Started Restoring Some Meerschaums

[nevadablue]

I got this set of pipes from scrooge. Thanks to him, I will be practicing meerschaum restoration. This is the set of pipes. They arrived today.

I started working on the second one from the top. It looks like this now.

That took a couple of hours with all my reamers, working under hot running water. The bowl cleaned up pretty well. The stem took a lot of work, finally getting it clean inside. Now to repair the chip in the stem. Epoxy I think. Oh, I used pipe brushes, a tooth brush and some (don't faint) toothpaste on the outside. The rim cleaned nicely with careful scraping.

 

[mikethompson]

Nice Ken, is this just an exterior cleanup?

 

[danielplainview]

That cleaned up nice. I’ll be following this thread to see the progress on the rest. Keep up the good work.

 

[mikethompson]

Nevermind Ken, I actually read what you wrote this time. That rim looks brand new!

 

[cortezattic]

Nice work! Thanks for all the pix! :clap:

 

[nevadablue]

Thanks! I think I will just use this thread for all of them. One long thread so I don't lose it.
No, the cleanup is a restoration. Inside/out to make it as 'new' as possible. The bowl and rim were quite caked. It came out easily. The bottom of the bowl may have been repaired, there is a very hard, lumpy area near the bottom. I can't ream it. If it won't come out, it won't hurt the pipe though. The threads are worn and loose in the stem/shank connection. Not bad, and they may respond to therapy. The stem was a bear to get clean. I suspect that bent stems don't get cleaned often. Vigorous scrubbing with brushes, bristle pipe cleaners and soap eventually prevailed.