Refurbishing old pipes...

[cthulhu]

I acquired my father in laws pipe collection a few years back, and did the minimum to get them back to smoking status (reamed / etc...). Some of the pipes have loose stems, most need a good cleaning as well to get them back in their prime. I've finally come to the point where I can put some time aside to get these taken care of, and would like some input as to what I need to get this accomplished.
What are some good products to get these back to looking new? Also, what can I do to get the loose stems to fit properly again?

 

[spyder71]

I use a reamer, micro-mesh pads, spit, magic erasers, old terry cloth towels, oxi-clean, small nylon pipe brushes, LOTS of pipe cleaners, 151 Rum, sand paper, and carnuba wax applied by a buff wheel. Wow, I just realized how much stuff it takes to make a pipe right again!

There are some great articles/threads on this site with instructions and many different ways to go about it. There are some folks here are genius's when it comes to restoring estate pipes.

WELCOME ABOARD!!!

 

[cthulhu]

Thanks for the welcome!
Wow...that is a lot of stuff! Do any of the restoring genius' on here restore pipes for a fee? I know my local tinderbox will restore pipes, but I'm not sure how good they are at doing it.

 

[harrier52]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Ok i got that out of my system lol. I hear beeswax will help with a loose stem. Uncle A is good with this kind of thing he'd probably steer you in the right direction.

 

[ejames]

It depends a lot on just how much restoring/refurbing you want to do. Doesn't take a whole lot to just do a basic clean and shine. If you get the "bug" like some of us you can spend several $$ for all kinds of doo-dads and widgets.

Gotta watch that your PAD doesn't overcome your ambitions and time limits etc like I have. Got about 100 pipes(for my personal collection) setting down in my shop waiting to be restored/refurbed.
Q-tips,Dollar Store brand.buy a couple of packages,cheaper than pipe cleaners,although they wont replace them entirely and in my opinion better for scrubbing the shanks etc.

Shank brushes-get 'em at 4-noggins and other places

91% isopropyl alcohol,cheaper than booze and no it will not kill ya.

 

[lonestar]

Do any of the restoring genius' on here restore pipes for a fee?

As I was cleaning my way through about 30+ estate pipes today, that thought crossed my mind. You can send pipes to professionals for about $15 a pipe for a basic cleaning, plus any repairs. I like to think I can do a pretty damn good job on my restorations, but it would be hard to compete much with that price.

I would be happy to start doing restorations for folks, charging a bit less and doing minor repairs like stem tightening/restoring & staining charred rims/fixing holes in stems etc for free (just the cost of the restoration).

Theres lots of guys on the forums smoking my restored pipes, but they all just bought pipes from me.

PM me if you'd like

 

[eaglerico]

I can vouch for lonestar. Bought a pipe from him and didn't do anything but load a go. He also sent me a good sampling of baccy when I got ripped in a trade by a former member here. Great work and a great guy.

 

[lonestar]

 

[jasongone]

oh yeah, woot woot number two for lonestar. he gives a crap and does a good job on pipes.

he is also a devil of a pipe salesman... and i mean that in a very good way.

 

[smokindawg]

Another thing a person should think about if restoring pipes is a bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap. It works wonders on removing tar build up on the rims and deep cleaning the rest of the pipe too.
I use most of the tools that have already been listed and second lots of pipe cleaners and Q-tips. The cheap ones work as well for pipe cleaning as the brand names.
I also use a retort and alcohol for deep cleaning and it cuts down on the amount of pipe cleaners I use.

 

[harrier52]

I need to try the Murphys to get some tar build up off the rim of some of mine. I forgot about that one.

 

[marmal4de]

Theres lots of guys on the forums smoking my restored pipes.

I m one of em, and I will vouch for Lonestar's superb abilities.

he is also a devil of a pipe salesman... and i mean that in a very good way.

Truth.

 

[cthulhu]

Thank you for all the input everyone! Lonestar, you have PM!

 

[unclearthur]

Right now I am way too tied up to do any more refurb. Lonestar rocks!

 

[lonestar]

Lonestar rocks!

From the Guru himself !

I MUST be doing something right :D

 

[ssjones]

Watch the Murphys oil soap, too strong and it will lift the stain. (so I've been told here).

 

[smokindawg]

ssjones, you are correct, it's not entirely how strong it is used ( I use mine full strength) but how long you leave it on.
For the rims with tar buildup, I put it on thick, right from the bottle. Q-tips are best for this. I leave it set for a few minutes and then with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol I remove it, cleaning off more of the tar with the alcohol and Q-tip.
I then repeat as needed until the buildup is almost gone, then I still use it full strength and with the Q-tip I just keep rubbing and wiping it off till I'm down to the stain. Then follow this with the buffing wheel and White diamond followed by a good coat of Carnuba.

 

[stryder]

I have a question about old meerscham pipes. I recently purchased an old meer pipe. It appears it may have been worked on / restored.

The walls of the bowl are what I would call thin. Any opinions on smoke ability? I bought it to smoke.....thinnish walls safe?

I can not find out anything about it except case appears to be one for pipe and has a label "Sims Austria". Anybody ever heard of them before? Also appears to have an ivory stem, thus I think when it was made was a quality pipe.....

 

[lonestar]

I'm no expert on meers, but I say if you bought it to smoke then smoke it ! The worst that will happen is you end up breaking it if the walls really are too thin. But its not doing you any good sitting on a shelf.

Maybe Fred will have something to say about the maker, I'm not familiar with the name.

 

[ichbinmuede]

I have a meer whose walls are quite thin and I haven't ever felt in any danger of breaking it aside from the time that I almost dropped it.

It does get quite warm though no matter how slow I smoke so I'm required to hold it by the stem.