Removing Years of Grease from a Pipe

[bigbeard]

Hi everyone.

I'm working on restoring my Grandpa's old pipes. He quit smoking in the mid-1980s after a heart attack but his pipes and pipe stand sat in his workshop up until he moved out 6 years ago. He would have let them go I just had to keep them for all of the font memories.

Alas, they sat in the closet in my shop until I remembered them last week.

Pipes and stand were covered in a moderate layer of grease and metal/wood dust. Grandpa was an auto mechanic, welder and jack-of-all-trades.

I've spend hours and hours over the last week trying to clean them up. I've only been worrying about the outside so far.

I started with distilled water but it did next to nothing.

Next, I moved onto 70% isopropyl alcohol and seemed to do pretty well.

I've read quite a few threads on pipe restoration on this forum but my problem of grease and welding dust seems to be unique.

My question is this:

Is there something better that I could/should be using?

Things I have at my disposal are:

• 100% citrus solvent
• Simple Green
• Vinegar

RE: the alcohol, I also realize that i might have dissolved the finish, assuming it was shellac. I can always re-shellac them if I decide to. I have a lot of shellac flakes on hand.

Any ideas would be most appreciated.

 

[bigbeard]

For context, these are the pipes I'm dealing with, shown here after doing some cleaning with alcohol:

Pipe 1 - Brigham
The carving (rustication?) on the pipe seems to have REALLY trapped the grease.

Yes, that is a screw in the heel of the pipe, probably due to a spot that burned through. Grandpa fixed gas tanks the same way.



Pipe 2 - I'm Currently Unsure
The alcohol was lifting the burgundy dye from the carved parts so I stopped touching them.

The white band is what's left of some duct tape Grandpa used to patch a crack. There is another crack between the duct tape and the stem.



Pipe 3 - I'm Currently Unsure
I love the look of this pipe. The rustication is great but the grease is embedded in it.




Pipe 4 - Brigham Canada
This pipe is in the best shape of them all. It's mostly just the rim of the pipe that is still bad. I suspect that this was his newest pipe.




For context, here are a few shots before I did any cleaning on them:

 

[Chasing Embers]

Acetone on paper towel and Q-tips will remove a lot of that with minimal damage to the stain.

 

[donjgiles]

Try warm water and a toothbrush, I bet most of that comes right off.
Some people like to use Murphy's Oil Soap with a toothbrush as well.
If you use MOS, make sure you put a paper towel in the chamber, before you start scrubbing bubbles, you don't really want that stuff INSIDE the bowl.

 

[mikethompson]

Try the least intense method first, with the lightest of touches. I am a fan of Murphy's oil soap (Don suggested that to me a while ago).

The stems can be cleaned up by a soak in oxyclean, a scrub with a magic eraser, and very light passes of micromesh pads working from coarser to finer.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hot water, dish detergent, inside and out. Flush thoroughly and dry. Then some mineral oil all over the outside: Bob's your uncle.

The stems will look better with the mineral oil, but will need work after to return to a good black. The above is to get rid of the grease and grime, loosen glue, and let you get to a point where you'll know where next to go.

Good luck!

 

[didimauw]

First off, pipe 2 almost looks like a Grabow to me.

Second of all, those pipes are amazing. I love seeing how people would beat the living crap out of their pipes, and do whatever they could to keep em going!

That's a great thing you are doing in trying to bring em back into shape!

 

[jhowell]

Dawn is your friend

 

[B.Fee]

Dawn is your friend

Second this. ??

 

[lightmybriar]

Those are awesomely used. I love the screw fix! An awesome study on the preferences of a certain man. Very cool and glad you got photos!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Sure, Dawn is a good dish detergent, but so is Palmolive, and my British favorite, Fairy Liquid, which is either Dawn or Palmolive for the Brit market.

 

[B.Fee]

Sure, Dawn is a good dish detergent, but so is Palmolive, and my British favorite, Fairy Liquid, which is either Dawn or Palmolive for the Brit market.

I've never seen Palmolive or Fairy liquid used to clean crude oil off penguins and baby seals . ?

 

[boston]

Just like you would clean a rocking chair or a table on the outside. Oil soap or the like, and then oil/ polish the wood. Inside, high octane alcohol ie 151 or the like. I've used isopropyl as well but kinda hard to find now.

 

[bigbeard]

Thanks, everyone.

I've got dish soap (Palmolive and Sunlight). Safe inside and out, eh?

Would I also use dish soap on the stems?

I've got mineral oil. I use it to finish some of my food grade woodturning projects.

I've got (and have considerable experience with) micro mesh pads for the stems.

This might just work!

I've also ordered Murphy's Oil Soap to give that a try.

The Mrs. didn't have acetone so I'll have to see if I can order it. We're only getting things delivered right now.

