Well, there are good days in pipe restauration and bad ones. One day you turn a wreck into a princess and then there are days when nothing works out easily.
After the last days in my basement working on estates I have come up to the impression that there is a good reason why so many manufacturers use acrylic for stems. Even more so I believe that this is a great step.
When I refurbished a Rhodesian pipe a few days ago the stummel came out well. Not so the stem. It has the most stubborn oxidation I ever encountered! I have sanded it till my fingers bled, I have even cooked it in vinegar essence and I have tried every kind of chemical I could find in my basement - but to no avail! The oxidation wouldn´t budge. 8O Green as spring pastures and yellow as your buttercup. My next desperate move before I throw that darn thing aways will incorporate hot 60% vinegar acid. 8O
Then there was this nice Davidoff apple shaped pipe. It was one of the more expensive estates I bought. Easy peasy clean up job - or that was what I was thinking. The stummel came out well again but not that damn "hand cut" stem! After polishing I examined it under a bright light and what was that? Millions of microscopic cracks and even two larger ones at the tenon. 8O At least the seems to be stable but what kind of brittle ebonite was used by those darn Swiss???
Number three was a Comoy second, a sandblasted Everyman Billiard that came with a much too small stem. I rummaged through my donor pipes and found a fitting stem. I just had to sand down the tenon a bit and the diameter was a tad on the large side. After sanding and polishing I found a strange hairline on top of the stem that wouldn´t vanish. I have no idea if it is a real crack or whatever. :| I believe the donor pipe was from the war years so a substandard quality of the ebonit seems probable.
Sorry for the long rant but I guess I neede to vent a bit..... :roll:
After the last days in my basement working on estates I have come up to the impression that there is a good reason why so many manufacturers use acrylic for stems. Even more so I believe that this is a great step.
When I refurbished a Rhodesian pipe a few days ago the stummel came out well. Not so the stem. It has the most stubborn oxidation I ever encountered! I have sanded it till my fingers bled, I have even cooked it in vinegar essence and I have tried every kind of chemical I could find in my basement - but to no avail! The oxidation wouldn´t budge. 8O Green as spring pastures and yellow as your buttercup. My next desperate move before I throw that darn thing aways will incorporate hot 60% vinegar acid. 8O
Then there was this nice Davidoff apple shaped pipe. It was one of the more expensive estates I bought. Easy peasy clean up job - or that was what I was thinking. The stummel came out well again but not that damn "hand cut" stem! After polishing I examined it under a bright light and what was that? Millions of microscopic cracks and even two larger ones at the tenon. 8O At least the seems to be stable but what kind of brittle ebonite was used by those darn Swiss???
Number three was a Comoy second, a sandblasted Everyman Billiard that came with a much too small stem. I rummaged through my donor pipes and found a fitting stem. I just had to sand down the tenon a bit and the diameter was a tad on the large side. After sanding and polishing I found a strange hairline on top of the stem that wouldn´t vanish. I have no idea if it is a real crack or whatever. :| I believe the donor pipe was from the war years so a substandard quality of the ebonit seems probable.
Sorry for the long rant but I guess I neede to vent a bit..... :roll: