Walker Briar Works' "Stem Restore Kit"

[fnord]

Yeoman's job on that Ashton, Tom. You've honored your late friend with that restoration.
For what it's worth I'm in Ejames' camp. Brother Ed walks in truth and light and all these other guys, however well meaing and intentioned, are just a bunch of insane liars. (However, Nightmare did a great resto on his Dr. Grabow.)
Roth might still have the best plan of all: send it off for restoration.
Seriously, isn't this a swell place? So many ideas. So many opinions. It's like a smorgasboard and we lucky readers get to pick out and sample and then ultimately decide what works best for us. I've never been on a forum where so many people were willing to share.
Thanks for the before and after pix, Tom. They always tell the story best.
Cheers.
Fnord

 

[tomsmithusa]

fnord – that’s well said.
I’ve ordered some micro-mesh pads and with those, bleach, and Walker’s mix, I can tackle stems now.
These men sharing their successes and failures saves much grief but also gives much confidence to drive ahead and try something. As pipe smoking is so rare, shared knowledge is hard to come by locally; this forum has surprised me in how much I’ve learned thus far.
It’s very fun to read so many willing to share their experiences, especially lessons contrary to conventional wisdom – like bleach working so well.
Thank you for the kind words.

 

[lazydog]

Great thread. Wonderful info. Thanx. Question...Is the planet Vulcan being harmed with all these vulcanite stems???

 

[rasselass]

As a new member here i've read many blogs on"Removing Oxidization from Pipe Stems",the simplest and easiest way,which as a Tobacconist i have done hundreds of times for customers,only involves ..clean cloths,Autosol(tube form)for cleaning chrome on auto's,even on completly green oxided stems 5-10 minutes work is involved....no bleaching,sandpapering etc.the grubby area at the mouthpiece using your fingernail inside the cloth...using this method only minimal removal is required and the stem remains "as new" for many months of usage,a quick rub with achohol at the mouthpiece for those worried about hygiene.....at £5 a go it was easy money...of course back then i kept the method to my self.

 

[organizedmadman]

I've never heard of Autosol. Where is the best place to buy it?

 

[fnord]

OMM:
I've never heard of it either:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC2.A0.H0&_nkw=Autosol&_sacat=0&_from=R40
But it's out there.
Fnord

 

[fnord]

Thank you, Rasselass.
Fnord

 

[rasselass]

Over here,in the U.K. most Car Assessory shops such as Halford's sell the Autosol 100 mg.tube for £3-£4 which would clean 20-30 stems depending obviously on how much oxidization, it's a real quick method,a grubby mouthpiece quickly cleaned to as new in literally 1-2 minutes i would NEVER recommend bleaching or sandpaper or machine buffing...try it and see,you'll never use any other method and the stem is in no way harmed.