Refinishing vs Reshaping

[coty]

So I have a few estate pipes de-gunked, scoured down to bare wood and ready to move on to the next phases of refurbishment. I find myself facing a dilemma though. I have sanded out all the surface flaws but I cant decide if I want to sand out the deeper flaws.
It just seems silly to me, to remove a bunch of perfectly good briar in order to hide that a pipe is old and worn. I also worry about making mistakes while reshaping. I don't know much about wood working but I do know its mighty difficult to put wood back.
Do you find it is generally worth it to sand out the gouges and worn spots on old estates or do you generally leave them and focus on the finish?

 

[ejames]

You may find that those "deeper" flaws are deeper than they appear. Removing them by reshaping may be possible with some pipes,if they aren't very deep. Sometimes what appears to be a small fill in a pipe is actually just the tip of the iceberg. The flaw under the surface can be much bigger.

You can try hiding some of them with a dark stain or rusticating. I sometimes dig out small bubblegum pink fills and use super glue to fill the hole,which usually turns black. Some mix briar dust with the glue,but it will not accept a stain and seems to turn dark also. A red stain can sometimes hide the bubblegum fills--somewhat.

 

[coty]

I'm talking about scratches, uneven rims and worn down edges. I'm sorry if I was unclear. I'm not talking about fills or pits. I'm taking about damage and wear.

 

[coty]

Is my question unclear? Perhaps I should post a picture of what I'm talking about.
http://i.imgur.com/c6upwt3.jpg
This isn't the best example but its all I have handy. Notice how all the edges on the rim of my Kaywoodie are rounded? That's the sort of stuff I'm talking about. I could sand that down and make the rim square again, but I don't know if it would be worth it. Sure the pipe would look newer but I would have removed perfectly good briar out of vanity.

 

[jeepnewbie]

Personally I wouldn't do anymore sanding. Looks pretty good from what I see, plus it could be hard to match up the stains. I would get some carnauba wax on it to give it a small shine again and start smoking it.

 

[gmwolford]

From your photo it looks like topping the bowl wouldn't be too much work. But the look of it is very much personal preference; if you are happy with it, leave it be. If you decide to top it go over to Reborn Pipes and search for bowl topping and you'll get a ton of helpful info.