I received this short "Culver" brand pipe this morning from my favorite eBay seller. $5.99 plus $6.99 for shipping 
. It arrived in rough shape. Its varnish had plenty of abrasions and general ugliness, while the stem was awful. It's got a hole in it!
The rim is in good shape. This pipe's owner knew how to light a pipe!
But oh that stem! Back:
Front:
It a bit of persuasion, I was able to remove the tip from the stinger:
After a thorough cleaning, it's time to get to work with the SuperGlue. I use medium thickness black glue. Since, at the end of the project the SuperGlue will be slightly shinier than the stem material, I spread it around a bit. This way the stem won't advertise the repair so much as it would with a "patch". The little shim was coated with Vaseline prior to the application of the glue. Afterwards, it's always a good idea to keep a pipe cleaner or something in the stem to provide internal support while sanding.
Getting there. The stem got multiple treatments, lots of sanding, filing, etc.
Turning to the stummel. After cleaning, I wet-sanded it with 600-grit paper and alcohol. This removed the old varnish. Then I dry sanded it with 600-grit to remove the scratches, blemishes, etc. I then used a ScotchPad type wheel in my Dremel to buff it a bit. Note: You don't want to use those wheels on a stem. They'll melt/distort the material.
I then wet-sanded the stummel with alcohol, from 600 through to 1500-grit, followed by a 3600-grit sanding pad to remove any remaining raised grain. The result: A naked stummel:
After further work on the stem, I then reunited the pipe pieces and gave the briar a coat of light brown leather dye. Note: Always put the lid back on the dye as soon as possible. If you were to spill that bottle...Oh the mess! Immediately after coating the pipe, I wipe it dry with a paper towel. Here we are, ready for the final polish:
The stem had been polished up with Tripoli compound, but the stummel went straight to White Diamond. I then gave the whole pipe a heavy coat of Carnauba wax. I "flashed" the wax on with a white polishing wheel on my Dremel. The wax flashed wet then dry and gray. It's hard to wipe it off at that point. I then used a white cotton polishing wheel on the Dremel which removed the excess wax while leaving a hard glassy surface.
I have not found any information about Culver pipes. This one is worth the $13 dollars I paid for it as it gave me much enjoyment. Total elapsed time: 2 hours 45 minutes.
. It arrived in rough shape. Its varnish had plenty of abrasions and general ugliness, while the stem was awful. It's got a hole in it!The rim is in good shape. This pipe's owner knew how to light a pipe!
But oh that stem! Back:
Front:
It a bit of persuasion, I was able to remove the tip from the stinger:
After a thorough cleaning, it's time to get to work with the SuperGlue. I use medium thickness black glue. Since, at the end of the project the SuperGlue will be slightly shinier than the stem material, I spread it around a bit. This way the stem won't advertise the repair so much as it would with a "patch". The little shim was coated with Vaseline prior to the application of the glue. Afterwards, it's always a good idea to keep a pipe cleaner or something in the stem to provide internal support while sanding.
Getting there. The stem got multiple treatments, lots of sanding, filing, etc.
Turning to the stummel. After cleaning, I wet-sanded it with 600-grit paper and alcohol. This removed the old varnish. Then I dry sanded it with 600-grit to remove the scratches, blemishes, etc. I then used a ScotchPad type wheel in my Dremel to buff it a bit. Note: You don't want to use those wheels on a stem. They'll melt/distort the material.
I then wet-sanded the stummel with alcohol, from 600 through to 1500-grit, followed by a 3600-grit sanding pad to remove any remaining raised grain. The result: A naked stummel:
After further work on the stem, I then reunited the pipe pieces and gave the briar a coat of light brown leather dye. Note: Always put the lid back on the dye as soon as possible. If you were to spill that bottle...Oh the mess! Immediately after coating the pipe, I wipe it dry with a paper towel. Here we are, ready for the final polish:
The stem had been polished up with Tripoli compound, but the stummel went straight to White Diamond. I then gave the whole pipe a heavy coat of Carnauba wax. I "flashed" the wax on with a white polishing wheel on my Dremel. The wax flashed wet then dry and gray. It's hard to wipe it off at that point. I then used a white cotton polishing wheel on the Dremel which removed the excess wax while leaving a hard glassy surface.
I have not found any information about Culver pipes. This one is worth the $13 dollars I paid for it as it gave me much enjoyment. Total elapsed time: 2 hours 45 minutes.
