Top Notch Pipe Repair Shop Recommendations?

[plugugly]

Problem: tooth divot on the button? Well, then at the tip end of the stem where some jerk clenched too hard!. My beautiful Ascorti needs a first-rate repair. Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Dshift]

Problem: tooth divot on the button? Well, then at the tip end of the stem where some jerk clenched too hard!. My beautiful Ascorti needs a first-rate repair. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Photos would be very helpful.

 

[craig61a]

I usually do that kind of work myself. Not unusually complicated to remedy that. Add it’s a skill that will benefit you in the long run if you amass a pile of pipes.

I’m not sure there is a repair person who would do that kind of work… it seems that the amount of time involved wouldn’t be very profitable.

But I could be wrong…

 

[Dshift]

I usually do that kind of work myself. Not unusually complicated to remedy that. Add it’s a skill that will benefit you in the long run if you amass a pile of pipes.

I’m not sure there is a repair person who would do that kind of work… it seems that the amount of time involved wouldn’t be very profitable.

But I could be wrong…

Yes you are right about the profitability aspect, but I still enjoy doing it and if I can save an original stem, that’s a big preservation win in my opinion.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

It really depends on what your expectations of “top notch” are. A proper craftsman that specializes in high end pipe repair is generally going to make a new stem for it. Repairing tooth dents in acrylic is relatively easy but never invisible, and much more difficult than filling tooth dents in vulcanite. A fill repair will always be visible and because of that it’s generally avoided by most top notch repairmen. There are situations where an experienced repairman might elect to fill rather than replace but those are few and far between and generally reserved for instances where the customer would rather retain the original stem but understands that the repair will be visible.

Having a new stem fitted can range from having a premolded stem stuck on the pipe by a run of the mill repairman for $40-50 to having a hand cut replica made by a specialist repairman for likely more than the cost of the pipe.

Plenty of less than experienced repairmen will claim to be able to do the job with confidence but just understand that the results will be equivalent to the cost.

 

[sablebrush52]

Problem: tooth divot on the button? Well, then at the tip end of the stem where some jerk clenched too hard!. My beautiful Ascorti needs a first-rate repair. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Why not contact Ascorti about making a replacement stem?

 

[Dshift]

I am still waiting for some photos, before theorising, also because I currently have 6 spare Ascorti stems and I am awaiting a shipment of 80+ spare stems in pristine condition sometime next week. If end up having the right one, this would bring the price way down while giving you what I would consider to be the best possible result.

 

[Dshift]

It really depends on what your expectations of “top notch” are. A proper craftsman that specializes in high end pipe repair is generally going to make a new stem for it. Repairing tooth dents in acrylic is relatively easy but never invisible, and much more difficult than filling tooth dents in vulcanite. A fill repair will always be visible and because of that it’s generally avoided by most top notch repairmen. There are situations where an experienced repairman might elect to fill rather than replace but those are few and far between and generally reserved for instances where the customer would rather retain the original stem but understands that the repair will be visible.

Having a new stem fitted can range from having a premolded stem stuck on the pipe by a run of the mill repairman for $40-50 to having a hand cut replica made by a specialist repairman for likely more than the cost of the pipe.

Plenty of less than experienced repairmen will claim to be able to do the job with confidence but just understand that the results will be equivalent to the cost.

I have been putting a crazy amount of effort and time into developing a technique for a seamless stem repair and I would call it an impossible task, although extremely hard. Just as an example of we are talking about dents and no holes, there is another alternative that could give a seamless repair in some cases and although not optimal, I would at least consider it before spending a pipe worth of money on a new stem. Through manual and heat treatment the dents could be pushed up and then sanded down, yes not optimal loss of material but still better than a new stem in my opinion. Also I put extra sentimental value in not separating a pipe from its original stem. This could be pushed to various degrees, depending on what the owner is ok with.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Yes you are correct, some dents can be raised. And the issue with the fill method isn’t making the repair “seamless” filling a dent with material and sanding it flat isn’t rocket surgery. The problem is color matching, black acrylic runs a pretty wide spectrum of “black” cast acrylic vs extruded acrylic can be very different blacks. Semi translucent blacks can pass light while opaque blacks do not. And the high gloss polish that most acrylic is capable of is often not matched by the filler material as it’s not near as hard, so it will polish to a slightly different level of shine than the base material will and it will stand out in proper lighting as will the color.

My statement was not to imply that dents cannot be filled, it was intended to give the OP a better understanding of expectation management when talking about dent filling with acrylics.