Purchased on a lark from an estate sale for the princely sum of $4.50usd the cake was built up so much that what remained for a "chamber" was about 3/8" across.
The cake opens back up about 1/2" from the bottom of the bowl creating a cavern of sorts. There was unburnt tobacco in this cavern.
P-Lip style stem firmly stuck, olive drab in color, moderate to heavy bite marks, Sterling band badly oxidized. The briar itself is in decent condition, a few light scratches along the heel, bottom of shank.
Started with a Klean-Ream until about 1/2 way down into the chamber. At this point the use of my knife sped the process up considerably.
Stopped reaming just short of bare wood and put the pipe in the freezer for 45 minutes in order to get the stem removed.
3 Iso and cotton ball treatments in order to get the briar internals clean.
This is a Peterson "System" knock off with a reservoir below the draft hole. Due to the amount of gunk in the shank I wasn't aware there even was a reservoir until cleaning after the 2nd Iso treatment.
The 1st few loads of tar removed from the shank could have been used to fill a good sized pothole! Nasty!
Similar situation with the stem. A pipe cleaner passes easily now but when I started I could not even pass a fine wire through it.
Stem was soaked in an OxyClean solution for 24 hours. During this time the solution, with no agitation of any kind, went from milky white to Oatmeal Stout black.
Cursory cleaning and after a 2nd 24 hour Oxyclean soak a shank brush, bristle and regular pipe cleaners with Iso got the airway clean.
Final sanding of the chamber done with 200 grit garnet paper. Inside diameter is now approx 15/16", depth approx 1 5/8".
Outside of the briar has been cleaned with straight Murpheys Wood Soap.
Started with 3600 grit Micro-Mesh for the stem, no joy. Ended up going to the 1500 and using all 9 grits.
The Sterling band required the 6, 8 and 12k Micro-Mesh in order to get the oxidation off.
One application of Paragon at this time. I'm just a point and shoot idiot, it really does look better than the in the pics.
I've no idea if this pipe is worth the effort involved, but there it is all the same. I do so need a buffer, doing this by hand is time intensive.
Still need to raise the chamber floor with pipe-mud, then I'll see how it smokes.
The cake opens back up about 1/2" from the bottom of the bowl creating a cavern of sorts. There was unburnt tobacco in this cavern.
P-Lip style stem firmly stuck, olive drab in color, moderate to heavy bite marks, Sterling band badly oxidized. The briar itself is in decent condition, a few light scratches along the heel, bottom of shank.
Started with a Klean-Ream until about 1/2 way down into the chamber. At this point the use of my knife sped the process up considerably.
Stopped reaming just short of bare wood and put the pipe in the freezer for 45 minutes in order to get the stem removed.
3 Iso and cotton ball treatments in order to get the briar internals clean.
This is a Peterson "System" knock off with a reservoir below the draft hole. Due to the amount of gunk in the shank I wasn't aware there even was a reservoir until cleaning after the 2nd Iso treatment.
The 1st few loads of tar removed from the shank could have been used to fill a good sized pothole! Nasty!
Similar situation with the stem. A pipe cleaner passes easily now but when I started I could not even pass a fine wire through it.
Stem was soaked in an OxyClean solution for 24 hours. During this time the solution, with no agitation of any kind, went from milky white to Oatmeal Stout black.
Cursory cleaning and after a 2nd 24 hour Oxyclean soak a shank brush, bristle and regular pipe cleaners with Iso got the airway clean.
Final sanding of the chamber done with 200 grit garnet paper. Inside diameter is now approx 15/16", depth approx 1 5/8".
Outside of the briar has been cleaned with straight Murpheys Wood Soap.
Started with 3600 grit Micro-Mesh for the stem, no joy. Ended up going to the 1500 and using all 9 grits.
The Sterling band required the 6, 8 and 12k Micro-Mesh in order to get the oxidation off.
One application of Paragon at this time. I'm just a point and shoot idiot, it really does look better than the in the pics.
I've no idea if this pipe is worth the effort involved, but there it is all the same. I do so need a buffer, doing this by hand is time intensive.
Still need to raise the chamber floor with pipe-mud, then I'll see how it smokes.
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