Five Recent Restorations + Pipe Photography

[uberam3rica]

You got a morta? I'm very jealous! I've been wanting one for along time

 

[hfearly]

It's always nice to see someone walk away paying very little and, after putting in the work, ending up with the average price being 6-8 times as much or more.

rothn: sorry pal, but it's not about the money for me ;-) haven't sold a single one of my restorations - ever. Though most of them are still unsmoked and I could probably put them up on eBay or Briarbid.

Beautiful work - they look like new. How much work did you do on the finish? I find restoring sandblasts, esp lightly stained ones to be tricky.

numbersix: The work on the finish was so-so. The Oom Paul needed complete stripping through a 24 hour alcohol bath and re-staining. The other's I "just" scrubbed with undiluted Murphy's oil soap and a toothbrush for a couple of hours.

Terrific work as usual and your photography is also a real treat. I just tried to photograph a GBD with Perspex stem, on a white background. I may reshoot with some tobacco on the background, I think that might keep the clear stem from washing out.

Al: I had the same problem once. The trick that did it for me was to use a small mirror opposite of the light source, tilted just that it would light up the inner side of the stem. Then I used a lighter as a "flag" such that it would cast a shadow on the edges of the stem. The lighter became part of the scene.

Very nice work sir. I wish you had before and after shots, don't you remember fifth grade math....show your work! Lol.

philobeddoe: Sorry, don't have the before shots. But believe me, they were very beat up. the Savinelli straight and the Barling sandblast were pretty much grey from dirt and soot, and they both had this "mold like" covering that you often see on the old sandblasts. All the stems were oxidized so badly that they were pretty much close to white instead of black. Most stems had deep tooth marks and chatter. The Oom Paul had a completely charred rim which I had to top off with sand paper. All of them were extremely dirty on the insides - in the 70s people just didn't clean their pipes, they smoked them to death, threw them away and bought a new one.

Out of curiosity...What tobacco is that?

W.O. Larsen - Classic Mixture. One of my favorite old-school / European aromatics.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

wow, nice job and stunning photography

 

[ssjones]

Thanks HF, not sure I'm up to that kind of stylish photography, but I'll give it a shot!

 

[jonesee75]

Great work and great presentation. Love the tobacco touch to the back ground.

 

[batdemon]

Great work, both on the restorations and on the photography! :clap:

 

[bigboi]

Wow great work. I am keeping a sharp eye out for good deals at my local antique shops and yard sales.

 

[fnord]

Nic:
Stunning as ever.
Fnord

 

[jogrefoln]

Man, it must feel great to be able to breath new life into an old, or degraded pipe like that. Those all look great. I really like the look of that 511. I too, would have liked to have seen the before shots, but these pics are very nice. Good work.

 

[yazamitaz]

Excellent work sir and I hope you get many miles out of them

 

[hfearly]

I have a few more that I might pick up from the same antique store, they are in about the same shape as those above, so I can give you an idea of the "before state"

 

[john218]

Nice looking pipes, especially the Dunhill and the Oom Paul.
I would love to have seen some pictures of them before the restoration. They all look like new.

 

[hfearly]

I gave the Barling an inaugural smoke this morning with a 50/50 mix of Solani ABF and CH. The interior repair of the heat fissures worked perfectly. The pipe smoked cool and dry throughout and I have a very nice even coat of cake forming.
Here are some pics of the cracks inside the bowl before the restoration:

And after: