Just Ruined a Few Old Pipe Stems. Suggestions?

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futureman

Can't Leave
Jul 9, 2011
411
663
Ohio (Displaced Central Texan)
These stems are part of some older pipes given to me by my uncle. They were in need of serious cleaning, and (unbeknownst to me) these particular pipes had finished stems. The finish came off while soaking in bourbon. One stem is part of the Punto Uno 'gold dot' 1987 series from Savinelli. Is having a finished stem repaired worth the time and money?

 

ejames

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
3,916
22
Sounds like all you need is something to shine them up with. Never saw a stem with a "finish" other than wax.Got some pics of those stems? Some Micro Mesh and Paragon pipe wax should should do the trick. There are stem cleaning/deoxidizing kits available but no stem "repair" kits I ever heard of.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,317
11,074
Maryland
postimg.cc
I think you might be referring to this "stem restoration kit" from Walker:

http://www.walkerbriarworks.com/html/stem_restore_kit.html

 

futureman

Can't Leave
Jul 9, 2011
411
663
Ohio (Displaced Central Texan)
I see now I used the wrong term. A few of the pipes, which had been black and shiny, lost their color and shine. They appeared to have some sort of finish that came off, but that could have been the wax to which an earlier poster referred.

 
Jun 26, 2011
2,011
2
Pacific Northwest USA
Using just Micro-Mesh pads a stem can be made to look like black glass. Any waxing done after that simply helps to accentuate and preserve the smoothness gained from the sanding.

The soak in the alcohol prolly did no more than to cause the surface to roughen up some.
Here's a before pic of a pipe I've named Ol' Fuzzy
fuzzy_billiard_before.jpg

See what the stem looks like after sanding only.
fuzzy_stem.jpg


 

hnryclay

Can't Leave
Jan 9, 2012
365
0
I use beeswax on my stems to protect and shine after removing oxidation. I melt the wax, and then add turpentine to make a paste. I store this mixture in a plastic container. One ounce of beeswax melted goes a long way. Apply the wax to stem, or whole pipe if you like, then buff to the shine you want. I also apply periodically to prevent new oxidation forming.

 
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