Buffing Old Vulcanite
- Thread starter ClassicKehler
- Start date
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You mean give up on the stem? I would really like to get this stem restored. Its an otherwise beautiful Barling
It could be impurities in the original Vulcanite, which is pretty rare with Family Era Barlings, as they used high grade German rod stock, but not impossible. I've seen this with both Sasieni and Charatan pipes, but their Vulcanite was of lesser quality.
You can buff all you want, but you'll just reveal more contaminants, It doesn't look bad to me. I'd love to see the whole pipe.
How bad can it get? ^^^^
THIS bad. (Not a cheap grade/make of rubber, either. This was top-shelf material on a famous-maker $4000 pipe)
If the vulcanite has irregularities, they won't sand or buff out. It looks like you masked them as well as can be done.
Its odd that a Barling stem would have this issue, they were known for high quality stems. Is that a latter era pipe?
Its odd that a Barling stem would have this issue, they were known for high quality stems. Is that a latter era pipe?
Dammit George! This isn't a PROBLEM, it's a FEATURE! It's called Sparkle Dust Vulcanite, extremely rare and difficult to make, and is only available on $3000 + pipes.
Foreign material from the manufacturing process. Appears to saturate the stem.
It looks like contamination, if it is, there's nothing you can do about it, it is through out the material. It's sort of like pits in the wood, sometimes when trying to sand out a pit, you just reveal more in other locations. I doubt Barling made their own Ebonite, they buy it in one meter lengths, they may have just got a bad rod and QC dropped the ball on this one, it happens. If it is contamination you'll never remove it and just ruin the mouthpiece sanding and polishing by getting it too thin. Contamination is a real heartbreaker, you usually dont see it until final sanding and polishing.
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I guess ill buff it up the way it is now and be happy with it. Ill just call it the "glitter" edition. Its worth 4000$ now.
show us a picture of the nomenclature of the pipe, I'm curious as to the age.
I have a pic posted in the show us you Barling thread. @sablebrush52 guessed by the stamps that its ww2 era.
I cant figure out how to link the post otherwise i would. Trying to add pictures here is also difficult. I was just joking about the glitter stem and the $4000 btw.
Would you accept $3,900 for this limited edition glitter pipe?
Seriously though, it’s so cool that you were able to get an answer from the forum members who know what they’re talking about. This is why this forum is awesome.
Seriously though, it’s so cool that you were able to get an answer from the forum members who know what they’re talking about. This is why this forum is awesome.
Well that might explain the different quality of the vulcanite. I very much doubt that Barling was still getting shipments of quality German made rod stock in the middle of WW2. They got what they could get.
Well, that makes sense! I wondered how a Barlings of that era could have stem quality issues.
I agree with what Jesse said in your thread, I think that looks excellent. And a cool piece, from a unique era
So the quality of the vulcanite actually contributes to the dating of the pipe. Thats really cool!