Weezells Restorations (4 pipes)

[ssjones]

Member Weezell (aka Dave) sent me four pipes from his fathers estate to clean up. They belonged to a friend of his fathers and have a lot of sentimental value to Dave.
First up was this massive Charatan Special billiard. I've seen these specials before, but they almost always have a saddle stem. This one has a lovely tapered stem. The pipe is 7" long and exactly 100 grams, what a hefty hunk of briar. This one is a shape 44 and has the Lane stamp.
The tars on top came off with some light scrubbing. I soaked the stem and removed some stubborn oxidation. I stayed away from the CP stamp. It is light, but visible. I did not soak the bowl on this one, just gave it a light reaming. The owner smoked all of these pipes very hot and did a good bit of damage inside the bowl. I was afraid to remove the cake filling in the holes. With a little use, the cake should build over these spots and the pipe should still have a long life, the briar is still very thick all over. There were a few dents on the bottom of the bowl, but they lifted out nicely with a hot knife and wet cloth.
Paired with a 4K Castello to give you a perspective on the size of the pipe:

Before:



After:



Next up was a pipe stamped "Sherlock" and Made in Italy. This one has a perspex stem, that had some stubborn staining. I removed a good bit but not all of the stain in the perspex. The briar has a lovely golden glow with some faceted features on the bowl (ala Willmer?). I'm not familiar with this brand, but the briar is beautiful. The tars on top came off, just leaving a light scorch mark on the inner bowl rim.
Before:


I'm working on the other two today. One is a lovely Savinelli Autograph and a no-name, massive English made billiard.

 

[pipesicle]

Al, Really nice work. Looking forward to seeing the other 2.

 

[tbradsim1]

You really do beautiful work Al. The old cajun

 

[nsfisher]

Good job mate.

 

[jah76]

Al your quite the doc. What's the hot knife method you mention about lifting out dents?

 

[reichenbach]

Yes indeed, you're doing a great job on those pipes, sir.

 

[oldredbeard]

Really nice job Doc, they look nice. Looking forward to the others.

 

[shawn622]

That's amazing!!! I am going to have to clean mine up sometime. Good show man :clap:

 

[ssjones]

Al your quite the doc. What's the hot knife method you mention about lifting out dents?

I heat an old kitchen knife (well, shhh, it wasn't that old..) with a propane torch. With a wet cloth over the dent, I hold the hot knife against it and the steam generated lift the dent. It work pretty well on most bruises. The tip of the knife let me pinpoint it right over the dent.

 

[papipeguy]

More fine work, Al. Those perspex stems are buggers to clean. My Radice Rind has one with two air holes so the airway in the stem looks like a fork. I've tried everything but can't get it completely clean. Nature of the beast I suppose.

 

[gmwolford]

Just an awesome job; they look like different pipes

 

[gnatjulio]

Awesome job Al.

 

[ssjones]

I always run a cleaner thru my Perspex stems, once they are stained, it's tough to completely clean them. On the other hand, I think it give the pipe some character with that patina.

 

[weezell]

Guys,Al's been a Blessing for doin this for me!Puts faith back in humanity...This forum is truley a wonderful group of people.Dave

 

[sjpipesmoker]

Nice work... I love Seeing before and after photos, sometimes it's amazing

 

[hawk60ce]

I need to elarn how to do this. I have some old pipes from my grandfather that need cleaned up

 

[ssjones]

Guys,Al's been a Blessing for doin this for me!Puts faith back in humanity...This forum is truley a wonderful group of people.Dave

I'm just paying in a small part your kindness Dave. Last year, Dave saw that I admired the GBD 9438 and gifted me one, out of the blue literally, from his collection. Along wit a wonderful GBD Prehistoric Oom-Paul. I'll always think of Dave when I hold and smoke these pipes.
I just finished the Savinelli Autograph. Wow, what a great pipe. I've admired them on a computer screen, but never held one in my hands. This is a hand-cut pipe for sure. A hefty piece of briar as well, your fathers friend like his pipes large! The stem is wonderful and feels good on the hand, so I bet she's a wonderful smoker. This one must have been special, or bought later at it was the least abused. The finish was a little grimey, but that and the tars on top came off nicely revealing a beautiful birdseye top. The stem took the usual steps and was deeply oxidized. I was able to preserve Giancarlo Savinelli's stamp nicely. I learned that Savinelli used vulcanite stems on the Autograph line prior to 1982 (when they switched to acrylic and 6 mm filters).
Before:




After:

 

[cajunguy]

Very nice restoration work!

 

[ssjones]

And the last one, simply stamped "Made In London England". The rest of the polished nomenclature area is left blank. It sure does have a Charatan feel, I wonder if it was a reject or 2nd? The detail of the stem tip is almost identical to the Charatan. Someone told me to "read the pipe, not the stamping", but this is just a hunch.
The bowl top was pretty beat up and had a heavy tar buildup. When I removed the tar, it lightened the stain a bit. So, I decided to retain the bowl. I soaked it for several hours in an alcohol bath and using a brass bristle brush to get stain out of the blast. The top was so rough, I decided to sand it smooth and I'm glad that I did. I think it looks smashing with a smooth, polished top. I used a series of 800-1500-2000 than the last two Micromesh grades for sanding with the paper on a flat workbench surface. I used a very light Fieberlings "Medium Brown" stain. I did two coats of stain, with each one set with a flame (I've perfected this process, so it no longer frightens me). Then the bowl was buffed lightly with white diamond and finally carnuba wax.
Before:

Bowl with stain removed and the polished top:


After:




And finally the entire quartet line-up ready to send back to Dave to enjoy for many years.

 

[ejames]

Nice work Al !