Project Log: One Man's Collection Clean-up (Pic Heavy)
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Hi Timely!
Thanks for your kind words. I feel like I'm still working the kinks out of my process, as I've still cleaned up under 100 estate pipes in my lifetime. So I hope you'll take that for granted with the information I provide below. I should also say that all the info I've gleaned on cleaning up estate pipes has come from the threads on this site, on the Reborn Pipes Blog that so generously shares the "hows" and "whys" of cleaning up pipes, and from chatting with other restoration hobbyists here like ejames, captainsousie, samcoffeeman, shaintiques, al, durham, tbradsim1 and the countless others that chime in with thoughts and ideas. This is one helluva grant place to haunt to learn.
But I'm babbling... so to your question.
Pat's Everchanging Process for Pipe De-Gunkifying and Prettiment
1) Ream back cake - I am currently using a Castleford Reamer set. In most cases I leave a small amount of cake (less than a dime), if it's uneven, I'll hand sand to bare wood using #400 wrapped around a piece of dowel.
2) Clean bowl rim - I use a cotton tea-towel and saliva and rub off the carbon build-up and smoke/oil/gunk residue changing to a new piece of cloth (and fresh 'solvent') when the towel discolours. This can strip stain, so I'm careful to do this under bright lights, and if I see the colour lightening at the edges of the rim I stop.
3) Clean bowl & shank exterior - Often I don't do much more here than wipe down with a slightly damp cloth (especially for smooth pipes), for rusticated pipes or deep craggy blasts I use an old toothbrush and Murphy's oil soap. For really cruddy pipes, or pipes which I am going to re-stain, I'll soak them in rubbing alcohol to clean grime and leach stain.
4) Stem soak in oxyclean - I soak my stems in oxyclean. I know that this is a matter of some debate. In my experience it lifts the oxidation and makes it easier to get rid of through sanding/cleaning, and it also aids in cleaning the airway through the stem.
5) Salt & alcohol treatment - I do my S&A on the bowls at this point. I typically do this at least once, often twice, for each bowl/shank.
6) Clean mortise/shank interior - Once S&A is done, I use rubbing alcohol, shank brushes, bristle cleaners, q tips and pipe cleaners to finish cleaning the interior of the shank. I finish this step by burning off the residual alcohol in the bowl and shank.
7) Clean stem airway & button - Using a shank brush (don't tell Harris, I bought them all) I clean the interior of each stem as soon as it comes out of the oxy bath. Then I rinse the stem until all the oxyclean has been removed.
8 Stem exterior - I start with 0000 steel wool, then move to magic eraser, to take down the lion's share of the oxidation. Once the magic eraser isn't pulling more oxidation, I move to micromesh and sand from 1500 - 12000 grit pads.
9) Buffing Rouge/Tripoli, White Diamond and Carnauba - I rarely use tripoli, I find that it's pretty abrasive and so only use it to smooth out dings/dents/scratches on smooth finished pipes, or to finish the tops of rims where I couldn't pull all the char with saliva and a cloth. I use white diamond and carnauba to finish the clean up on pipes/stems I restore. I also use a heat gun to aid the melt of wax onto rusticated and blasted pipes.
10) Hand polishing - All my pipes get a finished buff/polish by hand after coming off the wheel.
I should note that I use 99% isopropyl alcohol for every process above in which I state that I use 'alcohol'.
I am sure that I forgot something. But, for all intents and purposes, that's how I clean 'em up.
Hope that helps,
Pat
Thanks for your kind words. I feel like I'm still working the kinks out of my process, as I've still cleaned up under 100 estate pipes in my lifetime. So I hope you'll take that for granted with the information I provide below. I should also say that all the info I've gleaned on cleaning up estate pipes has come from the threads on this site, on the Reborn Pipes Blog that so generously shares the "hows" and "whys" of cleaning up pipes, and from chatting with other restoration hobbyists here like ejames, captainsousie, samcoffeeman, shaintiques, al, durham, tbradsim1 and the countless others that chime in with thoughts and ideas. This is one helluva grant place to haunt to learn.
But I'm babbling... so to your question.
