If I can get good enough at repairs, I would consider selling some of the 100+ pipes. From what I can tell from eBay, almost every cleaned vintage pipe sells for about $20. I was planning on giving the repaired pipes that I’m currently working on to friends, knowing that they will never take care of them properly
Saving the Stamping
- Thread starter msattler
- Start date
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Such pipes are for my own personal use, and I generally only acquire them knowing that in advance. I have a box of badly-damaged old Dunhills that may be in the same box when my descendants are sorting through my crap and cursing me.
I never worry about the stamping. No one will take my pipes after I die, except maybe the garbage man. That being said, I don't use mechanical means to buff my pipes, so I haven't had to deal with the problem.
I've come across many pipes with the faded dark stampings that another poster mentioned. I think this occurs when the pipe is taken into a shop for maintenance, and the pipe is buffed mechanically. Like you, I buff exclusively by hand - it involves some motions that I got very good at 25 years ago when I learned to French polish pool cues by hand, but I realize that some people haven't gone through such adventures, and mechanical buffing is the only thing that works for them.
I have stumbled on to a few burn-outs I felt worth saving. For example, a first era Larsen Copenhagen. However, instead of a plug I used Refractory Cement for the repair. The burn out was not entirely evident externally on the pipe, but would have been without intervention. I got the pipe for $10 at a bric-a-brac store. It cleaned up nicely and you would never know it was "injured". It is in my Top Ten and has been for several years. Could never sell it of course, but it is one of those few pleasant surprises that has happened for me. I won't go into how many unhappy surprises that have happened over the years with my pipe restoration efforts LOL.
Clean out the stamping with a hard toothbrush and luke warm distilled water. If need be a little oil soap,
I prefer the olive oil kind .
When really dirty, clogged with carnauba wax or polishing compound, try a really soft brass wired
brush with some water dilluted alcohol. Tread carefully and stop when stain comes off. If need be polish the stamping with a 12000 grit Micro-Mesh pad. Buff by hand.
I prefer the olive oil kind .
When really dirty, clogged with carnauba wax or polishing compound, try a really soft brass wired
brush with some water dilluted alcohol. Tread carefully and stop when stain comes off. If need be polish the stamping with a 12000 grit Micro-Mesh pad. Buff by hand.
Absolutely do NOT get a brass wire anywhere near the stamping. You can scrub with Murphy's Soap and a toothbrush, but anything more than that is a bad idea, and completely unnecessary.
I understand and appreciate your meaning . Here's a video :
Following George's lead I hesitatingly started to practise on crappy pipe stummels.
It worked out fine and I meanwhile cleaned out many stampings following his method.
To each his own.
It worked out fine and I meanwhile cleaned out many stampings following his method.
To each his own.
I wanted to post same thing. Just follow him
George is our pipe restoration guru
I get it, and I talk with George weekly on a Zoom call, and often ask him questions about pipe restoration. I fully realize that George is the expert. In fact, a few weeks ago we were discussing a 'restorer' on ebay who sands mouthpieces down to smooth rounded crap, and who adds curves to the outsides of his pipe rims
- I talked with this ebay seller and explained George's views on this, and the guy ended up on our Zoom call, prepared to learn. I checked out some of his recent mouthpiece 'jobs' and they looked much improved, so he listened.But...I still would never tell people on a forum like this to use a brass brush to repair stampings, any more than I would suggest they use sandpaper to repair rims. Not without providing very specific instructions (which you have now done). I use a brass brush to scrub rusticated rims that have bad carbonization, but other than in this sentence, you won't see me recommend such a technique to others. But if George has a video, go watch it.
But to be honest - I personally have never used a brass brush on a stamping. Now I will certainly go find an old abused stummel and give this a shot. So thanks for posting that video link.