Nailed It!

[MilesDavis]

Sometimes you love a pipe so much you just can't let it go! A couple pipes arrived on my bench that apparently had their burn-thrus repaired by inserting a nail in the hole?! And then covered with duct tape?! They're nice pipes with good grain.



I fixed that one. Its friend--without the tape--awaits my attention.

 

[verporchting]

What an odd choice for repair! Who’d have thunk of a nail?? Interesting

I’d love to see your finished restoration! Please post a photo for us to see!

 

[MilesDavis]

This is the one with the duct tape. The scar represents the amount of burnt stummel I eventually had to remove. I filled it (the outside) with superglue mixed with sanding dust. Then, layers of pipe mud on the inside--I'm still working on that. I reckon I won't be smoking this one and won't sell it either. It's damaged goods. I don't think anyone can hide that much damage. Good exercise though. It's a "Juan Ries" out of Chicago.

 

[verporchting]

Cool looking little fella. Like that grain pattern.

 

[OzPiper]

They must have been well-loved by their pervious owner who couldn’t bear to chuck them out

Either that or he was extremely parsimonious and would repair items until there was more repairs than the original material.

 

[username]

They must have been well-loved by their pervious owner who couldn’t bear to chuck them out

Either that or he was extremely parsimonious and would repair items until there was more repairs than the original material.

The pipe of Theseus

 

[condorlover1]

I have seen cracked Dunhill pipes repaired with hose clips or worse still wire just twisted off to hold the crack closed!

 

[crashthegrey]

Lots of ingenuity when you just want to pack another bowl.

 

[MilesDavis]

The pipe is 1.75'' across with a 1.25'' opening. Almost 2'' top to bottom. I prefer larger pipes, but this one--wow!

 

[MilesDavis]

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you like. Last evening, I began work on the second "nailed" pipe. I noticed a crack in the stem, so, following my own advice (from another thread), I wicked in some SuperGlue using a chopstick coated in Vaseline to pry the crack open while protecting the interior of the stem from unwanted glue. So far so good. I then began, with a rusty needle point file, to work around the nail in hopes of prying it out. The stummel rolled over as I was pressing down hard, and I plunged that file into my index finger. Did I mention it was rusty? So, a quick trip was made to the local after-hours medical facility for a tetanus shot. Yippee! Later, I was able to remove the nail, leaving a nice clean hole to work on. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the stem, turned the bowl over and began filling the hole with SuperGlue. I then realized I had made a fatal mistake. I had failed to coat the pipe cleaner with Vaseline, and, you guessed it, I glued that pipe cleaner to the innards of the pipe. It will never come out of there. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you!

Here's the holy pipe. Notice the crack in the stem?


Here's the stem repair.

 

[jhowell]

Try a set of chip carving chisels to remove the stuck pipe cleaner...

 

[MilesDavis]

Not wanting to give up, I managed to remove the glued-in pipe cleaner using various drill pits and other pointed objects. With that done, the stummel got a thorough sanding. Sanding the rim here with 400-grit to remove various scratches and burn marks.


Wet sanding with 190-proof alcohol (Everclear). 400-1000 grit. I like using Everclear as a sanding medium because it evaporates quickly. Briar isn't very absorbent anyway, but the alcohol works better than water for this purpose.



Removed from the booze bath, it's ready for buffing. Sometimes I'll add a little color--leather dyes and such--but this time I just buffed with Tripoli compound, followed by White Diamond and then wax.

This was the grungiest, greenest stem I've worked on in a while, and I doubt it's the original stem for this pipe. It still needs some work, and the interior of the stummel will need to be repaired. All in all, however, this is an interesting exercise. The pipe is a Theydon 9130, a GBD "second".