempt wasn't good because I mixed in too much vulcanite, making it too thick.
Also, which works better for these repairs -- regular or gel? I almost think the regular would work better because you could use a higher percentage of vulcanite powder before it gets too thick to apply smoothly.
I have a pre-transition Barling's bent for which I'm going to have a new stem made. The original stem with the Barling's cross seems like a softer vulcanite than I've seen before and it has serious button wear and a deep divot in the top. It looks more like wear than being misshapen. I tried some heat to raise it, but it wasn't effective at all. That's what has me considering this vulcanite/CA solution. I dunno. Maybe I should leave well enough alone.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Why not just use black CA glue?

 

[uperepik]

something I learned from a forum member is using heat to take teeth marks out. You can pass the stem back and forth across a flame (without burning it). When the rubber is heated it wants to go to its original form. You could try it with a old beater pipe.
Also you can get black superglue that will end up looking better than mixing.

http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Glues_and_Adhesives/Glues/StewMac_Super_Glues/StewMac_Tinted_Super_Glue.html

 

[craiginthecorn]

I tried the StewMac black CA you provided the link for, uperepik. I have to say I was pretty disappointed in its performance. There's just not enough solids in it to use for a fill of any real size. I tried it to repair a stem on a Comoy's cherrywood that had, I believe, a replacement stem that had an 3/16" hole on the bottom side. It took maybe eight applications to finally fill it. I'd put in enough glue to very slightly overfill the hole, go away for 8 hours, then find that 90% of the volume of the glue was gone, leaving a depression.
I've tried my powdered vulcanite/CA mixture on a couple deep depressions and am pretty satisfied with the results. It's MUCH faster. One lesson I've learned is that I don't need a lot of the vulcanite. Too much makes the glue too thick. I had good results mixing a gel CA and vulcanite, then thinning with regular CA.
Have any of you had experience using any other commercial black CA glues I should try?

 

[sablebrush52]

These repairs are fine for very small imperfections, like a hole or dent. Unfortunately, the bond to vulcanite is somewhat less than optimal and large repairs will fall off under use.
EDIT: Barling did use a higher grade para rubber that was a bit softer, which their clientele found more comfortable.

 

[georged]

Forget CA. Too brittle. Use this:
https://www.amazon.com/655-8-Pre-Thickened-Part-Epoxy-Adhesive/dp/B00LWKFZJ8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499704482&sr=8-3&keywords=g-flex

 

[slowroll]

I have to agree with Georged. CA glue too brittle and not designed to have any tensile or compressive strength on its own. It's intended for shear applications where parts are in close contact. Use any good dark epoxy such as devcon or jb weld and darken more by mixing with charcoal. It doesn't polish as well, nor does it oxidize like vulvanite, but who cares? If you polish the stem periodically it doesn't oxidize either. At least the pipe is fixed with a modicum of permanence

 

[shaintiques]

Also if you store your pipes properly after restoring, they won't oxidize. I know everyone likes having them out on open racks, but doing that will lead to oxidation eventually. I keep my vulcanite stemmed pipes in special cases, but my acrylics are all out on display.

 

[craiginthecorn]

All good input, everyone. I'm not surprised by the comments about CA being too brittle. I think I read comments elsewhere extolling the virtues of G/Flex. I might just try that. StewMac refunded my $15 without a problem.
Regarding protecting the pipes from future oxidation, I'm on the same page with you Shaintiques. Only acrylic, amber, and horn stems are on display. The others are stored in spanish cedar cigar boxes for now. After smoking, I always wash the stem and apply a fresh coat of Obsidian Oil or sometimes lip balm with SPF before storing. That's been working well so far. I am planning to make a display case for my finer pipes and will use a special museum glass that filters 99% of UV rays.

 

[mau1]

I'm bumping this as it's a great thread that new members will find interesting.