got some new pipes!

[shimrra]

Went to a ren fair over the weekend and met an avid pipe smoker who was a vendor. he was selling some of his pipe (said he had 80+) and i picked up 2 for $20
one is a Rembrandt that looks like a factory second (not really a nice finish, and there are major major flaws in the bowl) it looks like they kept going bigger on the bowl to clean it but just made it a monster with no luck, the bowl is like 1" by 1.5"
now, here is the fun one
A peterson's kildare #69

it was rather dirty, but some damp wipeing cleaned it up pretty good.

the stem is REALLY tight though, and it smokes really damp so while it looks and feels great with the P stem on it, i don't smoke it that much...

 

[fullbent]

Great buy! I dig the petes

 

[misterrogers]

Pictures please.

 

[juozapas]

Yes !! We need pictures ASAP.... ::

 

[unclearthur]

Put the Pete in the freezer for an hour or so . The stem will be easier to remove. Then rub a pencil on the tenon to give it a good coat of graphite. Should be the cure for the tight stem. As for smoking wet . It depends a lot on what you are smoking in it. Be sure to give both the stem and shank a thorough cleaning with bristle cleaners and alcohol. That may help the wet smoking.

 

[shimrra]

i just cleaned the pete today, really well, and it smoked like a champ till the very end when it got the gurgle.

as for the graphite, it comes apart and i have penciled it, like 3 times! still comes apart very hard, i found a light coat of lip balm of all things (burts bees) makes it go in like butter and only stick a little on the way out. once i break it free, it slides righto out, but it takes enough force for me not to want to do it too often... when i bought it, it was not actually pressed all the way together, and it took a good clean to get it in.
it also has this strange little aluminum (?) tube in it where a filter would go... i tried smoking without it, but that didn't last long, burned WAY hotter than normal for some reason
pic up in a few

 

[shimrra]

 

[PeriqueMyInterest]

That Pete would look great with some elbow grease on the stem and a buffing of the bowl. Great score!

 

[shimrra]

i already sat around and polished it quite a bit, it was... sticky? when i got it. like it sat for a while. i wiped it down with a damp cloth, put some lemon oil on it to get some of the harder crap off (there was a fingerprint on it?!) then used just a little paste wax to give it some protection while i get better wax.
as for the stem, i don't know much about it... is it a vulcanite stem? it cleaned up a lot from when i got it, but i don't really know the right way of keeping care of it. i just did the old water and cotton t-shirt polish so far lol

 

[PeriqueMyInterest]

Looks like heavily oxidized vulcanyte and I would buy one of those lady's nail files with the different levels, from grinding to buffing, and start by filing the brown off until it is black and then buffing it. Afterwards, I would rub it with olive oil and let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it off with a dry rag.

 

[unclearthur]

Soak the stem in Oxyclean and then give it a gentle rubdown with 0000steel wool. Flitz polish will restore the shine. then either use olive oil or best yet order some of the new Obsidian oil. For the nasty bowl . use Murphy's Oil Soap. I use it full strength on a damp worn out washcloth works very well and you will be amazed how nice that bowl looks afterward. Any decent pipe polish will protect the wood.

 

[shimrra]

lol, i didn't even realize it was supposed to be black! i have some crazy fine sandpaper (591 and 2500 grit) i can wetsand with, would that work? thanks for the murphy's tip, i was wondering about that.

what would be a decent pipe polish to buy?

 

[shimrra]

how lon should i let them soak?

 

[cburke111]

i did what unclearthur clued me in on last night with the oxiclean and steel wool and let me tell you its awesome. really it looks like i have new pipes.

 

[kcvet67]

As unclearthur said, Murphy Oil Soap works wonders on seriously gross bowls. Be careful though when you get down to bare wood, it can start to pull off the stain once you've gotten the grease and grime off. I use Goo Gone after the Murphy Oil Soap to get off the last of the grease and oil.
If you don't have a buffer, try Paragon Wax for smooth finish pipes or Halcyon II for rusticated and sandblasted pipes. Both are easy to apply and give a nice shine with pnly hand buffing. A number of retailers carry the 1 oz. jars or you can go straight to the source and get it in 1 oz. or 8 oz. jars.
Fine Pipes International

 

[unclearthur]

Another thing that just rocks for getting that last bit of crud off is Goop hand cleaner. I have pulled out oil stains on antique furniture using it.

 

[shimrra]

 

[ranger]

Nice Pete, happy smoking.