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Cleaning up a $30 Estate Savinelli :: Pipe Repair and Maintenance
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pipesmagazine.com
Fixed bend but now look!
- Thread starter Old_Woodsman
- Start date
I asked about bending my stem last week and was warned not to use hot water.
Try the microwave.
There was no discoloration whatsoever.
Why the heat did not discolor the stem I have no idea.
If you are afraid of 30 seconds at a time, use 15.
I’d never done it before, but I will nuke the next one that needs bent.
I used my wifes hairdryer. Microwave would have been a lot faster. Thanks I'll remember that one.Try the microwave.
There was no discoloration whatsoever.
View attachment 197281
Why the heat did not discolor the stem I have no idea.
If you are afraid of 30 seconds at a time, use 15.
I’d never done it before, but I will nuke the next one that needs bent.
I still think a hot box, like used for bending eyeglass bows, is a very likely great way to safely bend a stem.
Thanks for the link(s). I will surely try that. I have a pipe on the way that I know will need some de-oxidizing.
A question.
My WDC was extremely old, and had an obviously moulded stem where the two halves were visible.
It hadn’t oxidized in a century.
Today I bought a Borlum, which was a dollar pipe by KB&B before they made Kaywoodies, at least a century old, and cheap when new.
Did they know something about cheap vulcanite not oxidizing the makers later forgot?
My WDC was extremely old, and had an obviously moulded stem where the two halves were visible.
It hadn’t oxidized in a century.
Today I bought a Borlum, which was a dollar pipe by KB&B before they made Kaywoodies, at least a century old, and cheap when new.
Did they know something about cheap vulcanite not oxidizing the makers later forgot?
Lol, I typed out a rather long reply to the OP and addressed some others advice, but, since I've already had a round of bourbon, I just said screw it.. and deleted it all.
Just follow what others on HERE have advised.
or
Smoke your pipe and enjoy!
Just follow what others on HERE have advised.
or
Smoke your pipe and enjoy!
Lol, I typed out a rather long reply to the OP and addressed some others advice, but, since I've already had a round of bourbon, I just said screw it.. and deleted it all.
Just follow what others on HERE have advised.
or
Smoke your pipe and enjoy!
Real glad to see that someone else does what I do
It was probably kept out of the light.
Cheap acid? Count me in
I would micro mesh rough to fine, then buff it on a wheel with with polishing compound, carnuba last. You’ll need a wheel or a drill press.
https://vermontfreehand.com/product/polishing-compound/
https://vermontfreehand.com/product/polishing-compound/
Trust me in that case “back to black” is almost all the way home. The surface shows up black and looks a little bit porous.
I’ve done a few that way, most stems have been immediately ready for the polishing wheel. No sanding required. Just put on your white diamond compound or the blue one. Others needed lower grids compounds first. It just depends on how old the stem is, how good the quality of the ebonite, how thick the sulfur could built up and how deep the solvent has to act.
Remember glacéd acetic acid, and the steam of that acid at about 110 degrees Celsius, we are talking about when the water dissolved is able to solve the sulfur like water is able to solve salt. As far as I know it’s the only chemical to solve sulfur. You just wash it out, the good thing is it works externally and internaly.
Once you have your acetic acid, the Erlenmeyer flask or the heat resistant small and tall beaker and a camping gas flame, torch or microwave ready the process takes ten minutes including buffing to get a nice stem finished.
I know it’s not everyones cup of tea. But do whatever works for you.
It may depend on the toothpaste.
There is no need to sanding the stem at all, after applying the acetic acid steam bath to the stem. All is left is polishing and buffing on a cloth-wheel, a cheap one for the drill, or maybe with micromesh of higher grade (i didn’t try the micromesh).
Fix the drill to the work bench with a retaining ring.
More so the application. I buff it with my thumb until the toothpaste is completely gone with no use of a towel. Repeated applications may sometimes be necessary to achieve the desired shine but I've never needed more than two.
I use 3M polishing paper to remove the tarnish from a very tarnished stem. It ranges from 30 microns to 1 micron in coarseness. Unlike sandpaper, it does not vary in-depth of the abrasive which makes for a much smoother finish without deep scratches. 30 microns is roughly equivalent to 400 Grit and one micron is 8000 Grit. I use polishing papers when refinishing knives and also on bone handles. I just did an estate pipe yesterday starting with the 400 Grit polishing paper and stopped at the 4000 grit paper. Then I took it to my buffing wheel, used a coarser Black Magic rouge and for the final buff I used green Tripoli rouge.
www.ottofrei.com
For $8 plus shipping you get enough paper to do a lot of pipes. I cut it into about 1-in strips and use it with a wood stick that I glurd a felt a pad to. It makes a great sanding paddle and I can advance the strip down the length of the polishing paper, using all the paper in a strip, just because I'm a thrifty old fart!
