Dealing With Fills - Do or Don't Remove?

[pruss]

So while I'm waiting for my wheels to show up, I decided to clean up a couple of beaters I picked up recently. So on Monday I picked the tobacco out of and reamed the bowls of a Willard, Claridge, and Grabow, I left the S&A treatment in the bowls for 24, and then cleaned them out last night finishing the cleaning of the bowls and shanks with alcohol and pipe cleaners.
Given that they all were showing some discoloration due to (anything really) I decided to wipe the exterior of the bowls and shanks with acetone to pull off the wax and some of the stain. In doing so, the fills on the Claridge and Willard began to become obvious.
The fills seem to be well done, they are flush with the exterior of the bowl, are smooth and aren't horribly discoloured vs. the stain/briar. I'm inclined to leave 'em.
What do the rest of you do with fills?
Thanks,
-- Pat

 

[gmwolford]

Depends in how obvious they are and how much they bother me. In your case it sounds like they're not too bad so unless you just want to experiment I would probably leave them be.

 

[ejames]

If the fills stand out like a sore thumb I use various colored Sharpies (fine point) to color them. Office Depot has then them in many different colors.

 

[pruss]

If the fills stand out like a sore thumb I use various colored Sharpies (fine point) to color them.

Now that's the kind of experimentation I can get behind. Thanks, sir, for the idea!
Best,
-- Pat

 

[puffy]

As far as fills go there's probably two groups of folks.Those who don't mind them,and those who detest them.I fall into the latter group.I won't buy a pipe if I suspect that it has fills.To me a pipe is a work of art I just don't think it should have a defect..That said..I doubt that fills have anything to do with how a pipe smokes.And pipes with fills are often less expensive than those without.The thing that bothers me the most is how clever some pipe makers are at hiding fills when the pipe is new.Then after you smoke the pipe for a while they show up.

 

[voorhees]

Sharpies!! I recently cleaned up a figural briar pipe that belongs to a friend of mine. It was his granddads pipe. It had alot of issues, kinda banged up and had fills. But, I didn't want it to lose any character. I cleaned it and the fills became noticeable. I refilled the larger ones with wood putty and used a brown sharpie. Polished the stem and entire pipe. It's much better than before.

 

[numbersix]

If the fills stand out like a sore thumb I use various colored Sharpies (fine point) to color them. Office Depot has then them in many different colors.

Great idea - thanks!

 

[salewis]

I wouldn't worry too much about fills as they have nothing to do with the smoking of the pipe. One of best smokers is a very old (1980's) Peterson St. Patrick pot shape which has four fills. I have used a Sharpie several times over the years and have given up as I am contented with appearance since it is such a good smoker.

 

[rmbittner]

I'll just add that I have never heard of people removing fills. I can't see why anyone would do that -- especially since that means you're left with a pipe that has obvious surface imperfections. . . or you're simply replacing them with new fills, which seems equally pointless to me.
I think I only have one or two pipes with fills -- one of them a gift from Rick Hacker -- and to me the fills, while increasing in visibility as the rest of the pipe darkens/ages, are part of a particular pipe's history and makeup. I don't love them. But they're part of who the pipe is, if you get my drift.
Bob

 

[gmwolford]

Bob, if you replace them with a briar-dust fill, rather than the pink-putty that's so prevalent as the fill material, it looks much better, oftentimes even unnoticeable.
The Sharpie idea is a great one, Ed.

 

[rmbittner]

Greg: But even a briar-dust fill won't darken/age like the rest of the pipe, right? So it's a temporary improvement?
Bob

 

[tbradsim1]

Fills are like the pretty girl in church in front of you who farts and it smells terrible, her ears turn pink, you know it's her that farted but she is still pretty, it's all about not fixatiating on the ugly but the total package. IMHO. The old cajun

 

[pruss]

it's all about not fixatiating on the ugly but the total package. IMHO. The old cajun

+1 ... preach on. I like the way you think, sir.
-- Pat

 

[rmbittner]

Perfectly said, Cajun!
Of course, now that's what I'm going to be thinking about the next time I'm sitting behind a girl at church. . .
Bob

 

[4dotsasieni]

You've got to remember that imperfections are a natural part of the briar -- they reflect the plant's existence in harsh, arid, windy climes where the wood is blasted by wind and pelted with sand, rocks, etc. And of course, sometimes the root grows around small rocks, and they arrive at the pipemaker's with these inclusions. But that's what makes briar briar, so I say, IMHO of course, consider fills part of the pipemaker's art, and ignore 'em.
But if you can't, coloring them with Sharpies is a great idea -- we use them for all kinds of dents, scrapes and breaks around the house. Don't tell anyone, but a lot of the Eskimo art rock sculptures we collect have had chunks break off, and they're colored with sharpies to hide the damage. :wink:

 

[ssjones]

I've done the briar dust fix on a few, which seems to work well and hold up. I had a Comoys Selected Straight grain (fills are why they are stamped that way) with one tiny fill. I did the briar dust repair on it and it looked much better.
You can see the one fill here:

But not so much here:

Larger fills are much more noticeable no matter what you try, so I don't know they are worth the effort.

 

[teufelhund]

Just buy rusticated... lol

 

[gmwolford]

Greg: But even a briar-dust fill won't darken/age like the rest of the pipe, right? So it's a temporary improvement?

I suppose to know for sure we would have to observe the changes over a long period of time, which I have not done. But as Al showed, it is an improvement. IMHO, since the filler is also wood, not plastic, it would most likely take on some, similar color/change as the wood around it. Again, that is just my thoughts on the idea though, YMMV.

 

[rmbittner]

Just buy rusticated

Personally, I'd rather see a fill than any "rustication," which to me always looks like a child took a screwdriver to the bowl.
Bob

 

[cajunguy]

If you want to blend the fill, it depends on how much time you want to invest.
On estates that I fix for myself, I tend to contrast stain the pipe to blend the fill. I'll go at the fill with a permanent marker and then stain the entire pipe black. Give it some drying time and go at the wood with a very light grit sand paper (1000+) or some 0000 steel wool (I dip mine in 91% isopropyl) and remove the black top coat. Go easy, and you'll notice the dark black stays in the grain lines. Follow with a lighter color of your choice and follow whatever polishing procedure you have.
I do this if I *really* love the pipe and want to give it some panache. If you don't want to mess with stains, or don't care to invest the time, but still want to blend the fill, I definitely recommend James' marker method.
Edit: I forgot to add that the reason I use the marker and stain on the fill is that the fill and the wood are two different materials. Two forms of coloring add greater depth to a fill that doesn't hold color too well when subjected to repeated cleaning/polishing. Using both, I'm able to achieve the desired effect.