Stem Work Help Needed

[hauntedmyst]

This is an old Tilshead I picked up back in the 80's. I always loved the Billiard Brandy shape but hated the mouthpiece. A few years ago, I sent it off to have a churchwarden stem made for it. Along the way I lost the stem and used the bowl to try my hand at re-staining. As a result, it's been stripped a few times. The other day, I found the stem and finished off the pipe with Black over Oxblood stain. As you can see, with all that work, the stem no longer lines up. How would you guys trim the stem. I don't have a lathe but am wondering if I used mount the stem into a drill and use micro files to bring it down. I'm wide open to suggestions.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

If you really love the pipe I would suggest sending it off to a professional.
Nice job on the staining and finishing by the way.

 

[ChuckMijo]

If it smokes fine I would leave it be. It adds character!!

 

[Toast]

Adding a band might be good comprise perhaps? Something along the lines of the shotgun cartridge look would make the difference go away...?

Well outside my competence, but what you've done already probably is too!

 

[saltedplug]

A job for a pro.

 

[hauntedmyst]

If you really love the pipe I would suggest sending it off to a professional.
Nice job on the staining and finishing by the way.

Thank you. That's the thing, I don't really love it. I only had it made into a churchwarden because the first bit was awful. That's why I don't mind experimenting on it if someone has a hack where I can get reasonably good result. If I can't, then I'll send it off.

 

[kcghost]

Making a stem is a pain in the tush for most carvers and they won't do it. I would suggest Mark Tinsky, or Briarville, and a number of others.

 

[craig61a]

The shank is reduced in diameter and the end is rounded over from sanding. The shank will have to be cut back a bit in order to square the end of it.

It appears that more material was removed from the top of the shank, so the mortise will have migrated upwards. Removing material from the stem in order to match the shank is required.

This is tough to do, because the outer surfaces don’t necessarily index off the mortise or tenon. And since the outer surface of the shank is basically eccentric with respect to the mortise, scraping and sanding will be required to match those surfaces again.

It’s not impossible to do, but time consuming in order to get it right.

I’ve re-stained a lot of pipes over the years, sanding wasn’t part of the process…

 

[hauntedmyst]

The shank is reduced in diameter and the end is rounded over from sanding. The shank will have to be cut back a bit in order to square the end of it.

It appears that more material was removed from the top of the shank, so the mortise will have migrated upwards. Removing material from the stem in order to match the shank is required.

This is tough to do, because the outer surfaces don’t necessarily index off the mortise or tenon. And since the outer surface of the shank is basically eccentric with respect to the mortise, scraping and sanding will be required to match those surfaces again.

It’s not impossible to do, but time consuming in order to get it right.

I’ve re-stained a lot of pipes over the years, sanding wasn’t part of the process…

Craig, how did you strip the stain? There are tons of videos on YT on how to stain a pipe but I don't recall finding any that mentioned techniques for stripping one.

 

[georged]

Even if leveled and the shank-end squared, the pipe will look wonky. The mortise is not co-axial with the shank.

It could be improved some by reshaping the stem over its length and (maybe) a smidge or rebending where possible, but not enough to probably be worth the effort.

 

[craig61a]

Craig, how did you strip the stain? There are tons of videos on YT on how to stain a pipe but I don't recall finding any that mentioned techniques for stripping one.

Hot water and Murphy's oil soap, scrubbing usually removes most of it. Most dyes are water soluble.

 

[craig61a]

"There are tons of videos on YT"...

Yes, and there are plenty of Facebook groups that purport to have all the inside dope on refurbishing pipes that have popped up in the past few years.

Doesn't mean that the information that they're peddling is right. Most of it isn't.

And then there are the "snake oil" peddlers that excel at relieving you of your hard earned cash.

EZ Off Oven Cleaner will do a pretty good job of stripping a stummel... I mean, you can't make this stuff up.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Well, I tried mounting it in a drill and sanding it down starting with 80 grit until 1000. It’s not perfect but for a pipe I don’t care much about, it’s an improvement. I may take it down a hair more.

 

[Toast]

Wow, nicely done!