Barling's Make Clean-Up and Restoration

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mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I'm really enjoying this thread. Nice job! Looking forward to more pics and the end result!
Thank you! It is coming along.

How did you manage to extract this gunk :) ? Oxiclean ?
Just did an oxy Clean soak.

this is making me want to make the effort with some estate pipes I bought on ebay

If I can, anyone can. There are a few clean up and resto threads that just have the before and after. I like to show all the steps and learn something on the way.
 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I can't seem to find leather dye for @woodsroad 's trick, so back to the micromesh for me.

Unreal how oxidized this stem was, but it is slowly returning to black.

As a side note, where do you guys buy your micromesh pads? The ones I have are coming off their backing and getting generally worn down.
 
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Reactions: jpmcwjr

ravkesef

Lifer
Aug 10, 2010
2,913
9,198
81
Cheshire, CT
Good luck with that. It appears that you’re doing a great job so far, and one of these broken screw reamers might help to get pieces of the stem out of the tenon, if you’re gentle with it. Clearly you have whatever skill is required, and I’m eager to see the finished product. I like the ability to do this type of work, and so I’ve always sent mine to Walker Pipe Repair.
 
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Reactions: edger
Dec 10, 2013
2,317
2,943
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
I prefer the micro mesh "sheets" over the little pads; they are of obviously more flexible and last much longer
when used for wet sanding. Every now and then I purchase a load of dirt cheap nail 1000/4000 buffers
on Feebay . They also come in larger pads and work miracles for cleaning stems, polishing the briar and
a cosmetic rim dust sanding.
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,591
15,314
SE PA USA
I can't seem to find leather dye for @woodsroad 's trick, so back to the micromesh for me.

Unreal how oxidized this stem was, but it is slowly returning to black.

As a side note, where do you guys buy your micromesh pads? The ones I have are coming off their backing and getting generally worn down.
 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I'm not too proud to show poor results.

I did my usual micromesh treatment, as I found a local source for the dye but I haven't been able to get out there yet.

It certainly looks better, but the POR-15 didn't quite polish like it usually does, and the chatter couldn't quite come up. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to get a new stem made!

P_20220303_183238.jpgP_20220303_183251.jpg
 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,079
Carmel Valley, CA
Ah, too bad, Mike. The outline of the patch- do you know what caused that?

I haven't tried to do mine yet, and would hope to avoid anything like the above. Darn!!
 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ah, too bad, Mike. The outline of the patch- do you know what caused that?

I haven't tried to do mine yet, and would hope to avoid anything like the above. Darn!!
If I had to do it again, I would soak the stem in oxy clean and remove all the oxidation before applying the por-15.

In addition I would probably apply less por-15 and watch it on the edge.

But if you aren't making mistakes and learning from them, you aren't growing. If you aren't growing then what's the point?
 
Dec 3, 2021
4,792
40,305
Pennsylvania & New York
It looks like the OxiClean introduced additional oxidation on top of what was already there. I was surprised to see your stem looking like it got a coat of paint. On future projects, you might consider using La Belle Epoque's Before and After Deoxidizer. I used it on several stems recently (see here) and it removed the existing visible oxidation without adding any extra crud. The stuff is thick and messy, but, doesn't appear to be destructive (the gunk came off and kept any printing or logos intact).
 
Dec 10, 2013
2,317
2,943
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Meanwhile I learned by experience, mistakes. trial and error etc. to skip the Oxi cleaning.
So, I concur. It was never much appealing to me, this stuff is considered poisonous by many.
Apart from that it only extracts more and more sulfur from the stems . Mind us; ebonite
contains 20% to 80% sulfur, so this stuff is embedded in the hard rubber and all over the place :)
Even if you polish the stems to that much desired gloss, there is always a faint brownish
shine. Under a blue light, or a bright LED loupe light it clearly shows.
To me Mark's deoxidizer is " liquid gold " and yes the stems do come out matte, so there's still
some polishing to do. I started using it because of a hand injury and it safes a lot of sanding etc.
So , imho opinion this is the best way to deal with dirty stems; I start with a good wet glass paper sanding
till most of the green is gone, then a 24 hr. soak in the yellow drab .
It is a good idea to insert a pipe cleaner, but I do not. Reason; stems also oxidize in the airway.
You'll be surprised what dirt comes out.
Keep em shiny and be careful out there :)
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,859
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Apologies for no updates lately.

I keep changing my mind about the stem. Replace or leave it be? For the time being I think I will just leave it. I will give her a good polish this evening and post up some after pictures.
You can always replace the stem with a correctly contoured one if you ever decide to do so. In the meantime, enjoy the fruits of your learning process.