Good evening, fellow Pipers. I enjoy cruising the antique shops looking for old estate pipes. They seem to be harder to find. I walked into an antique store that I have been into many times before and there was an entire case filled with old pipes. They were really in terrible condition, but they were asking $10 per pipe. There were about 35 pipes there and I selected 14 of them at $10 per pipe. I fully expected that some of the pipes were beyond repair and restoration but I thought what the heck, I will at least learn some things as I attempt to fix them up. I watched lots of YouTube clips and did my research and ended up fixing them all up to be quite nice smokers. I don't think any of them are worth a lot of money, but they are all good smokers and more importantly I had a great time tackling their problems. Some of them had cake so thick I couldn't have stuck a pencil down the bowl. I thought I would share some pictures of my work. I am not a professional pipe restore, but I love the challenge of giving old things new life.
Antique Store Finds
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Well done 
That’s the way to go.
Get some cheap pipes to practice on - little harm done if you stuff up.
You can only get better with the practice.
Rebornpipes is a great reference resource.
That’s the way to go.
Get some cheap pipes to practice on - little harm done if you stuff up.
You can only get better with the practice.
Rebornpipes is a great reference resource.
Wow! Those came out great! Really like that panel pipe (11th pic). I like restoring pipes as well and I am FAR from a professional. It just makes happy to breathe new life into an old pipe. Many times I have wondered what happened to my grandfather's pipes and I am hopeful that somewhere, somebody like you has restored them and is smoking them today.
Nice work! I enjoy bringing an old pipe back to life,
Superb. Have you deciphered the hallmarks?Nice work! I enjoy bringing an old pipe back to life,
Jesse,Nice work! I enjoy bringing an old pipe back to life,
Was it listed as a Sterncrest (handwritten label in photo 1) by the vendor ?
You got a steal, if it was
You smoke it when they put the new freeway through your den.
No. The Sterncrest was just below it. The note said Barling, IIRC, and described the cap as "some kind of metal". I think the listing was screwed up as I found it during one of my, "let's look at everything" searches, so I picked it up for about 20% of market value.Jesse,
Was it listed as a Sterncrest (handwritten label in photo 1) by the vendor ?
You got a steal, if it was
Spectacular ! Nice work .Nice work! I enjoy bringing an old pipe back to life,
Absolutely beautiful.
For a restoration like that, do you need to remove all of the metal bands, caps, etc. from the pipe??
Nice looking pipes and a good deal.
At our pipe club meeting last week, one of the guys brought in a shopping bag filled with old pipes a friend of his acquired somehow. There were about 30 pipes in the bag and they were mostly Medicos, Dr. Grabow's and a few others. He said his friend wanted to make about $200 of the sale so to price them from $5 to $10 each.
I picked up a nice looking Rossi (My first. No shape number but Rossi in an oval on the stem, Italy on the bottom of the shank, and Rossi in script on the side of the shank.)
I also picked up a Dr. Grabow Royalton with the old HLT in a shield on the stem.
My son also got one of the pipes, he took a Medico with a 14K gold band.
I will have to post photos after I clean them.
At our pipe club meeting last week, one of the guys brought in a shopping bag filled with old pipes a friend of his acquired somehow. There were about 30 pipes in the bag and they were mostly Medicos, Dr. Grabow's and a few others. He said his friend wanted to make about $200 of the sale so to price them from $5 to $10 each.
I picked up a nice looking Rossi (My first. No shape number but Rossi in an oval on the stem, Italy on the bottom of the shank, and Rossi in script on the side of the shank.)
I also picked up a Dr. Grabow Royalton with the old HLT in a shield on the stem.
My son also got one of the pipes, he took a Medico with a 14K gold band.
I will have to post photos after I clean them.
Nope. I'm just careful and exacting in my approach. Have the proper tools to do the job. The only tool I don't have is a buffer, which is fine with me, as I can get an identical looking result without one, and I avoid turning pipes into soft, shapeless lumps like so many do.