One of my favourite shapes - the Bulldog or Straight Rhodesian - seems to be a bit scarce on the german Ebay so I grab what I get. While Denicotea is not exactly the greatest brand of them all I didn´t bother as it set me back with the princely sum of 5 Euros. :mrgreen: I knew it would be rough but when it came it was a proper train wreck!
Lot´s of cake, burnt top, varnished bowl that was flaking off in spots, dents and a stem that wouldn´t budge! The stem wasn´t much impressed by the freezer so I used gentle force. When something like a stinger came in sight I stopped. Could it be that the stinger was lodged in the bowl? A quick Google research showed that this Denicotea Golf had a metal tenon in it´s bowl and a hollow stem - quite strange indeed! More force freed the stem from the tenon which was corroded and thus wouldn´t let loose.
The pipes condition was much more worse than the picture can show. But hey, that´s great as I can ruin this one if things go awry! :mrgreen: So I went to town...
There was a very even and rockhard cake inside the bowl and my reamer was too large to reach the lower half of it. Thank god I had my Sowbelly with it´s Spey blade (castration blade) :mrgreen: at hand!
A topping of the bowl on 400 grit emery paper came next.
The aluminium tenon looks better too now.
Stripping the varnish of the bowl was not easy at all. I read that nail polish remover would work and so I tried it but to no avail. Next was paint thinner, gasoline, MEK and alcohol. Varnish was not impressed... :roll: So back to the proven abrasive method: 000 steel wool did the job.
While there was still no finish to mess up I use the retort on the little Golf. Or to be exact about six retorts! 8O What followed was about as many cotton swabs I had, several pipe cleaners, demakeup pads and a fist full of cotton wool with about a liter of alcohol!
Did I mention that this was a dirrrrrrrrrty pipe?
While hot overflowing alcohol was sputtering and spraying all over the place I found out something strange. Where the hot alcohol had seaped over the stem the corrosion was gone! 8O How could this be as I was supposed to remoce it in hours of tedious sanding???? I spilled even more of the hot stuff over the stem and rubbed it with a paper towel. In this I was able to remove about 80% of the corrosion! :D
A little bit of sanding of the stem was needed though. I was able to remove the majority of the teeth chatter with my trusty heat gun as well.
Shiny dark black as it´s supposed to be!
About the remedy of the little dents I had a new idea. Steam was needed in a very concentrated area but how should this be done without an Italian Espresso machine at hand? I came up with the idea of using a wet paper towel and a soldering iron - worked like a charm!
Time to give the little Bulldog it´s color back! I stained it in a reddish dark brown and flame-set two coatings.
What looked dull at first really came to life on the bench buffer!
After two different polish compounds and a coating with Carnuba wax the little Denicotea looked just gorgeous! :D
From a total loss that you would toss in the fire place with no remorse this one became a beauty queen in just a few hours. I am very astonished how well it came out. If it would have been a fail I would have lightheartedly thrown it away and it´s this carelessness that made it possible. :
:
Go and get yourself a trainwreck! :mrgreen:
Lot´s of cake, burnt top, varnished bowl that was flaking off in spots, dents and a stem that wouldn´t budge! The stem wasn´t much impressed by the freezer so I used gentle force. When something like a stinger came in sight I stopped. Could it be that the stinger was lodged in the bowl? A quick Google research showed that this Denicotea Golf had a metal tenon in it´s bowl and a hollow stem - quite strange indeed! More force freed the stem from the tenon which was corroded and thus wouldn´t let loose.
The pipes condition was much more worse than the picture can show. But hey, that´s great as I can ruin this one if things go awry! :mrgreen: So I went to town...
There was a very even and rockhard cake inside the bowl and my reamer was too large to reach the lower half of it. Thank god I had my Sowbelly with it´s Spey blade (castration blade) :mrgreen: at hand!
A topping of the bowl on 400 grit emery paper came next.
The aluminium tenon looks better too now.
Stripping the varnish of the bowl was not easy at all. I read that nail polish remover would work and so I tried it but to no avail. Next was paint thinner, gasoline, MEK and alcohol. Varnish was not impressed... :roll: So back to the proven abrasive method: 000 steel wool did the job.
While there was still no finish to mess up I use the retort on the little Golf. Or to be exact about six retorts! 8O What followed was about as many cotton swabs I had, several pipe cleaners, demakeup pads and a fist full of cotton wool with about a liter of alcohol!
Did I mention that this was a dirrrrrrrrrty pipe?
While hot overflowing alcohol was sputtering and spraying all over the place I found out something strange. Where the hot alcohol had seaped over the stem the corrosion was gone! 8O How could this be as I was supposed to remoce it in hours of tedious sanding???? I spilled even more of the hot stuff over the stem and rubbed it with a paper towel. In this I was able to remove about 80% of the corrosion! :D
A little bit of sanding of the stem was needed though. I was able to remove the majority of the teeth chatter with my trusty heat gun as well.
Shiny dark black as it´s supposed to be!
About the remedy of the little dents I had a new idea. Steam was needed in a very concentrated area but how should this be done without an Italian Espresso machine at hand? I came up with the idea of using a wet paper towel and a soldering iron - worked like a charm!
Time to give the little Bulldog it´s color back! I stained it in a reddish dark brown and flame-set two coatings.
What looked dull at first really came to life on the bench buffer!
After two different polish compounds and a coating with Carnuba wax the little Denicotea looked just gorgeous! :D
From a total loss that you would toss in the fire place with no remorse this one became a beauty queen in just a few hours. I am very astonished how well it came out. If it would have been a fail I would have lightheartedly thrown it away and it´s this carelessness that made it possible. :
:Go and get yourself a trainwreck! :mrgreen:
