I thank you for your help. Whether it’s good, bad, or ugly I’ll post a follow up on what happens.
Any chance you might post a photo of that old Kaywoodie heater?
Kaywoodie Help Needed
- Thread starter unclefloyd
- Start date
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Any chance you might post a photo of that old Kaywoodie heater?
More reasons to buy a Lee.
Note the tenon has pulled out of the stem. The threads on the Kaywoodie are a series of ridges. On a Lee that would be a threaded part. If the Kaywoodie pulls out you are done. I doubt glue would hold long, and you’d not get the stem aligned. The Lee is threaded, and won’t pull out.
But that’s not all.
The Kaywoodie might also pull out the mortise, and the earlier versions were also ribbed. Again, you are done, although you might use a glue for a temporary fix, except you’d likely not get the stem aligned. The mortise on a Lee was threaded. Early versions sometimes unscrewed, but later Lee glued the mortise in place.
The fix for that Kaywoodie is to send it out for a new stem.
But I just bought this Lee for $20.
And this one too, for $20.
It’s not I don’t own and love Kaywoodies.
4 hole stinger Flame Grain
Pre war high grade Kaywoodies had the prettiest briar ever used on any factory pipe.
Lee improved the Syncro stem by making it recessed, user adjustable, threaded on both ends, and the stinger is removable.
It’s a better mousetrap.
Note the tenon has pulled out of the stem. The threads on the Kaywoodie are a series of ridges. On a Lee that would be a threaded part. If the Kaywoodie pulls out you are done. I doubt glue would hold long, and you’d not get the stem aligned. The Lee is threaded, and won’t pull out.
But that’s not all.
The Kaywoodie might also pull out the mortise, and the earlier versions were also ribbed. Again, you are done, although you might use a glue for a temporary fix, except you’d likely not get the stem aligned. The mortise on a Lee was threaded. Early versions sometimes unscrewed, but later Lee glued the mortise in place.
The fix for that Kaywoodie is to send it out for a new stem.
But I just bought this Lee for $20.
And this one too, for $20.
It’s not I don’t own and love Kaywoodies.
4 hole stinger Flame Grain
Pre war high grade Kaywoodies had the prettiest briar ever used on any factory pipe.
Lee improved the Syncro stem by making it recessed, user adjustable, threaded on both ends, and the stinger is removable.
It’s a better mousetrap.
The assembly that fits into the shank of the pipe is threaded into the shank. The ‘tenon’ screws into the metal fitment.
It appears that what has happened here is that the male threads of the tenon have ‘glued’ themselves to the female threads inside the metal fitment on end of the shank. That happens when the stem is not disassembled and the tar is not wiped out. It dries like epoxy.
In trying remove the stem, a gorilla exerted too much pressure and dislodged the backend of the tenon from the stem.
It appears that what has happened here is that the male threads of the tenon have ‘glued’ themselves to the female threads inside the metal fitment on end of the shank. That happens when the stem is not disassembled and the tar is not wiped out. It dries like epoxy.
In trying remove the stem, a gorilla exerted too much pressure and dislodged the backend of the tenon from the stem.
I believe this is the 1950's Syncrostem Patent...
I can't seem to find the earlier patent. It does appear that the 1950's patent shows a knurled fitment.
I can't seem to find the earlier patent. It does appear that the 1950's patent shows a knurled fitment.
NO that threaded ring peice that is next to the vulcanite should be glued into the stummel.
there is another more course thread on the stinger part that is the one that should unscrew
It’s kinda hard to make out, but it looks like the piece sticking out the back is barbed. And if I’m reading the patent right, a nylon sleeve fits over that, and would’ve been pressed into the stem so it could be clocked “on the fly” without having to go through the hassle of clocking it as would’ve been done previously.
The 1956 patent was marketed as the Adjustomatic.
There’s a sort of clutch in the tenon that allows the user to align the stem.
This Grabow has one. I own a Kaywoodie 500 that has one, too.
It must have been problematic if abused because I don’t see many.
