Thanks! The restorations/cleanup has been a learning curve with me, so it has been helpful to start w/ really cheap pipes and go from there. Have nearly ruined some, and on each one I've learned something new. I think we all strive to get to the level of D. Valitchka (I wonder, does he post here?) and personally, I strive for that lovely reddish brown semi gloss color that is the perfect hue on a vintage pipe. One day hopefully I'll get there!
I use a 6” buffing wheel. Yeah, it can get pretty tedious working with all that micro mesh, but turns out nice.
Doug does great work
Absolutely amazing... The talent you guys have is unreal.
Yes, I have a special technique for making effed up stems look good. I call it “camera angle” ?
@Chasing Embers and @T-townrestore Oops I meant to type “rims” not stems, haha. I didn’t fix the rim dent, is what I was trying to say ?
Yeah the lighter trick works pretty well too
So how do you save the stamping? I have a few badly beat up pipes (one appears to have been mauled by a dog and the wood filler used turned pink) that were made by Wally Frank. I sanded them down and restained them. I think they turned out well... but when I applied the stain, I realized I could no longer read the stamping clearly. Short of chemical stripping around it, what do you do?
Don't sand or buff them. That will kill any stamping.
Didn't have to do anything on this pipe, as sanding was not required on the shank.
Oh wow, good job, its really getting there!
Looking good, I saw this one on eBay, good buy. How was the inner bowl walls? Also a good size pipe.
The inner bowl was what I was most worried about before it arrived. Thankfully, and shockingly, they are not only fine, but showed up perfectly reamed, hahaha.
