Looking for some recommended methods for removed cake from a rusticated rim. Recently got a nice estate castello old sea rock for a good price. The price came with some work to do. My issue is that all I find for rim cake is using saliva with q-tips, but this is almost always for smooth rims. Some of the cake at some points is thick enough to hide the rustication, but I don't want to gouge at it fearing that I will damage the rim. How should one approach this? Thanks!
Caked Rim Cleaning
- Thread starter beef
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Cold coffee, or spit, with a rag will do the job. With a rusticated or sandblasted rim it takes some elbow grease.
Slowly, gently go over with spit and rag/paper towel. Sooner or later, you will wear it down.
I'll start with spit since its free. And a rag seems more durable given the job. I'll post a picture once I have it cleaned up. Thanks for the help!
I use a worn piece of scotch-brite.
I use cold coffee and paper towel. If really heavy I have lightly used a nail brush with the grain/grooves.
Try cleaning it when the pipe is warm or use a hair drier to heat it up before cleaning.
Nope. I hit the top with White Diamond and then carnuba wax. Most of the time, Carnuba wax alone brings back the finish.
Scotch brite, polishing compound and carnuba wax sounds a lot like refinishing to me
I would consider re-staining as a refinish. Every estate pipe (well, smooth ones) gets white diamond and several coats of carnuba wax. The trick to bowl tops is to get the lava or build-up off, without breaking the stain.Scotch brite, polishing compound and carnuba wax sounds a lot like refinishing to me
Thats what I do also. Used to do the Q-tip/spit stuff for years.
Not always possible, because sometimes there is no stain/finish LEFT under the hardened lava. The acids/repeated heating & cooling/repeated moisture cycling stripped it.
I've seen it happen on high-end pipes, so it isn't a quality issue.
(It MIGHT be connected to tobacco type, but there's no reasonable way to keep track of such a thing)
Anyway, when it happens, hello rim-re-stain.
Curious-is the scotch-brite as shown what you go with for a rusticated rim like the SeaRock the OP asked about?
As routine maintenance I usually spit on a rag, preferably while pipe is warm (or soak a little spit on while warm after dumping and rub it on my jeans).
Since no spermacetti is handy I usually buff with nose wax.
Someday I’ll maybe have a buffer, but I’d probably launch pipes all over the room and like @Chasing Embers mentioned I try the least invasive possible to get job done.