Here's an offer. If anyone has an old pipe they'd like to turn into a Christmas or St. Pats Day pipe, and you don't have the dye to get the job done, send your pipe to me and I'll do it for you for just the cost to send it back. Spending $6 on a bottle of dye that I may hardly, if ever, use again is what's causing me to make the offer. I have the dye if you have the pipe...
So, if anyone wants, just give me a message in my inbox and we'll go from there...
i grabbed this Weber meerschaum lined bowl pipe today. Should I even attempt to clean the bowl beyond a good wipe down or is it too risky to break the meerschaum?
@Zouave Looks like it will be a nice pipe. I would say you could clear out the bowl by lightly and carefully sanding with some rolled up 220 grit or maybe 400 grit sandpaper. The meer bowl is pretty easy to crack with a reamer. Ask me, I know. Of course the only pipe I have had with a meer lining was a Kaywoodie that I did not realize the lining was still intact because it was so gummed/caked up. I cracked it 😩. Now it has a meer “Calabash” type bowl that I made for it. I do not have any other meer lined pipes, unless you consider true Calabash pipes with removable bowls, “lined”?
I have this old WDC that has a thrashed nickel army mount cap. I am thinking I will try my hand at spinning some sterling silver sheet (actually a disc) into a new cap since I have not found anywhere that has a replacement. If anyone knows where I can find these types of nickel or sterling caps please let me know. Vermont Freehand has bands, but no army style or cap style bands. PIMO use to have some, but since they sold out to VF they have disappeared. Here is the wooden “form” I turned as a starting point.
@RockyMountainBriar and @KA9FFJ thanks for the advice. I wasn't sure what would be the best way to go at this thing. Also @RockyMountainBriar looking forward to seeing how that army mount turns out.
Well, I tried spinning that sterling army mount cap (2x)....both failures🙁. I got the right side started to round over and about 1/8” of the straight sleeve, but then the overhanging metal buckled/scalloped and started to fold over on itself. It looked like a little silver cupcake pan liner....both pieces did the same thing. I think maybe I did not get the silver annealed correctly, OR maybe it was not sterling silver (I bought it on EBay and might have got cheated?). The metal did not seem soft or malleable enough. The spinning tool I made from a piece of stainless steel rod, it seemed to work as planned.
This is not really pipe refinishing, it is more of a pipe “upgrade”. I like the looks of Peterson’s “Royal Irish” series. Since I am a Cancer (Zodiac), I’m ruled by the moon and silver. I love silver, and I love the night. Not that I really put much stock in these things, but they are entertaining to ponder. I decided to add a narrow Sterling Silver band to the stem joint of my Peterson Darwin Natural to mimic the “Royal Irish” series pipes. I ground and narrowed a cutoff tool and used it to cutoff a narrow ring of silver from each edge of a new Sterling Band. I cut off both ends, because I wanted to keep the “STERLING” (925) stamping on the band. It has a nice tight friction fit and now my Darwin Natural looks like a “Royal Irish” Darwin🙂. ‘Schwing’. This upgrade worked out much better than the army mount failures earlier.
@RockyMountainBriar this was Sterling you tried? I'm a Goldsmith by trade but was trained as a silversmith. As long as you got the silver up to a nice cherry red when you anealed it, you should have been good. Sometimes I have had to remove the piece from the Chuck and re aneal it mid way through. I have never purchased silver off ebay before so I don't know what the quality can be like. If you need silver in the future there is a good company called Rio grande jewelery supply. They may be a few bucks more, but the quality of the silver sheet is spot on. There are a few others but they may be the best bet.
@Zouave Thanks for the info. I heated it up until I though it was red, but since I’m a newb, who knows? I did anneal the piece partway through, or so I though. It was too far gone once the silver buckled (I heard it pucker)🙁and made the rippled shape. I think I need to find a silversmith and metal spinner to teach me. There are some things that are tough to learn from “The Google” or YouTube “Rabbit Hole”😬.
Here is my pitiful attempt at metal spinning😖 I really worked over the second one😳. The first piece was 32 gauge and the second was 34 gauge. I thought the lighter disc might be easier to spin. I also cut the disc smaller once I saw the first one was too large. I though that the smaller size might keep it from buckling.....I was incorrect. The metal did not flow like I expected. After annealing, the disc’s still seemed “springy”🤔
I am tempted to cut the rounded portion off of the large piece and silver solder it onto a band.
