My First Attempt at a Full Restoration

[madox07]

I have a friend in Serbja, and his father used to smoke pipe. One day when visiting, he gave me this pipe - more of a joke if anything else, saying that he can't find his father's pipes but he might as well give me this one. When asked if he tried to beat some nails over their head using the pipe instead of the hammer, he said "Yeah ... something like that". The pipe looked hopeless, but I figured .. what the heck, might as well try a full restoration on it, if I fail I fail, nothing to loose here. The "before" pics are no 100% before, as I have already polished the stem and rimmed the pipe. The after pics, well ... I would welcome your feedback :: The pipe is a no name St. Claude - they seem to have been an item of intense contraband during the cold war times within the ex soviet satellite states, with the exception of Yugoslavia where they were in wide circulation.

Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization (please check Rule #9)

 

[smittyd]

That looks pretty good. What did you use to get all the dings out?

 

[madox07]

Sand paper, a very rough one in the first stage to get the sherlack off and dig my way beneath the dings, and fine grade afterwards. The two lines on the left of the bowl must be some imperfections in the briar, they seem more of a stain than a dent in the briar. I used a special marker for furniture on the stain. Actually I first thought to leave it in it's original sand blasted form, but I was afraid that tobacco oils would stain the outside unevenly. Then I coated it twice with olive oil and applied that special furniture marker that I bought from a hardware store.

 

[crashthegrey]

Sandblasted?

 

[madox07]

It's actually a very good smoker. I own a number of St Claud's and some are a pain in the you know what ... this is actually good. It's a very good clencher, in spite of the size and shape it's very light. Also, it has a diamond shaped stinger head, that doesn't gurgle. The smoke is dry and smooth, and the bowl is a medium size, combined with its light weights, making it a good pipe for office work.

 

[madox07]

crashthegrey ... for lack of a better word. Technically sand papered :lol: Or maybe I should have said in its raw form, as in no paint, no shellacked coating, simply bare wood.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Looks like a fine job, but one picture is quite out of focus and the other one dimly (back) lit. Show off your work!

 

[crashthegrey]

Sorry, yeah, raw form or sanded. Sand blasted implies a very specific sort of finish that has a medium blasted at it, revealing ring grain. Thus my confusion. I'd definitely like to see better pictures. Restoration can be fun.

 

[joeman]

Sanding out the dings is one way to go...however, whenever going this route, you're essentially thinning the walls of the bowl in the areas where you're removing wood. Not criticizing this method, but something to consider especially if the walls are already thin. This bowl appears to be nice and hefty from what we can see, so I believe you're just fine.
Another thing to consider is that sanding away some thickness essentially changes the "shape" of the bowl, even slightly. But this is not a Dunhill that you're fixing up to sell, so it's nobody's business but yours.
One thing I'll say...your sanding did a great job of ridding the pipe of it's ugly brown stain. The original darker stain may have been used to try hiding those fills. The color you've got here is much nicer, and reveals the grain.
I agree with the others...try posting some better pics so that we can enjoy it more.

 

[madox07]

Well, some of the dings are so deep that I had no other choice but to thin the bowl a tad. Some people have suggested that making a paste and filling them would have been an alternative, but that would have meant giving the bowl a thick layer of shellac. AS it can be seen some dings are still there, barely visible, but I guess that gives it a certain patine .. like the bowl had some wood decay.

 

[johnsteam86]

Wow that's a big change. That looks really good.