If not abused the early Kaywoodie pressed in Syncro Stem gives no trouble. I’ve seen later Kaywoodies that had a threaded front mortise like a Lee.
The main fault with the Lee threaded mortise and threaded tenon must have been extra cost. Lee dropped it in favor of a push stem at the bitter end.
A worker had to clock all the screw stem Lees, front and rear, by hand , or it wasn’t good.
Top photo, correct stems in correct pipes. Bottom photo, switched,
There’s a sort of clutch in the tenon that allows the user to align the stem.
This Grabow has one. I own a Kaywoodie 500 that has one, too.
It must have been problematic if abused because I don’t see many.
If not abused the early Kaywoodie pressed in Syncro Stem gives no trouble. I’ve seen later Kaywoodies that had a threaded front mortise like a Lee.
The main fault with the Lee threaded mortise and threaded tenon must have been extra cost. Lee dropped it in favor of a push stem at the bitter end.
A worker had to clock all the screw stem Lees, front and rear, by hand , or it wasn’t good.
Top photo, correct stems in correct pipes. Bottom photo, switched,
This is the heater. The screws sticking up match most three hole stingers. You screw the stummel on and plug it in. When it is hot you give the stummel a pull and the bushing comes out. When it is cool you screw the bushing back onto the stinger hand tight, then epoxy it to the stummel at the right orientation.
Attachments
Funny how all these posts compare other pipes to the venerable Lee, which faded into oblivion in relatively short period of time compared to other brands…The 1956 patent was marketed as the Adjustomatic.
There’s a sort of clutch in the tenon that allows the user to align the stem.
This Grabow has one. I own a Kaywoodie 500 that has one, too.
View attachment 198902
It must have been problematic if abused because I don’t see many.
If not abused the early Kaywoodie pressed in Syncro Stem gives no trouble. I’ve seen later Kaywoodies that had a threaded front mortise like a Lee.
The main fault with the Lee threaded mortise and threaded tenon must have been extra cost. Lee dropped it in favor of a push stem at the bitter end.
A worker had to clock all the screw stem Lees, front and rear, by hand , or it wasn’t good.
Top photo, correct stems in correct pipes. Bottom photo, switched,
View attachment 198903
View attachment 198904
That is cool! Thanks for sharing! I’ve never seen one of those before.
And just before they shut out the lights at Lee, they reverted to push stems.Funny how all these posts compare other pipes to the venerable Lee, which faded into oblivion in relatively short period of time compared to other brands…
Kaywoodie’s pressed in fitments also were discontinued. Today all Kaywoodies are push stems.
Kaywoodie used two extra parts, Lee used three, and in addition Lee had to pay to have the shank threaded and the stem threaded.
The customers didn’t seem to care. Elimination of the screw stems was pure profit.
Factually incorrect. All but the Campus are push tenons. And Bill dropped them for multiple reasons, one of which was the frustration with being misaligned over time.
Glad to know they left one.
The big selling point of Kaywoodie in the days they made millions of pipes a year was first the Drinkless fitment and later the Syncho stem.
It was a good system if not abused by neglect.
I think you’ve got that backwards. The early Syncrostem (1929) mortise assembly was threaded on the outside to mate to the shank. Long before Lee showed up.
Very cool that you have one of those. Somwhere in the materials I collected is an ad from Kaywoodie advertising this piece of equipment.
ˆˆˆˆTHIS ˆˆˆˆ
Kaywoodies came new with the stem slightly underclocked. The glue used to hold the internal collar would soften slightly with heat, If the smoker let the pipe cool down before unscrewing the stem it would retain its orientation, but many smokers would unscrew the stem to run a pipe cleaner through it and retighten the stem before the glue had hardened. This resulted in the stem gradually rotating the collar, resulting in an over clocked position.
Once the fitment has been freed from the stummel (alcohol may loosen up the crud imprisoning it) you can reattach it to the stem with a couple of drops of epoxy to hold it, then reclock the stem using a heat gun after the epoxy has cured.
I don't collect American factory pipes (there are only so many "toys" a guy can have), but I find this information (and occasional disinformation 
) fascinating 
) fascinating