Cleaning a Nasty 1890's Horse Head Meerschaum

[runscott]

I had been watching this pipe on ebay for a while, and finally decided I had to try to repair it, so I made an offer and the pipe arrived yesterday. The pipe and stem fit the case perfectly and there didn't appear to be any structural damage, so I figured there 'had to be a way'.

Once I got started I discovered a few problems: the right ear had broken off long ago and been glued back on crooked. The shank had a break and fill that were disguised by the color of the shank. The tenon was wrapped in thread and fit loosely into the shank.

I began with the meer insert, thinking that whatever technique I came up with that worked on the insert, would be good for the horse head as well.

The main tool for the project was a 1920's pocket-knife with a dull 1.5" blade. With meer I've found that sharp knifes can catch on rough spots and cut into the stone, whereas dull knives can still scrape off undesired material effectively, but rarely damage the carving. The hard black crust came off in chunks, then I scraped off the smaller bits and finally scrubbed with a Magic Eraser to get off the last bits. I rubbed in jojoba oil, buffed, rubbed in Clapham's beeswax polish and buffed. I decided that, for the stummel, I would scrape, scrub with toothbrush and water, rub in Jojoba oil, let it dry, then decide where to go from there.

Here's the stummel part way through - see how the black stuff was literally peeling away. After getting all the black (and dirt) scraped off, I worked on it with a magnifier, dental pick and the knife, until all foreign matter was gone.

 

[runscott]

Following pictures show:

1. After picking off the black stuff. This is before scrubbing with a toothbrush and water.
2. After rubbing in Jojoba Oil. This darkened the pipe more than expected, but I knew that most of it would 'leave'. What it told me was that there was a lot of color hiding that I could bring back.
3. After the Jojoba Oil had dried and the stummel 'rested', I rubbed in Clapham's beeswax polish and buffed.

The various-colored disconnected color areas will join more and meld together, with more work. Tomorrow I'll go at it with beeswax and the heat gun and see what happens.

 

[runscott]

Began a few of repairs last night:

- broken right ear
- shank crack
- nasty black residue in case

When I started scrubbing the stummel I noticed the right ear beginning to 'flop'. It had obviously broken off and been glued back with the rubbery stuff they used long ago for such repairs. The repair was so old that the residues melded in perfectly with the rest of the stummel. I pulled off the ear and used my knife to pick off the rubbery glue. There was no missing meerschaum at all, so it was an easy repair with amber CA glue. Oddly, the previous repair left the ear pointing up and turned, rather than parallel with the other ear. Given that there was no lost material, this

Another thing I noticed was that the ear was originally stuck to the center part between the ears, but no longer would touch it. Checking closely, it looks like the center part had also broken off and been glued back, but more appropriate glue, so I left it alone.

 

[runscott]

Shank crack...

The 'before' pic shows the repaired area after I cleaned and rubbed in Jojoba oil. Before rubbing in the oil, because of grime and loss of coloring, the repair was barely noticeable. I scraped off the repair residue, showing that there was a crack (white line above the white area) and a chip that had been filled in with plaster. In the old repair the shank had been cut down very slightly, or sanded off, then a white cloth washer was glued on. The resulting pipe fit perfectly in the case, so I assume just enough of the shank was removed that the washer had to be added to replace the missing bit.

I'm tempted to go ahead and cover up the white area with a CA glue-based coating, but since I'm still not sure how I will handle the tenon-shank connection, I'll wait.

The bottom picture shows how the dirty plaster repair blended in before I rubbed in Jojoba oil. Notice how the Jojoba oil, after being left to 'cure', caused old coloring to come out on the shank, whereas before it was basically cream-colored with handling residue.

 

[kcghost]

It looks like you're doing marvelous work on a pipe that could have been thrown in the trash bin years ago!!

 

[runscott]

It looks like you're doing marvelous work on a pipe that could have been thrown in the trash bin years ago!!

Thanks. When I first saw this pipe on ebay, it looked like a perfect example of a pipe that was fairly sound structurally, that really any of us who do repairs could handle, but might avoid. Seemed like a perfect example to walk through the repairs on a forum. Of course the easy part is done - the shank/tenon connection is going to involve more work, and oddly, the one area where I wasn't expecting to have to do a repair.

 

[runscott]

One more coat of Clapham's, let it dry, heat gun, then a lot of buffing. The insert was dull because of the alcohol scrubbing, which I wasn't going to do with the stummel. So I polished until the finish matched the stummel more closely. I also picked at the black residue in the case, with a dental pick and dry toothbrush, then scrubbed the non-silk side with a damp piece of t-shirt cloth. I will use thin black bellows leather to replace missing areas on the case, and may cut out the blackened areas on both the velour and silk sides, and replace those pieces. I used to repair the 1800's wood and leather ambrotype cases, and this is much easier work.

 

[runscott]

Just finished repairing a broken amber stem on this 1880's Sommer meerschaum.

Slowly building an entire horse from pipes:

 

[jhowell]

You might want to hold of on the Jojoba oil until the repairs are complete... The Jojoba oil could interfere with whatever adhesives you might need to use.

 

[didimauw]

The horse that pipes built! Was that cake on the head?

 

[runscott]

You might want to hold of on the Jojoba oil until the repairs are complete... The Jojoba oil could interfere with whatever adhesives you might need to use.

I applied the Jojoba oil after the ear repair, then moved to Clapham's beeswax polish. The pictures I showed in post #4 are of the repaired shank. The oil that was rubbed into the stummel earlier has long dried and that area has been scraped clear of excess plaster and grime. Sorry, I was trying to make all that clear, but I probably did too much explaining and it got confusing to some. I don't generally go back to Jojoba Oil once I start using the beeswax polish, and of course there isn't any need to polish or oil the area that I'm going to repair (or cover up).

 

[runscott]

The horse that pipes built! Was that cake on the head?

Yes. All that black cake really makes no sense to me. You'd think the smoker would wipe off the pipe every now and then. But...it had colored very nicely before the cake built up. I kind of expected the area under the black to have less color. The other weird thing is that the bowl holds almost no tobacco, yet it's been smoked like crazy. Why not just get a pipe that hold more tobacco?

 

[TheIronMonkey]

The other weird thing is that the bowl holds almost no tobacco, yet it's been smoked like crazy. Why not just get a pipe that hold more tobacco?

The bowl is small because this is a cheroot holder.

 

[runscott]

The bowl is small because this is a cheroot holder.

I'm having an impossible time picturing any kind of smoking that would have created the cake that covered the cheroot holder and the face of the horse.

 

[runscott]

But really, I'll display my ignorance for all - did the smoker cut off a piece of cigar or cigaretter and sit it in the holder? How could that result in the black layer on the pipe? It was like a goo that had hardened and then peeled off in flakes. I've never seen such stuff on any pipe that I've smoked and don't see how cigarette or cigar ash could do that. It's like something flowed out of the insert (which was caked completely on the top and down the sides) and onto the horse's head.

Were they smoking something else?

 

[ThermionicScott]

Maybe they smoked it without the insert for a while, because of its size?

 

[runscott]

Maybe they smoked it without the insert for a while, because of its size?

Probably - it was also nasty beneath the insert all over the inside of the stummel opening. I'm wondering if, while caking the insert, 'stuff' worked its way up from the bottom of the insert, then flowed over. Sometimes these inserts are jammed in tightly, but this one was not.

You see drawings of people smoking the straight extender cheroots, but never this sort, yet there are many of them still in existence so they must have been popular. I can't see a man smoking his cigar or cigarette in this, but picturing a woman daintily smoking one and letting it become so filthy, is even more impossible.

Anyone have photos of these in use?

 

[anotherbob]

I really want to try one of those as a cheroot holder. I know the cigarette holders make a mad difference on how good a cigarette smokes, I imagine this is even better for a cheroot.

 

[runscott]

I really want to try one of those as a cheroot holder. I know the cigarette holders make a mad difference on how good a cigarette smokes, I imagine this is even better for a cheroot.

So what do you do - cut off a piece of cigar? If you want to borrow one of these I have several and can clean one up and mail it to you.

...or better still - send it to you unrestored and your rental charge can be cleaning it for me

I can also send you one of the meer/amber small straight cheroots, if you don't have one.