Pipe Nomenclature- How to Increase Legibility?

[ShopPipesWizard]

Looking for 2 tips if any one has any? Does anyone know a good brush that will remove the grime in the letter but not scratch the wood? A tooth brush seems to much of a soft bristle.

Also I doubt it but I know you can see letters under the right light but is there anyway to make them more visible on the wood?

Thank you!

 

[AJL67]

Pictures would help.

Any reason you’d want to re-imprint the letters he asked innocently.

 

[ShopPipesWizard]

I dont want to re-imprint them? I was more asking what is the best way to clean out the gunk that fills them without scratching the wood.

 

[Chasing Embers]

A hard bristle toothbrush, bristle pipe cleaners, or a horse hair brush.

 

[georged]

Looking for 2 tips if any one has any? Does anyone know a good brush that will remove the grime in the letter but not scratch the wood? A tooth brush seems to much of a soft bristle.

Also I doubt it but I know you can see letters under the right light but is there anyway to make them more visible on the wood?

Thank you!

Warm running water and a soft bristle toothbrush that's been touched to a drop of liquid dish soap. Rinse well, dry thoroughly, re-wax.

Regarding stamping depth, there is no way---meaning even if you had the original stamps in your hand right now---to "re-stamp" a pipe's nomenclature with exact alignment. Even the stamping station in old time factories couldn't do it.

 

[ShopPipesWizard]

A hard bristle toothbrush, bristle pipe cleaners, or a horse hair brush.

Thank you, I will try a horse hair! That might be strong enough to remove the gunk and not damage the wood. Thank you!

 

[orlandofurioso]

This morning I cleaned out the elaborate and deep stamps on a sixties reg.nr. Caminetto New Dear pipe with a dab of saliva and a hard bristle toothbrush.
Worked like a charm and no harm was done to the stain.

Just recently I performed the same action on the stampings of a Preben Holm Hand Cut end of sixties 7 (!) graded pipe. Not much happened, so I added a drop of dish washer liquid. To no avail.
This gives me reason to believe the stamps were "darkened ' intentionally by the carver.
I let it be, I did not feel inclined to do an alcohol test.

My two cents.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

A jewelers loupe can help tremendously with hard to read nomenclature.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Just go ahead and...

Unless you bought the pipe to resale it.

 

[orlandofurioso]

A jewelers loupe can help tremendously with hard to read nomenclature.

I use a similar one, but better .
Forget about the foot and the nice lady, picture a 66 old pastime pipe refurbisher.

 

[Mortamyhr]

Sewing needle or safety pin works pretty well too. Just lightly pick/scrape at the gunk.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Sewing needle or safety pin works pretty well too. Just lightly pick/scrape at the gunk.

Toothpick ?

 

[orlandofurioso]

Sewing needle or safety pin works pretty well too. Just lightly pick/scrape at the gunk.

Sure, a pen knife will do the job too. But they are all sharp objects. Too agressive for my tastes and they do not really clean.

 

[Mortamyhr]

Sure, a pen knife will do the job too. But they are all sharp objects. Too agressive for my tastes and they do not really clean.

Just a thought on how to avoid removing any finish. It’s worked for me, but I was delicate with it.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Just a thought on how to avoid removing any finish. It’s worked for me, but I was delicate with it.

Delicacy is the heart of everything, always

 

[orvet]

If the goal is to make the pipe more identifiable, once you clean the stamping, you might rub some white ink or white paint in the stamping. Of course you would wipe it off the shank only leaving the white in the stamp impression itself. I have never done this personally but, Steve Books, the blender at Rich's Cigar Store in Portland Oregon, many years ago, did this with his pipes. Steve had very poor vision and it helped him to identify the pipes. He had some very nice old pipes.

 

[orlandofurioso]

If the goal is to make the pipe more identifiable, once you clean the stamping, you might rub some white ink or white paint in the stamping. Of course you would wipe it off the shank only leaving the white in the stamp impression itself. I have never done this personally but, Steve Books, the blender at Rich's Cigar Store in Portland Oregon, many years ago, did this with his pipes. Steve had very poor vision and it helped him to identify the pipes. He had some very nice old pipes.

Never heard of this unorthodox method, but if it worked for Steve I'm perfectly fine with it
Actually I contemplated rubbing and sealing 18K gold dust in the stamping of my Caminetto New Dear to highlight it.
The stampings alone make this pipe so dead cool attractive.

 

[telescopes]

I’ve wondered about this often myself. I have a few interesting basket pipes where the stamping gave clues as to the pipe‘s real identity.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Never heard of this unorthodox method, but if it worked for Steve I'm perfectly fine with it
Actually I contemplated rubbing and sealing 18K gold dust in the stamping of my Caminetto New Dear to highlight it.
The stampings alone make this pipe so dead cool attractive.

I trust you understood I was kidding about the 18K gold dust ?

 

[telescopes]

I trust you understood I was kidding about the 18K gold dust ?

Still, what an interesting idea if there was a pipe you wished to customize.