Oxidation

[peckinpahhombre]

Ok guys, I have a Peterson House pipe and a Comoy, both with vulcanite stems. I regularly clean them and put that oil on them that comes in the little blue bottle. Still, doesn't matter what I do, the stems turn green when I look at them. I even tried the Walker briar system. Doesn't do the trick. Not real interested in the whole oxiclean bath and micromesh strategy - I have trouble changing a light bulb. Is there anything easy I can do to make the oxidation go away for longer than one smoke?

 

[kashmir]

And now my friend you understand why I'm migrating my entire collection of 65 pipes to the merry land of Lucite. Whom ever thought up the idea of vulcanite as a suitable material for the pipe mouthpiece should be drawn and quartered.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I hear you. I hate it. Oddly, it's only these two pipes I have the issue with. I don't have the issue with the vulcanite on my Weaver's, Ruthenberg's or RAD's.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

This is what I feel like every time I look down and see that dreaded green hue returning.

 

[stanwellman]

Toothpaste (I use Crest) and a cotton cloth. Tiny day of the paste on the stem and buff it with the cloth. Keep going until the cloth “glides” smoothly over the surface of the stem. After, if you are so inclined, a dab of the obsidian oil, little more buffing and looks new. Total tie investment is about 5 minutes per stem when needed.

 

[profpar]

Vulcanite is a copper telluride mineral. The green color is due to the oxidation of copper to the +2 valance state. Other then passifying the surface with fluorine ions, I am not certain how one would avoid this eventuality since the divalent state of copper appears to be that of minimum free energy.

 

[matchstickman]

You can sometimes offset the green and scrub it back to black with a compound called Barkeepers Friend, though it takes a lot of patience and a metric #!@& ton of elbow grease. Long ago and far away I heard of people soaking stems in bleach, but I still maintain bleach is a really idiotic idea for a number of reasons (toxic chemical, causes pitting in the stem, etc.) Aside from these suggestions, I have heard of people having good results with White Diamond on a buffing wheel, but short of that, I'd think you'd just have to have new stems made for them.

 

[pruss]

Peck, I'd be happy to clean them up for you. Toss me a PM if you'd like.
-- Pat

 

[pruss]

Peck's not interested in doing any heavy lifting here. I don't either, TBH.

That's why I offered to do it for him. I have the gear, geography's in our favour... and I always travel with good coffee to hand. win + win + win
-- Pat

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Vulcanite is a copper telluride mineral. The green color is due to the oxidation of copper to the +2 valance state. Other then passifying the surface with fluorine ions, I am not certain how one would avoid this eventuality since the divalent state of copper appears to be that of minimum free energy.

 

[profpar]

Profpar translation: Vulcanite will oxidize; sh!t happens.

@rothnh: Yes.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

That's why I offered to do it for him. I have the gear, geography's in our favour... and I always travel with good coffee to hand. win + win + win

Thanks Pat. I am going to try the toothpaste this weekend and see if that works. If not, I may take you up on your kind offer.

 

[pruss]

Good luck with the toothpaste Peck. I'd love to hear how that works out. Holler at me if I can be of service.
-- Pat

 

[kashmir]

What's worked for me all these yrs. is Brebbia or Dunhill stem polish, a small piece of folder paper towel, and GET TO WORK. Along came Walker Briar Work Pipe stem deoxidizer / cleaner which I find is the same as Brebbia polish. Then I've got the micro-mesh pads, from 1500 to 12,000. More scrubbing. Tried tooth paste. Baking Soda. Oxyclean. Goo Gone. Then I've got ... let's count em ... Twelve bottles of Obsidian Oil. Need I go on? I just wanna smoke my pipes. It's enough to make sure they're properly maintained and cleaned with cleaners, Q-tips & Ever Clear. No doubt, I've got the cleanest rack 'o pipes this side of the Mississippi. Got to, as I pipe 4 to 8 bowls a day of nature's finest. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna get on my hands and knees, and scrub the deck like a galley slave! To the lucky land of Lucite here I come. And while I'm at it, aren't those black stems a bit of a bore to look at? I mean they all look the same, right? What's up with that? Take a peeksie over at exoticblanks.com and you'll never look back. Then you find a Master Artisan who can carve you a pair of fine stems over the weekend, for a fair price, while you're still waiting months for another Artiste to carve you a pair for many times more coin ... Why, like all else, it pays to shop around. I can recommend Floyd Norwood as the best pipe repairman and stem carver on this planet. Bar none. Net result? A beautiful pipe, with a maintenance free stem. Now you can focus on the driving rather than the oil change. Had a friend who drove and swore by the MG ragtop. Car spent more time in the garage than on the road, but that's a topic for another thread.

 

[4dotsasieni]

I've had a lot of luck using the "magic erasers" available from, I'm sure among others, 4noggins. Then follow up with Obsidian Oil.
Of course, the best permanent solution is, as has been suggested, to replace with lucite.

 

[salewis]

I have the same issue with a few of my older pipes. I just use Dunhill's Stem Cleaner which is an abrasive paste and then top off with some virgin olive oil. I get the members who kill their vulcanite stems and replace with Lucite, however, I still prefer vulcanite. Finally, I don't think that Rad Davis uses vulcanite. My three Rad's don't oxidize, ever.

 

[andrew]

+100 to the heat method, use a candle, and watch it go to a jet black. Just get it hot enough and wipe away with a wet paper towel, I've turned brown stems black in minutes, and I'm no handyman either, plus the idea of sanding for hours just doesn't appeal to me. I did around 9 stems in a half hour doing this, and am blown away by the results. Plus you can easily add more or less of a curve to the stem, if it's a straight stem you don't have to worry at all. I just haven't done it on a fully curved stem yet, but it's really, really easy and the results are great. Takes the smell away, it's like a brand new jet black stem.

 

[kashmir]

Yeah, I've had hit and misses with the heat method. In some stems you can see the oxidation dissappear. On other stems, they burn, wart or bubble all too easily near an open flame. Haven't had one wilt on me yet, but I've come close. By the way, I thought vulcanite oxidation was due to sulfur content oxidation. I didn't know copper was involved. Although the green color is suggestive of oxidized copper roofing on cathedrals. Can anyone explain this more fully in layman's terms? If copper is the culprit how come we always hear about sulfur? I've heard pipemen swear that sulfur is the "salt of the devil". I've even heard smoking different blends promotes or retards oxidation. Although I think that's hooey. Thanks.

 

[andrew]

When using the heat method I don't hold it longer than 5 seconds and not in the flame, a few centimeters above the flame, then wipe off with a wet paper towel, you will smell a funky burning rubber smell, but I go on the side of caution definitely and 5 seconds at the most at a time.

 

[estumpf]

Had a friend who drove and swore by the MG ragtop. Car spent more time in the garage than on the road, but that's a topic for another thread.

I had a friend who told me "MG" stands for "Morris Garage." Is that the place that built them, I asked? They replied, "Yes, and that's also where they spend most of their time."