Wally Frank Pipe of the Month Stem problem

[addamsruspipe]

Ok, so looking for some help out there. I got a Wally Frank Pipe of the Month estate pipe off of ebay about a month ago. Finally got around to working on it and I liked it enough as is to want to restore it to it's org. condition. So reamed out the bowl, did the salt/alcohol treatment, white diamond, it was looking good. So next I started on the stem, no vis. oxidation some very. min. teeth chatter right before the bit, that looked like it had been repaired before. Well this stem has got me stumped. I started out with white diamond, nothing. Went to brown tripoli then some white diamond, nothing. Sanded it down, then brown tripoli and white diamond, still nothing. The only part of the stem that polishes up is area just before the bit where the prior repair was done. It's almost like the stem has a slight texture on it. Any ideas out there.

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[smoothsailing]

The stem looks like it has been worked in the past as the transition from shank to stem drops off/step down, further sanding will leave a greater drop off, that being said with my own stems I sand with 400 grit sandpaper wet, then 800 grit wet, 1000 grit wet and 1500 grit wet. The 400 should remove the textured feel your talking about. I then run the stem through the various grits of micro-mesh pads and buff with blue compound to remove the fine sanding marks.

 

[smoothsailing]

I also use a divider between shank and stem to keep from damaging the briar.

 

[addamsruspipe]

Thanks, I will give that a try. I especially like the way you do the divider, I have always done blue tape and sometimes that will start to peel back when I'm sanding.