I am happy to hear of Obsidian Oil and the good results of you have much and using it. I will be looking for some.
3M WETORDRY Polishing Paper - Complete Kit
Details 3M™ makes the best performing abrasive paper in the world. Micron-graded abrasives means a consistent, uniform grade of material is bonded to the surface producing a consistent uniform cut. If viewed under a high powered microscope, 3M abrasive paper looks like uniform in shape, without...
www.ottofrei.com
For $8 plus shipping you get enough paper to do a lot of pipes. I cut it into about 1-in strips and use it with a wood stick that I glurd a felt a pad to. It makes a great sanding paddle and I can advance the strip down the length of the polishing paper, using all the paper in a strip, just because I'm a thrifty old fart!
I am happy to hear of Obsidian Oil and the good results of you have much and using it. I will be looking for some.
Does this mean that all these guys who are hot water flushing their pipes after every smoke are badly oxidizing their vulcanite stems from the inside out?
Compound bars are just sandpaper grit in a matrix of waxy stuff.
Meaning you are still sanding. The rubber doesn't care if the grit is on a wheel or attached to a backing sheet.
Doing it by hand offeres MUCH more control. Something that is a Very Big Deal when retaining crisp edges is a Good Thing (which is always), and blurring/rounding edges is a Bad Thing (which also is always.)
All square, diamond, and faceted stems look like shit if their edges have been blurred/rounded. Buttons, too, if the original had edges. Also, the edges of the bite zone on any shape stem.
I've handled many four figure collectables that originally had "edged" stems and had lost their crispness from buffing instead of careful hand sanding. In some cases they couldn't be rescued (too much material gone), and a new stem had to be made.
Though the following stem had to be replaced anyway because of bite damage, a look at the original illustrates exactly what I'm talking about:
Full-panel S. Bang billiard re-stem - pipemakersforum.com
www.pipemakersforum.com
Bottom line: If sanded by hand to a high grit (1500 wet or dry used wet) very little "machine sanding" is required. A quick touch with some Monzerna medium will shine instantly. Another touch with fine will have it gleaming like glass.
I understand what you're saying about buffing the edges and rounding them. I do this on my pipes and though it may be thought anathema I have even sanded down some of the sharp corners on bits because they were not comfortable in my mouth. If a pipe is not comfortable in my mouth, I won't smoke it. I buy mostly old pipes and bought a new pipes in years. I think the newest pipe I have is a 1990 Comoy Christmas pipe, and it's not broken in yet. I much prefer the older pipes because of the way they smoke, and they seem to have better stems. I only smoke pipes with vulcanite stems because I found lucite stems too hard and they seem to cause condensation in the few I have tried.
I started smoking pipes in the 1970s and it wasn't until the 1980s that I was introduced to estate pipes. There wasn't anyone I knew then who was worried about the edges on a stem. If the lip was large enough that I could hold it in my teeth, that was all that mattered. Most of the better pipes I have had already been buffed many times before I acquired them.
I can see the pipe smoking hobby has definitely changed in the last 30 years! The same can be said for the hobby of collecting old pocket knives. Twenty years ago the standard was buff them until they are shinny. It was not uncommon to see a seller listing a knife as "buffed to mint." Which is nonsensical, but that was what sold at shows. Most of that generation has gone now, the sellers and the repairmen who did their buffing. Today's pocket knife collectors are looking for true mint knives, in the factory box or tube with the original paperwork.
It appears a similar transformation has taken place in the pipe smoking/ collecting hobby in the 20 years that I had stopped smoking.
I learned something new today and for that I thank you. It keeps old age and retirement from getting too boring!
I started smoking pipes in the 1970s and it wasn't until the 1980s that I was introduced to estate pipes. There wasn't anyone I knew then who was worried about the edges on a stem. If the lip was large enough that I could hold it in my teeth, that was all that mattered. Most of the better pipes I have had already been buffed many times before I acquired them.
I can see the pipe smoking hobby has definitely changed in the last 30 years! The same can be said for the hobby of collecting old pocket knives. Twenty years ago the standard was buff them until they are shinny. It was not uncommon to see a seller listing a knife as "buffed to mint." Which is nonsensical, but that was what sold at shows. Most of that generation has gone now, the sellers and the repairmen who did their buffing. Today's pocket knife collectors are looking for true mint knives, in the factory box or tube with the original paperwork.
It appears a similar transformation has taken place in the pipe smoking/ collecting hobby in the 20 years that I had stopped smoking.
I learned something new today and for that I thank you. It keeps old age and retirement from getting too boring!