Comoys Restoration

[ssjones]

I picked up this Comoys Old Bruyere 252 on Ebay a few weeks ago and had some time to today to do some restoration work. Here's what it looked like (Ebay pix, I forgot to snap some before shots..)






The top of the bowl had pretty heavy build-up and 3 pc logo stem was tan with oxidation. But, under the grime, it held promise.
I soaked the stem in Oxy-clean for 2 hours, sanded it with some 2000 grit wet paper, than back to soak for a few more hours. I than sanded it with various grades of micromesh, with a final polish on a wheel with plastic polish. It still has a little oxidation, I might give it another soak sand. Do you think that will come out eventually with more work? The stem is in great shape with one small tooth mark underneath.
I reamed the bowl and soaked it with Everclear and sea salt. I than buffed it lightly on a machine with some diamond rouge, followed by a buff with Carnuba and a final hand polish with Paragon wax.
I can't seem to get a good picture of the logos/stamping with my camera and flash.
The briar logo is:

Comoys (oval, no apostrophe)

Old (straight)

Bruyere (oval)
Opposite side looks like this, from Derek Greens site:

Derek's website says the Old Bruyere line was not seen after 1964, so I assume the pipe is at least that old. I guess there is no way to determine a more exact date.
I'll try to get some more detailed pictures of the logos in a few days.
Finished:






It's a neat little pipe. I'm on business trip tomorrow and it's coming along for the first smoke.

 

[mp31guitar]

Nice job restoring it. Looks great.

 

[igloo]

That is super good job cleaning up that stem .

 

[ssjones]

It still has a little brown on the edges and near the bit, I think I'll give it another soak/polish/buff to see if I can get it all black. Might have to smoke it first...

 

[ejames]

Try wet sanding it with some 600,then 800 sandpaper if you have it. Or start with the courses Micro Mesh you have and wet sand it up through the mid grits and then buff. Oxyclean in my experience just doesn't do the job,especially with heavy oxidation.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks ejames, I'll give that a try. I started with 2000 grit wet paper, I'll drop that way down and go up thru the micromesh/buff again.

 

[tobakenist]

Do your best to protect the C if you do any more work on it.

 

[ssjones]

Do your best to protect the C if you do any more work on it.

I always put a dab of grease over the stem logos, that one is pristine and I definitely want to keep it that way. Fortunately, the area around the logo doesn't need any work, one edge and near the button crease still has some brown.

 

[ssjones]

Ah, much better on the stem. I went back and used 1000>1500>2000 grit wet paper, than the three finest micromesh grades and a final machine polish. No more brown, shiny black! I'm looking forward to smoking this one, my fingers are aching. Why can't I appreciate a simple tapered stem instead of those saddle bits....



This little pot sits nicely as well:

 

[tobakenist]

Thats better, lovely pipe.

 

[ejames]

Much nicer! Those saddle bit stems are a PITA aren't they?!

 

[ssjones]

I'm smoking it right now. Very nice, smokes cool with a great draw. Stopped to chat with some colleagues and then went right back to smoking, no relight necessay. I have to weigh this one, but guessing around 35 grams, an effortless clincher

 

[misternoah]

Man, that's a huge difference! Some of the restorations I've seen on these forums are amazing! Excellent work.

 

[romeowood]

Sweet little saddle pot you got there, nice work! :clap:

 

[ssjones]

I've been reburbishing since May, learned a few hard lessons along the way, but mostly was fortunate to start with good stock. The best thing is that little Comoys cost me just about $20 and a maybe two hours of work.

I'm breaking it back in with some Boswells Premium burley, I'm enjoying it right now.
I just won a P-grade James Upshall on Ebay, it needs the stem brought back but hopefully the rest is in as good shape as this one. I have an S-grade, but wanted a P-grade. New P-grades are out out my price range, so I'm looking forward to getting this one.
Here's a sneak peak at this one and the ebay photo I took a chance on.

Yep, another saddle stem to sand....

 

[iowamike]

The comoys turned out excellent!

 

[nate]

I really like a lot of Comoy's line and this a great example! A fine restoration as well! Ditto on the JU!!

 

[loborx]

I got some nice estate Comoy's at the Vegas Pipe Show and I'm really enjoying them. They are very lightweight, as you mentioned. And they smoke like a dream. I will have my eye open for them. That's a great restoration, as well.

 

[ssjones]

I weighed the pipe and it does weight exacty 30 grams, a perfect clencher weight.

 

[ssjones]

Well my massive David Jones Poker (100 grams!)and XXXX size Sea Rock (70 grams) all smoke like champs, but sometimes its nice to not really feel the pipes presence. I seem to prefer around 50 grams for an all-arounder (not sure on that spelling either!)