Pat's Everchanging Process for Pipe De-Gunkifying and Prettiment
1) Ream back cake - I am currently using a Castleford Reamer set. In most cases I leave a small amount of cake (less than a dime), if it's uneven, I'll hand sand to bare wood using #400 wrapped around a piece of dowel.
2) Clean bowl rim - I use a cotton tea-towel and saliva and rub off the carbon build-up and smoke/oil/gunk residue changing to a new piece of cloth (and fresh 'solvent') when the towel discolours. This can strip stain, so I'm careful to do this under bright lights, and if I see the colour lightening at the edges of the rim I stop.
3) Clean bowl & shank exterior - Often I don't do much more here than wipe down with a slightly damp cloth (especially for smooth pipes), for rusticated pipes or deep craggy blasts I use an old toothbrush and Murphy's oil soap. For really cruddy pipes, or pipes which I am going to re-stain, I'll soak them in rubbing alcohol to clean grime and leach stain.
4) Stem soak in oxyclean - I soak my stems in oxyclean. I know that this is a matter of some debate. In my experience it lifts the oxidation and makes it easier to get rid of through sanding/cleaning, and it also aids in cleaning the airway through the stem.
5) Salt & alcohol treatment - I do my S&A on the bowls at this point. I typically do this at least once, often twice, for each bowl/shank.
6) Clean mortise/shank interior - Once S&A is done, I use rubbing alcohol, shank brushes, bristle cleaners, q tips and pipe cleaners to finish cleaning the interior of the shank. I finish this step by burning off the residual alcohol in the bowl and shank.
7) Clean stem airway & button - Using a shank brush (don't tell Harris, I bought them all) I clean the interior of each stem as soon as it comes out of the oxy bath. Then I rinse the stem until all the oxyclean has been removed.
8 Stem exterior - I start with 0000 steel wool, then move to magic eraser, to take down the lion's share of the oxidation. Once the magic eraser isn't pulling more oxidation, I move to micromesh and sand from 1500 - 12000 grit pads.
9) Buffing Rouge/Tripoli, White Diamond and Carnauba - I rarely use tripoli, I find that it's pretty abrasive and so only use it to smooth out dings/dents/scratches on smooth finished pipes, or to finish the tops of rims where I couldn't pull all the char with saliva and a cloth. I use white diamond and carnauba to finish the clean up on pipes/stems I restore. I also use a heat gun to aid the melt of wax onto rusticated and blasted pipes.
10) Hand polishing - All my pipes get a finished buff/polish by hand after coming off the wheel.
I should note that I use 99% isopropyl alcohol for every process above in which I state that I use 'alcohol'.
I am sure that I forgot something. But, for all intents and purposes, that's how I clean 'em up.
Hope that helps,
Pat
Pat, thank you for the complete break down of your cleaning routine.
I agree with you that so many have made this cleaning routine ( job ) available for all of us, and I thank all of you.
Every tip is helpful, and encouraged.
I pretty much do the same as you, I just wish the rim cleaning wasn't so darn exhausting. LOL!!!
I find the rims very time consuming, I have tried cheating on this with a knife and paid for it with
a gash on the pipe rim. Ouch. !!!
I will be adding your cleaning routine with my ever growing list on this topic.
Thank You
p.s.
Either you type very quickly or you had this just ready for me. LOL!!!!!!!! :clap:
I agree with you that so many have made this cleaning routine ( job ) available for all of us, and I thank all of you.
Every tip is helpful, and encouraged.
I pretty much do the same as you, I just wish the rim cleaning wasn't so darn exhausting. LOL!!!
I find the rims very time consuming, I have tried cheating on this with a knife and paid for it with
a gash on the pipe rim. Ouch. !!!
I will be adding your cleaning routine with my ever growing list on this topic.
Thank You
p.s.
Either you type very quickly or you had this just ready for me. LOL!!!!!!!! :clap:
itypereallyquickly
But seriously, I'm glad if I could help.
@Roth - Thanks for the kind words, friend. I am pleased with how this lot came out. I am not surprised at all that the Danish Quality is your favourite pipe in that bunch. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but after reading a fair few of your posts, your shape preferences ring loud and clear in my mind. Whenever I get a fresh batch of pipes in the mail, and I see a little author/prince sticking out of the packing material I say to myself, "Roth's gonna like that one!"