 

[jpmcwjr]

No need to use any alcohol on wood—unless all else fails! Alcohol is not wood friendly, though its bad effects are tiny. Many have used it for years with no apparent damage.

 

[jpmcwjr]

BB- You're good to go. And, sure scrub the whole pipe with detergent. I use the scouring part of a kitchen sponge. Gentle yet abrasive enough to help remove "stuff".

Photos, please!

 

[bigbeard]

Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice. It took a month of work.

Tonight, I had my first smoke out of the pipe I used to watch Grandpa smoke 35 years ago.

It's a Brigham 5-dot made in Canada with a vulcanite stem.

Vulcanite feels so good in the mouth.

Strangely enough, the stem won't go into shank with a rock maple filter. I smoked it without the filter.







The pipe had a lot of cherry aroma from whatever Grandpa used to smoke. Captain Black and Half-and-Half were his primaries. I used Kosher salt and vodka. It reduced the cherry by about ¾.



I used Murphy's Oil Soap and a soft toothbrush for a LOT of scrubbing. It removed the grease and the finish.



A nice coating of mineral oil and a good buffing made the briar beautiful.



The vulcanite stem (left) was my biggest fear. Plenty of vodka-soaked pipe cleaners, oxiclean and micromesh cleaned it up beautifully. A bit of olive oil and buffing made it shine.





Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Pipe Daddy]

For context, these are the pipes I'm dealing with, shown here after doing some cleaning with alcohol:

Pipe 1 - Brigham
The carving (rustication?) on the pipe seems to have REALLY trapped the grease.

Yes, that is a screw in the heel of the pipe, probably due to a spot that burned through. Grandpa fixed gas tanks the same way.
View attachment 26156


Pipe 2 - I'm Currently Unsure
The alcohol was lifting the burgundy dye from the carved parts so I stopped touching them.

The white band is what's left of some duct tape Grandpa used to patch a crack. There is another crack between the duct tape and the stem.
View attachment 26157


Pipe 3 - I'm Currently Unsure
I love the look of this pipe. The rustication is great but the grease is embedded in it.

View attachment 26158


Pipe 4 - Brigham Canada
This pipe is in the best shape of them all. It's mostly just the rim of the pipe that is still bad. I suspect that this was his newest pipe.

View attachment 26160


For context, here are a few shots before I did any cleaning on them:
View attachment 26162
View attachment 26163
View attachment 26164
View attachment 26165

Sorry to say that a few of these can neverFo

For context, these are the pipes I'm dealing with, shown here after doing some cleaning with alcohol:

Pipe 1 - Brigham
The carving (rustication?) on the pipe seems to have REALLY trapped the grease.

Yes, that is a screw in the heel of the pipe, probably due to a spot that burned through. Grandpa fixed gas tanks the same way.
View attachment 26156


Pipe 2 - I'm Currently Unsure
The alcohol was lifting the burgundy dye from the carved parts so I stopped touching them.

The white band is what's left of some duct tape Grandpa used to patch a crack. There is another crack between the duct tape and the stem.
View attachment 26157


Pipe 3 - I'm Currently Unsure
I love the look of this pipe. The rustication is great but the grease is embedded in it.

View attachment 26158


Pipe 4 - Brigham Canada
This pipe is in the best shape of them all. It's mostly just the rim of the pipe that is still bad. I suspect that this was his newest pipe.

View attachment 26160


For context, here are a few shots before I did any cleaning on them:
View attachment 26162
View attachment 26163
View attachment 26164
View attachment 26165

Sorry to say that some of these can't be fixed. Others need to be sent to a professional pipe restorer for re-stemming and mortise tennon repair. That won't be cheap.
But there are some you can clean for yourself. For the oxidized stems, soak them in Simple Green and water for a couple days, use pipe cleaners and small gauge wire on the insides. Next do the outsides with sandpaper. Start with 350 grit the work up to finer grits. Try to find some 10000 grit for the last step. Polish with a buffer and white diamond paste. Beautiful
For the bowls, ream them first. Then go with dish washing cream and a fine wire brush, gently. Next, soak them in Murphy's Oil Soap for a few minutes while your use a toothbrush and some coarse pipe cleaners on them. This will probably remove all/most of the finish. Looks like there's not much to worry about anyway. Let the bowls dry in the sun for a few day.
Now you can put them back together and coat them with Obsidian oil or butcher block oil which has beeswax and carnuba wax in it. Rub it with a micomesh towel and enjoy them.

 

[ssjones]

I think you did the best job relative to their condition. Enjoy them! Did Granddad "move out" of the home, or the bigger move?

 

[greeneyes]

Wow you did a great restoration. Congratulations and hope you're enjoying the new "old" pipes!