Thanks Al. It does look like a sample of 'worm hole' sandstone I used to have.
This one is starting to feel like a new favorite pipe. I hope it smokes well. The bowl will swallow the first two joints of an index finger. All day smoke for me.
I decided to start working on the pipe today. I did the 'nobody can do it' like I like to. I filed the tenon by hand and didn't ruin it. I used a diamond file, which is rather coarse to start and finished with a safe edge jewelers file. Hard to beat a jeweler's file. Slow, careful turning and filing produced a good fitting tenon.
Then the scary part. There was a slight 'air gap' on the bottom of the shank. Very careful filing on the top of the shank face produced a perfect fit and maintained the sharp edge. I am happy with this.
Then, on to the cleanup of the stummel. It had more cake than it appeared. The chamber is tapered and didn't fit any of my reamers, so it became a game of switching reamers and working my way down the chamber. The last work was done with my Chinese Senior. I set it to hit the ridge left by the last Decatur reamer that fit, reamed a few turns, loosened the reamer a bit, then a few more turns and repeated until I got to the bottom. This had to happen several times, several passes. Patience rules again. The finish was with the next to smallest Decatur to get the bottom smooth.
The shank was wanting to be difficult. The draft hole is a tiny way up the shank from the bottom, as is normal in this kind of pipe. But, my draft hole drill wouldn't start it. I couldn't get a pipe cleaner to start either. So, out came the special tool, a piece of coat hanger wire. Handy stuff that is. It poked the crap out of the draft hole, which was mostly dottle. Then a pipe cleaner went through and finally I got the drill started.
The rim and outside of the stummel were 'sanded' with a bit of green scouring pad. Very carefully the rim was cleaned. I may still go back with a hot iron and wet towel to raise a few dents in the edge of the rim, but it looks pretty good now. The outside was scrubbed several times to remove the dirt and grime and old finish. After drying, I oiled the thing with mineral oil. At that point it looked pretty good overall. I did buff it some for the pictures though. Now I have to bend the stem and smoke the pipe! I think I will use the hot sand method to bend the stem. I don't want to chance damage to the stem after all the work I put into it. And, I don't have another.
Oh, it was suggested that I might rusticate the pipe to make it look better. I think it looks fine now. I will wait on that idea. I haven't found another pipe like this anywhere (marked Gladiator), so for now I will maintain it as much as original looking as possible.