-- Pat
Nice work, as always!
That Trypis pipe is interesting, they have a following and the ones I saw were quite expensive when new. Here's some info on that Canadian carver:
http://www.selespipes.com/trypispipes.html
Your Oom-Paul is pictured on the shape chart - does it have a grade?
That Trypis pipe is interesting, they have a following and the ones I saw were quite expensive when new. Here's some info on that Canadian carver:
http://www.selespipes.com/trypispipes.html
Your Oom-Paul is pictured on the shape chart - does it have a grade?
Thanks Six and Al. I appreciate the comments.
Al, that Trypis has different markings than the others I've seen. It has a 4 digit number under the standard "Made in Canada" and "Trypis" marks. The number is "1188". I've had my hands on over 50 Trypis pipes in the last twelve months, and this is the only pipe I've seen with a number like this. I've seen ungraded pipes, and pipes with everything from 2 to 18 to identify grades. I suppose "1188" could be a Grade 11, and made in 1988... but I'm just guessing here.
I'm going to reach out to Mr. Trypis and see if I get a response. It really is a sweet pipe. It is just about 4" from button to the leading edge (bottom) of the bowl when sitting, and is less than 3" across when hanging. It's really cool.
I'll keep you posted with what I find out.
-- Pat
Al, that Trypis has different markings than the others I've seen. It has a 4 digit number under the standard "Made in Canada" and "Trypis" marks. The number is "1188". I've had my hands on over 50 Trypis pipes in the last twelve months, and this is the only pipe I've seen with a number like this. I've seen ungraded pipes, and pipes with everything from 2 to 18 to identify grades. I suppose "1188" could be a Grade 11, and made in 1988... but I'm just guessing here.
I'm going to reach out to Mr. Trypis and see if I get a response. It really is a sweet pipe. It is just about 4" from button to the leading edge (bottom) of the bowl when sitting, and is less than 3" across when hanging. It's really cool.
I'll keep you posted with what I find out.
-- Pat
Talk about hidden treasure. You did a fantastic job restoring that lot. Being new I have to ask a stupid question. I read in another post about wood plugging a burnout and what would be a good choice of adhesive; is there no practical way to repair a cracked bowl or is the pipe finished? I feel like I would have to at least try a wedge cut in the bowl and fit a new wedge wood filler in it's place. Please slap me with a reality check.
Hey Craig94yj!
Thanks for the comments, I appreciate your feedback. That's not a stupid question, pal. I weep for the Canadian at the top of this post, because it's a lovely pipe, in a classic shape, by a Canadian company, made in Canada. :crying:
That being said, I think she's toast. While I've seen many, and indeed these two, pipes with splits in the bowl, that were smoke worthy due to cake build up; it's always seemed just a matter of time before the split takes the bowl apart. Heating the bowl and cooling it, at that point, would only exacerbate the split, to my mind anyway. Folks who are more knowledgeable than I will correct me here.
I suppose that one could try to fill, and then bind the pipe (thinking wire, or a metal rim-cap of some sort) to serve as a vice and hold it against further splitting. But right now that's beyond my ken.
Slapping some briar dust and superglue in there sure is tempting though isn't it? :D
-- Pat
Thanks for the comments, I appreciate your feedback. That's not a stupid question, pal. I weep for the Canadian at the top of this post, because it's a lovely pipe, in a classic shape, by a Canadian company, made in Canada. :crying:
That being said, I think she's toast. While I've seen many, and indeed these two, pipes with splits in the bowl, that were smoke worthy due to cake build up; it's always seemed just a matter of time before the split takes the bowl apart. Heating the bowl and cooling it, at that point, would only exacerbate the split, to my mind anyway. Folks who are more knowledgeable than I will correct me here.
I suppose that one could try to fill, and then bind the pipe (thinking wire, or a metal rim-cap of some sort) to serve as a vice and hold it against further splitting. But right now that's beyond my ken.
