So I saw a dirty old 303 on ebay and decided what the hell I'll bid. Well I won the pipe and paid 58 bucks with shipping included. This was my first pipe "restore" I've done. After 2 hours of micro mesh and then beeswax with my dremel I got stem looking like new and after maybe 10 min with flitz metal polish and a qtip I got the nickel band shining bright! The bowl was in really good shape and just needed a little bit of sanding to get the carbon out. After all that work I finally got it in smoking order and I gatta say I am suprised this pipe smokes better than my IMP block meerschaum pipe. I will definitely be looking for a deluxe systems pipe on ebay. Here are some before and after pics.
Peterson 303 Clean Up
- Thread starter VelourThunder
- Start date
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That was a great photo series, well done! The wood really is beautiful on that pipe, and it shows much better after the re-do. Great pipe and great job.
Nicely Done!
Along with the 314, the 303 is one of my favourites. Small enough to clench almost continuously but big enough for a decently long smoke. It fits in a pocket easily and I can take it apart immediately after I'm done smoking in the park so that I put a relatively clean pipe back in my pocket for the walk home.
Along with the 314, the 303 is one of my favourites. Small enough to clench almost continuously but big enough for a decently long smoke. It fits in a pocket easily and I can take it apart immediately after I'm done smoking in the park so that I put a relatively clean pipe back in my pocket for the walk home.
That is beautiful work! I picked up two different Pete system pipes over the past few weeks, and have only now begun the process of shining them up and getting them in good aesthetic order (I've already smoked a few bowls in them, looks be damned). I snagged a HUUUUUUGE smooth 307 for $35 + shipping from Israel and a downright dainty rusticated 314 for $51 + shipping from Canada.
The 314 looks pretty good, no oxidation but a tiny bit of chatter on the underside of the p-lip, so I'll likely just leave it as-is. But the seller of the 307 did a "great" job lighting his photos such that the extensive oxidation on the vulcanite stem was not obvious. I have started in with Fitz and micromesh pads to restore it, but this is my first time and I have some learning to do - any tips to get mine as fine looking as yours, @VelourThunder?
314:
307:
The 314 looks pretty good, no oxidation but a tiny bit of chatter on the underside of the p-lip, so I'll likely just leave it as-is. But the seller of the 307 did a "great" job lighting his photos such that the extensive oxidation on the vulcanite stem was not obvious. I have started in with Fitz and micromesh pads to restore it, but this is my first time and I have some learning to do - any tips to get mine as fine looking as yours, @VelourThunder?
314:
307:
Very nice job. I have one and that makes me want to start doing some cleaning of my own. I like the model, and for my everyday pipe experience I love the Peterson system standard(s). All very good.
My
Do you have any recommendations on a peterson system pipe that has a bigger bowl than the 303? I don't mind if it is a spigot or deluxe system as I will be buying them at auction for as cheap as possible.
My only issue with my 303 is I am used to pipes with a much larger bowl. My IMP meerschaum and my SVD meerschaum bowls can smoke for over an hour if I pack them right so this little thing takes a bit to get used to. It feels like as soon as the session starts to get good the pipe goes out and I try to relight it only to find the bowl is spent lol.
Do you have any recommendations on a peterson system pipe that has a bigger bowl than the 303? I don't mind if it is a spigot or deluxe system as I will be buying them at auction for as cheap as possible.
I used Fitz metal polish and maybe 5 q-tips on the metal band then I used a microfiber cloth to wipe it down and get all the polish off.
I soaked the stem in a warm/hot oxyclean bath for an hour and then used micro mesh pads going from 1500 to 12k. I wiped the stem clean with a wet cloth between pads but after 3 pads I wiped the stem clean and rubbed olive oil on it and let it sit for 5 min then wiped it off and used the next 3 pads in the set and i did this until I worked through the entire set of pads. It looked amazing after that and I could have stopped but I decided to use a vanilla bean Bert's bees chapstick on a felt polishing pad with my dremel on it. I let that sit for 10 min and then used a micro fiber cloth to take off any excess.
As for the strummle or bowl or whatever you want to call it I wiped it down with a hops #9 silicone impregnated polishing cloth(made for wood gun stocks). I let that sit for 20ish min and then wiped off the excess. I think most people would have used carnuba wax on it but I don't have that and I'm not buying any lol.
All in all it took 2 to 3 hours total(4 if you count the soaking time for the stem) I wish I could just get an acrylic p-lip stem though so I don't have to worry about this though.
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Thank you for the detailed reply! I have the Fitz polish, micromesh pads, and a dremel (and even some chapstick, though not that fancy vanilla bean Burt's Bees!). I just have to get some oxyclean. I have a bunch of stems that need some love, so I now have an evening project...
If you want the same shape, have a look at the 302. If you're good with a bent billiard, try the 307