To restore or not to restore… that is the question.

[Wesley pipes]

The kaywoodie didn’t go as planned, some more paint chipped off during the cleaning and polishing. Also the paint was a bit thin in some spots. The end result shows a little more wood than I wanted but I guess it has a nice worn look. I don’t want to remove any more paint as I think it will expose a lot of flaws in the briar, Im not into trying to paint this pipe, it is what it is. The other pipe looks a lot better with the buffing and cleaning, has some nice looking grain to the wood. I think both pipes are acceptable, and I’m going to leave them as is.

 

[Wesley pipes]

These two are going to be pretty straightforward. Clean up the top on the yellow bowl a bit more and try to improve it anyway I can. For the Filto, I’ll be polishing the aluminum stem a bit, try not to rub more of the monogram off, clean the vulcanite and removing any tooth chatter I can find. I found a couple black rubber bands for a “good enough fix” I’ll leave it up to the new owner to put proper gaskets on it if they want to find some.

 

[Alanon]

The kaywoodie didn’t go as planned, some more paint chipped off during the cleaning and polishing. Also the paint was a bit thin in some spots. The end result shows a little more wood than I wanted but I guess it has a nice worn look. I don’t want to remove any more paint as I think it will expose a lot of flaws in the briar, Im not into trying to paint this pipe, it is what it is. The other pipe looks a lot better with the buffing and cleaning, has some nice looking grain to the wood. I think both pipes are acceptable, and I’m going to leave them as is.View attachment 441784View attachment 441785View attachment 441786View attachment 441787View attachment 441788View attachment 441789

Man, I’d be so tempted to just remove all that paint and see the woodgrain on that Kaywoodie!

Great work as always!

 

[Wesley pipes]

Man, I’d be so tempted to just remove all that paint and see the woodgrain on that Kaywoodie!

Great work as always!

I would but I can already see some small fill spots on the bare wood and I’m afraid it will look worse if I strip off all the paint.

 

[Wesley pipes]

both the yellow bowl “tweed” and the Filto pipe, look a little better. After polishing that aluminum stem I noticed a few more dings and scrapes, looks like it used to say Made In The USA under the Filto stamp, if you look really close you can kinda see it. The meerschaum lining on that ”tweed” pipe is quite thin, so I didn’t get too aggressive while cleaning it.

 

[Wesley pipes]

Down to these three little piggies! Need to do a bit of sanding and shaping. I also have a bit of glue work, gonna try to make them a little more pretty I’ll of course post pics of my progress.

 

[Wesley pipes]

The cracks on the shank of this pipe have a lot of carbon buildup, looks like it got smoked a lot even after the damage, so there are going to be permanent scars on both sides. I wanna try to make it look ”better” if I can. The stem also needs to be sanded.

 

[Wesley pipes]

Cleaned up ok Considering the state it was in a few weeks ago! the ring is secured tight to the shank and those cracks got filled and sanded a couple times. After cleaning the bowl I noticed the honey layer was mostly intact, that’s pretty cool! And I must say even though She ain’t that Pretty, she now has a lot of life left.

 

[Wesley pipes]

both the yellow bowl “tweed” and the Filto pipe, look a little better. After polishing that aluminum stem I noticed a few more dings and scrapes, looks like it used to say Made In The USA under the Filto stamp, if you look really close you can kinda see it. The meerschaum lining on that ”tweed” pipe is quite thin, so I didn’t get too aggressive while cleaning it.View attachment 442256View attachment 442253View attachment 442254View attachment 442255

I just remembered something important! Yellow bowl pipes have that honey layer, so that lining you see in the pictures is not meerschaum.

 

[Wesley pipes]

This Brewster needs that ugly spot sanded and blended down a bit. Top of the bowl will get sanded as well as the inside. Basically anything I can do to improve the look and functionality of this pipe. My main focus will be dealing with that ugly crack.

 

[Wesley pipes]

Good news everyone! I just bought a set of 37 estate pipes on eBay. So “to restore or not to restore“ may get a second season! maybe 3.

 

[Wesley pipes]

It turned out ok same problem with the last pipe! the glue turning black! Even when coated in briar dust. The “eBay special“ came from the same home, so as far as I can tell, they got smoked after the damage, maybe it’s seeping into the glue as I apply it? looks good though.