Slapping some briar dust and superglue in there sure is tempting though isn't it? :D
-- Pat
You hate to see something like that go. I didn't know if like a crack in a windshield that maybe you drill a hole at the base of the crack first to prevent further cracking. I think the $64,000 question is is there a viable method of filling the crack that would stand up to the heating and cooling of daily smoking? I hate to give up as I'm sure you feel the same about the Canadian. I could live with a repair blemish to be able to return it to proper service. I guess we just have to accept that nothing lasts forever. Nice work Pat.
Pat,
Thanks to you I went out and bought one of these Buffers from Harbor Freight today along with some other shop goodies.
I did the alcohol and salt treatment along with a folded cleaner in the shank to wick away nastiness THREE times and I can still smell the Amaretto. I think the prior owner actually dipped the whole damn bowl in Amaretto while smoking Amaretto-topped tobacco and drinking Amaretto. On the other hand the Oxy treatment did well again for the stem. If I can't ghostbust this pipe I may have to relegate it to aro's, which I really don't smoke that much.
Thanks to you I went out and bought one of these Buffers from Harbor Freight today along with some other shop goodies.
I did the alcohol and salt treatment along with a folded cleaner in the shank to wick away nastiness THREE times and I can still smell the Amaretto. I think the prior owner actually dipped the whole damn bowl in Amaretto while smoking Amaretto-topped tobacco and drinking Amaretto. On the other hand the Oxy treatment did well again for the stem. If I can't ghostbust this pipe I may have to relegate it to aro's, which I really don't smoke that much.
@jah76 8O You're way too kind my friend. Your tips and thoughts over the last year have helped me fumble along this path.
@yazamitaz Brother, it sounds like you're ready to retort that Amaretto stinkin' pipe. Failing that, you could always send it off to Mike at Walker Briar Repair http://www.walkerpiperepair.com/ I've never had the process done, but folks here who have swear that it kills ghosts dead.[*]
-- Pat
@yazamitaz Brother, it sounds like you're ready to retort that Amaretto stinkin' pipe. Failing that, you could always send it off to Mike at Walker Briar Repair http://www.walkerpiperepair.com/ I've never had the process done, but folks here who have swear that it kills ghosts dead.[*]
-- Pat
Thanks so much Pat. I have decided to a total resto on that pipe and have done the Oxy soak on the stem and followed the following "deep cleaning" from the good folks over at Reborn Pipes named My Pipe Cleaning Ritual.
I will let you know how that goes.
Cheers,
Dan
I will let you know how that goes.
Cheers,
Dan
Pat:
You've got mad Ninja skills when it comes to pipe restoration.
That Stanwell 2nd is a thing of beauty as is that gorgeous Brigham Poker.
Amazing work, pal.
Fnord
You've got mad Ninja skills when it comes to pipe restoration.
That Stanwell 2nd is a thing of beauty as is that gorgeous Brigham Poker.
Amazing work, pal.
Fnord
Hey Allan,
Thanks for the note. I know some guys use water. I've also had some luck with tripoli and my wheel. The challenge I have with using the wheel is that the margin of error in rim cleaning is really narrow. Too much pressure, wheel contact and I've buffed the sharp edge off the rim or started to yank stain.
If I am doing a total resto of a pipe, I'll actually soak the whole bowl & shank in rubbing alcohol to loosen all the grit, grime, carbon, stain... the whole kit and kaboodle. But for just surface cleaning, manual removal with your choice of universal solvent and a cotton cloth is actually pretty speedy, and efficient.
But that's just my $0.05 in the bucket.
-- Pat
Thanks for the note. I know some guys use water. I've also had some luck with tripoli and my wheel. The challenge I have with using the wheel is that the margin of error in rim cleaning is really narrow. Too much pressure, wheel contact and I've buffed the sharp edge off the rim or started to yank stain.
If I am doing a total resto of a pipe, I'll actually soak the whole bowl & shank in rubbing alcohol to loosen all the grit, grime, carbon, stain... the whole kit and kaboodle. But for just surface cleaning, manual removal with your choice of universal solvent and a cotton cloth is actually pretty speedy, and efficient.
But that's just my $0.05 in the bucket.
-- Pat
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