For the past couple of weeks, my wife and I have been working on clearing a patch of land adjacent to our little mountain cabin. The plot was absolutely crammed with junker cars/RVs, old wood, metal, and a myriad of other sundry items, all collecting dust and rust. In other words, basically the Ritz Carlton for rodents. We happened to chat with the titleholder at about this time last year. He hadn't been around in several years. It turns out, it's not his stuff either, but whoever it belonged to was long gone. Both of us wanted to get it cleared out, but it seemed an overwhelming proposition at the time, and over the course of the next year, life happened, as it always seems to. This winter, we just got sick of dealing with the rodent problem (see my thread about this here), so we resolved to finally do something about the junk up there. We're chipping away at it, a little bit at a time.
You may be asking, what does this have to do with pipe restoration? So obviously, getting the junker cars out is the hardest part. One of them was a mid 60s Buick Riviera, missing its engine, but good parts salvage for someone who had such an endeavor. We found such a gentleman, in his 60s, who had been restoring one and needed the parts. So of course, I'm going to be smoking my pipe when he comes over to take a look at it, and he remarked how his girlfriend still has her grandfather's old pipe in storage, and then asked me if I was interested in having it. He knew nothing about it (neither did the girlfriend), but I figured, why not? I could always rely on the folks of this fine forum for advice if it needed restoration.
The pipe finally showed up in the mail today. It's a Medico White Wall (looks like a billiard, which I will assume it is unless someone can correct me on that), and according to the lady's best estimate, it's from the 60s or 70s. Okay, I know it's just a budget pipe, but it's still pretty sweet to just get a gift like this simply because I happened to be smoking a pipe at the right time! Anyway, I spent a little bit of time after lunch with it, armed with my arsenal of BJ Long pipecleaners, paper towels, Q-tips, and Everclear. Surprisingly, not much gunk came out of the shank, or the stem. Sure, the bit is a little chewed up, and the rim is charred like a brisket at a bar mitzvah, but it ain't too bad--I've certainly seen far worse. Check the attached pics and see for yourselves.
Any advice from folks on how to clean up the rim would be appreciated. For the record, I've never done a pipe restoration before, in any capacity. The tenon and mortise are fine, no chips in the former or dents in the latter. It had a Dr. Grabow filter in it that I tossed. It looked like it predated the Spanish-American War, but I plan on smoking this one filterless anyway. Also, any general info on this pipe would be welcomed. It's no Barling, I know, but it's a neat little story, and a neat piece to add to my small collection.
Thanks guys!
You may be asking, what does this have to do with pipe restoration? So obviously, getting the junker cars out is the hardest part. One of them was a mid 60s Buick Riviera, missing its engine, but good parts salvage for someone who had such an endeavor. We found such a gentleman, in his 60s, who had been restoring one and needed the parts. So of course, I'm going to be smoking my pipe when he comes over to take a look at it, and he remarked how his girlfriend still has her grandfather's old pipe in storage, and then asked me if I was interested in having it. He knew nothing about it (neither did the girlfriend), but I figured, why not? I could always rely on the folks of this fine forum for advice if it needed restoration.
The pipe finally showed up in the mail today. It's a Medico White Wall (looks like a billiard, which I will assume it is unless someone can correct me on that), and according to the lady's best estimate, it's from the 60s or 70s. Okay, I know it's just a budget pipe, but it's still pretty sweet to just get a gift like this simply because I happened to be smoking a pipe at the right time! Anyway, I spent a little bit of time after lunch with it, armed with my arsenal of BJ Long pipecleaners, paper towels, Q-tips, and Everclear. Surprisingly, not much gunk came out of the shank, or the stem. Sure, the bit is a little chewed up, and the rim is charred like a brisket at a bar mitzvah, but it ain't too bad--I've certainly seen far worse. Check the attached pics and see for yourselves.
Any advice from folks on how to clean up the rim would be appreciated. For the record, I've never done a pipe restoration before, in any capacity. The tenon and mortise are fine, no chips in the former or dents in the latter. It had a Dr. Grabow filter in it that I tossed. It looked like it predated the Spanish-American War, but I plan on smoking this one filterless anyway. Also, any general info on this pipe would be welcomed. It's no Barling, I know, but it's a neat little story, and a neat piece to add to my small collection.
Thanks guys!
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