Fossilized cake removal

[aggravatedfarmer]

I've never bought from eBay until recently. Received the pipe in the mail today and low and behold I found some Dino bones! Reaming a pipe that is smoked often is a completely different ball game compared to this stuff. I opted to break out a few of my wood chisels to help scrape out the larger chunks. I plan to finish reaming with my Czech tool.
My question is, what is your go to method for taking on fossilized cake?

 

[smoothsailing]

I use a Castleford Pipe Reamer (5 piece set) starting with the smallest and working my way up to the largest , always keeping it in the center of the chamber so not to cause gouging or making the bowl out of round . Ending off with sandpaper(400 grit) wrapped around a finger to smooth things out.

 

[smoothsailing]

Also search for Reborn Pipes blog. Great stuff there,he and others there have covered everything at one point or another.

 

[aldecaker]

I actually used a 3/4" twist drill bit once. Turned by hand, of course. I myself do not partake of the estate pipe market, but I have a friend who does. The cake in one he bought was extremely hard, with only the pencil-sized hole down the middle one often hears about. He was getting nowhere with his reamer set, so we had to get a little more agressive. It worked very well; after drilling a hole almost to the bottom of the cake, the regular reamer finished the job quite nicely.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

Picked up the castle ford reamer. Looked quite handy.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

And the sand paper

 

[smoothsailing]

-aggravatedfarmer
For the price you can't go wrong, I've had mine a couple of years now and very happy with it. It would be cool to see pics of the finished pipe.

 

[gloucesterman]

Sometimes if you do a salt treatment (sea salt and alcohol) in the bowl and let it set for several days the cake will soften somewhat and make it a lot less likely to damage the bowl with the reamer. You can gouge up a bowl pretty easily especially with a new reamer. Having the cake a little softer makes getting it out a lot easier. The salt treatment also pull out the dissolved oils and tar and will eliminate or reduce ghosting from past tobaccos.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

I put a bit of pipe refresher in it to soften it up bit was still hard. That's when I switch to the wood working tools.

 

[tbradsim1]

Agg I" m gonna put this out and I never tried it, some fellow a long time ago said he filled his pipe with Coca-Cola and it ate up the coke. Never tried it, but put a piece of meat in coke and it will dissolve it . Don't see how it would hurt.

 

[brewshooter]

"The cake is a lie." :wink:

 

[philobeddoe]

Go slowly.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

 

[smoothsailing]

+1 on Go Slowly . Take your time and let us know how it goes. The rim looks good.

 

[deathmetal]

I never tried it, some fellow a long time ago said he filled his pipe with Coca-Cola and it ate up the coke.

One of my favorite solvents. Never drink the stuff, but it's very handy for getting off caked-on oils.

 

[blackbeard]

I just want to mention, a good knife...if the cake is thick, may chunk it off. Made my life easier on a current project with a pencil thin hole. So, if you don't have a reamer, a knife with care and patience is great.

 

[sablebrush52]

When all else fails, an M-80 will do the job.
But if that seems a bit too radical, olive oil will soften up the cake and make it easier to remove.

 

[beerandbaccy]

Hedgehog Reamers are pretty good.

 

[blackbeard]

Noticed above a mention to sea salt. I tried it once but was far less effective compared to coarse kosher salt.

 

[okiescout]

olive oil will soften up the cake and make it easier to remove.
Sounds like a good plan, Sablebrush.