My Dr. Grabow Challenge Entry

[nevadablue]

I started on the pipe today. This will be no contest winner, but it is a winner for me already. I learn something on every cleanup or repair. This one must be a good smoker because it had a LOT of cake and was quite dirty.
Before: (ebay pics) I paid 15 bucks for the two pipes so I figure this one cost $7.50.

The bowl must have been reamed sometime in the past, the bore is off center. Also the front of the bowl was quite beat up and tapered.
I tried to strip any finish from the briar using alcohol and then acetone. Neither did anything. Whatever finish this had is gone already I guess.
Then I reamed the thing using my Decatur reamer. The smallest reamer then the next one. Then the Senior and then the third largest Decatur and back to the Senior. I nearly wore out my hands on this one. I use a trickle of hot water during the reaming process which softens the cake and keeps the reamer clean while in use. I also had to use the Senior reamer drill bit on the draft hole. This is a filter pipe so the mortise is very deep. It too was full of crud. What a mess. But, it cleaned up well.
The stem also has a huge cavity for the filter, and it was full of gunk too. The inside of the stem was very dirty. Pipe cleaners, brushes, alcohol, soap and hot water finally got it clean inside. Whew! I am trying to be very careful with the stem, since it is an original with the blue spade and I don't have another.
So, after some scrubbing with a bit of scotchbrite pad, the stem looks like this. It has some super glue (which is the slowest drying super glue I have ever seen) daubed into some tooth marks and hopefully closing a little crack in the lips.

The bowl top was pretty beat, so I decided to top it instead of trying to raise the dents with steam. It didn't take much to get the dents out, using 400 and 600 grit wet/dry paper. With the damage to the front of the bowl, I decided to sand a slight bevel on the outside rim of the bowl to hide the damage... well, make it even anyway. It will be OK for me now. I stained the sanded area with some Old English dark wood scratch cover. That worked well, I think.

I did find my buffer in the storage container, so I may get this buffed before the deadline. Must work carefully to finish the stem too.

 

[scrooge]

Get er done! :clap:

 

[cortezattic]

It looks like it's coming along just fine! Nice rescue! :clap:

Thanks for posting all the pix.

 

[nevadablue]

Thanks guys. I picked this hobby to take advantage of lots of things, including space to work and it being new to me. It is really fun. Making something cast-off into something new makes me happy.

Gotta read about buffing now.

 

[scrooge]

Contact Dave G. The buffer King for sure. Has a couple threads on here some where too.

 

[uperepik]

Hey, no e yea points for great step by step demo threads.
Good just, and nice pics

 

[danielplainview]

Looking good so far.
[/quote] the buffer King.

I hope that’s a good thing... :wink:
I actually try to use a buffer as little as possible to avoid turning a pipe into shapeless blob. Only a few short moments for the final shine.
If you want the pipe to look right, there’s no short cuts. You have to put in the grunt work by hand.
About the superglue: there’s an activator spray that will dry the glue in seconds.

 

[nevadablue]

Thanks Dave. I will have to find some thin glue and some activator. My box of glues has not shown up since the move.
So, today I did use the buffer for a trial run. I took one of my other pipes from the to-be-restored box, wiped it down and practiced on it first. I used some white rouge on one wheel and carnauba wax on the other wheel. My buffer is a Harbor Freight high speed thing, so I had to be careful. This is the first time it has been used. It actually worked fine. I don't really like mirror shine on my pipes. But, after seeing the results of a few seconds on the carnauba wheel, I will have to polish some of my other pipes.
This pipe isn't perfect, but neither am I. Current state of the stummel...

The glue finally dried and apparently worked on the crack in the lips. I was able to reshape the opening with files and have applied another coat of glue on the deep dents.

 

[scrooge]

Yes Sir Dave that's a good thing. guess I should of said the king of shine. LOL!

 

[nevadablue]

Some progress. A bunch of sanding and a bit of buffing on the stem.

So, how deep is the spade logo on the stem? This must have been buffed before, maybe? The spade sticks up above the stem surface. I would like to file it down flush, but I am afraid I will ruin it.
No, I didn't sand or buff the stem and make that happen. I was afraid to touch the thing with much but 600 grit paper. And, I remembered why it is called wet or dry paper. Works much better wet. 8)

 

[danielplainview]

The spade insert is fairly thick. About as thick as a matchbook cover. Try pressing it back into place before you sand it. Nice work on the refurb too.

 

[nevadablue]

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the compliment. This the first one I have restored completely. I do need to do some more polishing I guess, but I am happy with it. I will try to push the spade back in place. If it doesn't move, I think I will live with it like it is.
I am ready to smoke this one.

 

[craig61a]

Very nice. I actually prefer pipes that have a lot of cake and lava on the rim. They haven't been fiddled with, and usually under all the crud there's a pretty nice pipe.

 

[nevadablue]

Yes, for sure on this one. What a wonderful little pipe!
I broke it in this evening with some 1995 vintage Mixture 965 that scrooge sent me. Wow! The tobacco is great and the pipe is a fine smoker. Today was a warm, windy day and it will probably be the last warm day here for a while. So, earlier in the day, I put some tobacco on a plate to dry. The day got busy and just before the sun went down, the wind died down and I remembered the tobacco. It was crispy. Perfect. I loaded the pipe, fired the char light, tamped a tiny bit and re-lit. Amazing. It stayed lit, the pipe smoked cool, the tobacco was fantastic. I have a new favorite tobacco and pipe!

Thanks scrooge, for the tobacco and thanks to the forum for all the info available here. And, especially thanks to uperepik for starting the challenge. It got me off dead center with the restoration stuff.

 

[cwarmouth]

Nice job. It looks beautiful.