Inexpensive Banding Alternative

[joeahearn]

Hi everyone,
As a challenge (now you know I am crazy), I am attempting to restore the pipe shown in the picture.
http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q786/joeahearn/2012-12-06_17-12-15_835_zpsb1d1edfc.jpg
A big chunk of the shank fell off as I was handling and cleaning the pipe. I have reglued it with wood glue, but it needs reinforcement. Any ideas of what I could use to band the shank? The shank is diamond-shaped. Since I bought the pipe for 99 cents, a silver or nickel band seems too expensive. In any case, I don't know how to make a square band out of a round one. And the area that needs to be reinforced is bigger than the area I've seen most metal bands cover. So I need to find some non-traditional way to band/reinforce the shank. Any ideas?

 

[rcstan]

Find or construct a rectangular piece of iron stock with the same dimensions as the shank and use it as a mandrel to beat your metal band into shape.
That pipe looks like it's been dug out of the ground after someone used it to dig the hole they buried it in.
Does it hold any special significance ?

 

[ghost]

Holy before picture! Good luck!

 

[irishsmoker]

Best of luck lad!

 

[vaboatbuilder]

could use copper or stainles steel wire and wrap it

 

[joeahearn]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your comments. The pipe does not have any special significance. I have restored maybe a dozen pipes and chose this one purely as a challenge, to help me build new skills. After having put a lot of time into it, I have to say it was by far the filthiest pipe I have ever seen, or smelled.
Here is the pipe at the stage it exists now.
http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q786/joeahearn/2012-12-06_23-26-47_996_zpseb6b21e1.jpg

 

[rcstan]

Did you top the bowl ? And what's with the hole in the shank? Methinks you should just cut the bad piece out and shorten the shank .....

 

[joeahearn]

HI rcstan,
Yes, I topped the bowl. It had been cut off unevenly previously. The hole in the shank is where an enormous fill fell out. Everything you can imagine is wrong with this pipe: filthy inside and out, stem way too loose, huge fills, burn-through at the bottom of the bowl, bowl top looks like it went through a threshing machine and got chopped off weird, tons of scratches and scrapes and gouges.
I've thought about shortening the shank and may yet do it. I want to see if I can band it first, just for the heck of it.

 

[rcstan]

8O
You definitely have your work cut out for you with that one. Without putting any significant amount of money into it, you could use the mandrel idea. Maybe even use the drive of a ratchet as a mandrel if you are lucky enough that the shank is the same size. Find some sort of metal ring you could beat into a square band .....
After that, wood glue and putty the holes and give it a real dark stain or sandblast/rusticate.
By the time you get to redoing the stem, all the hard work is done. I imagine there are pieces missing of the stem? Although it looks fairly alright in the pictures ....

 

[ssjones]

I love a challenge like that, go for it!

Looking good so far:

A friend of mine, and member here (lestrout) has a pipe that has been repaired with a band made like a guide on a fly-fishing rod (thread & glue). Just wrap it really good with thread and coat it with some kind of glue (I forget what is used on fishing rods). I suspect some kind of epoxy?

 

[pstlpkr]

:rofl:
Best of luck!

 

[gwtwdbss]

Looks like you are making progress. Can't wait to see the finished pics. :clap:

 

[joeahearn]

HI Al,
I like the thread idea. Thanks!

 

[taerin]

You sir are completely nuts for working so diligently on that worthless pipe. My hat is off to you.

 

[fnord]

Joe:
I saw that first pix and immediately reached into my prayer bag:
"O most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus -- People honor and invoke you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of."
But, when I read that you were honing your resto skills, I thought, "WTH, good on him."
Grab a root and growl, son. And keep those pictures rolling in.
Fnord

 

[ffmurray]

Any new developments on the restoration, restoration would love to see what you could do with it.

 

[organizedmadman]

Sir, you do realize the authorities frown on taking items from the sunken remains of the RMS Titanic...right? You cleaned the barnacles off quite nicely in the last pic I see.

In all seriousness though, my hat's off to you for undertaking this project! Can't wait to see more pics! :clap:

 

[drwatson]

No ideas! But keep going it's become a labor of love!