In Need Of Pipe Repairs - Broken Tenon On My Big Ben Fantasia

ghostsofpompeii

Just moments after taking the picture above, where I'm enjoying an afternoon smoke at Deep River Park in Hobart, Indiana relaxing on a bench amidst beautiful flowers in front of the Flower Mill ... my Big Ben Fantasia Pipe snapped  right at the tenon. I had just started cleaning it with a pipe cleaner, and unfortunately it's one of those pipes in which a pipe cleaner doesn't run cleanly through to the bowl. So I was preparing to remove the stem when I immediately notice something wasn't quite right. Normally the stem and shank are a perfect fit ... but in this instance there appeared to be a slight gap at the top. And just as I started to twist the stem it immediately snapped off, leaving part of the tenon in the shank and apparently the other half in the stem. 

Needless to say, I was shattered. I love that pipe. After looking at the thickness of the wall of he broken tenon it's easy to see how it would be the weak link in the pipe. Because it holds a 9mm filter the plastic tenon is paper thin. I don't use filters so I wish it had been thicker like a majority of my pipes. Maybe if I can get someone to repair the tenon, they can replace it with on that doesn't require a 9mm filter, and can be a bit more sturdy. 

Anyone here know of a reliable and reasonably priced person who can repair my tenon. Someone they may have dealt with before on a similar type of repair, and happy with the outcome. 

This is the same pipe I kind of screwed-up trying to clean the rim with the simple siliva and rag routine and somehow managed to rub away some of the marbleized effect of the finish. So I've been having some bad luck with the pipe. But I love it and want to get back to smoking it as soon as possible. I almost thought about simply buying another, but it seems like replacing a tenon wouldn't be that difficult for someone with the tools and know how. So I'm not going to write it off as a loss and let the poor pipe die. And I don't want to jury rig some half-ass repair work myself using some product that will probably poison me when I smoke the pipe. I almost considered super gluing it back together but thought better of it when I remembered it's hard to run a pipe cleaner though it. 

Any advise from the expects out there would be useful.

           

Corey562

@ghostsofpompeii You could make a tenon insert out of acylic or ebonite. You would have to drill the end of the stem and shape the other end of the tenon to fit the shank. But it will save the stem. When done properly the stem should fit seamlessly.

Corey562

Or you can buy one.

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii -- I feel for ya, brother.

LGRACE

On other forums, I've heard good things about this person:  http://www.walkerpiperepair.com/
We lived in Portage, Indiana when the kids were little, been to deep river many times.

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii -- Two with good reputations

http://www.bearbriar.com/

http://www.jhlowe.com/

ghostsofpompeii

@Corey562 Where can I buy one of those tenons?  

ghostsofpompeii

@Corey562 I just discovered several location on Ebay. I might just try a different stem as well, although I do like have the original Big Ben stem.

RockyMountainBriar

I highly recommend Walker Pipe Repair that LGRACE linked.  I have had a stem made for one of my pipes that I did not want the nomenclature destroyed, he did an excellent job.  I have repaired many of my own pipes, new stems and tenons etc.  I'm good, but not a professional.  Mike is a professional and it was done in a timely manner at a reasonable price.

RockyMountainBriar

As an FYI, some of those replacement tenons are very soft and quite frankly "suck".  I have a few of the soft/springy/pliable ones. I used a couple and have not used another since, they are kind of slippery (good), but the tenon stem joint is just to wishy-washy for me, the stem fits snugly, but there is just too much "spring" in the joint.

ghostsofpompeii

I like the pipe too much to half-ass it myself, so I'm definitely sending it out to be repaired by a professional. Might even consider having a whole new fancy acrylic stem put on instead. Something swirled to match the paint job. I was looking at some of the price lists from a few pipe repair shops and it almost seems like getting a new stem might be just a little more than repairing the tenon.