@RockyMountainBriar Two things, I assume you are using the tail stock to hold the work in place, I would suggest actually drilling a hole and bolting the piece in place and using a washer that covers most of the face.
Which brings me to my second suggestion of not using wood, instead a piece of aluminum.
I also assume you are using a good EP-2 lubricant (grease) while forming.
Lastly, if your not using pure silver, some of the silver alloys can be quite tough.
@RockyMountainBriar it does look like it work hardened way too fast. You should be able to remove the silver and re aneal it when you start to get resistance, and @mapletop is right, but I used to use Crisco. 😄 Also when using Sterling, it's good to soak it in some pickleing solution after sneaking. It will remove any flux or carbon from the surface. Best of luck! I hope it works out!!
I used a thick wood disc with a live cup center. I had the center dimple in the form, then I cut a nub into the press face of the hardwood (the cut-off plum wood from the shaving brush I made) pressure block. That is what the dimple in the center of the cup is. I used MinWax floor polish for lubricant. I maybe spun each of those for about 30 second to a minute before they both buckled/puckered. I barely worked them around the corner. I did try to anneal the second one again after it puckered, even though it was too far gone at that point. It did not make it any easier to flow over the form however. As you can see, I took my aggression out on the second one and really "gave it the tool". The metal was described as 925 Sterling, but with eBay...who knows....maybe it's aluminum.
Well, I have another three Comoy’s pipes to restore. I have a nice “Grand Slam” Straight Billiard that was in pretty good shape. I forgot to take pictures of it. I have it almost finished. I need to make a replacement “Grand Slam” inner tube for it though. These next two are some pretty old pipes, and high grade pipes. I believe they are from the 30’s and most likely the “Old Bruyere” even older. They both have severely cracked shanks.
The “Old Bruyere” Lovat has it’s inner tube broken, it is not a “Grand Slam” style tube. I do not know what it looked like originally, I have never seen one. I looked everywhere for a picture of the tube, the only thing I could find is a picture of an old ad in the Comoy’s section of pipedia.org. The Royal Comoy’s Liverpool Supreme has it’s original and complete (except for the leather washer) “Grand Slam” which was patented in 1933. This “Grand Slam” is the earlier MK1 with a threaded screw in the end. The later MK2 “Grand Slam” has a threaded cap. I know the “Grand Slam” is original to this pipe because the pipe’s shank is stamped with a *1 which denotes the size of the leather washer to be used on the “Grand Slam” inner tube. These old (somewhere either side of 90 years) higher grade Comoy’s pipes are in pretty decent shape except for the cracked shanks, they should clean up pretty well. I will probably line the shanks with stainless steel tubes. I do have my work cut out for me.
Comments
Tnx @Kmhartle I appreciate it.
Here's an offer. If anyone has an old pipe they'd like to turn into a Christmas or St. Pats Day pipe, and you don't have the dye to get the job done, send your pipe to me and I'll do it for you for just the cost to send it back. Spending $6 on a bottle of dye that I may hardly, if ever, use again is what's causing me to make the offer. I have the dye if you have the pipe...
So, if anyone wants, just give me a message in my inbox and we'll go from there...
Nice, it looks festive
It seems like it should have some little Christmas trees carved in it all over randomly🙂
That would be a good task for someone like @Corey562
😁
I don’t know about that, you are mighty handy at rusticating pipes. A little pine tree 🌲 shouldn’t be too far out of your realm🙂
Looks like it will be a nice pipe.
I would say you could clear out the bowl by lightly and carefully sanding with some rolled up 220 grit or maybe 400 grit sandpaper.
The meer bowl is pretty easy to crack with a reamer. Ask me, I know. Of course the only pipe I have had with a meer lining was a Kaywoodie that I did not realize the lining was still intact because it was so gummed/caked up. I cracked it 😩. Now it has a meer “Calabash” type bowl that I made for it. I do not have any other meer lined pipes, unless you consider true Calabash pipes with removable bowls, “lined”?
The spinning tool I made from a piece of stainless steel rod, it seemed to work as planned.
I decided to add a narrow Sterling Silver band to the stem joint of my Peterson Darwin Natural to mimic the “Royal Irish” series pipes. I ground and narrowed a cutoff tool and used it to cutoff a narrow ring of silver from each edge of a new Sterling Band. I cut off both ends, because I wanted to keep the “STERLING” (925) stamping on the band. It has a nice tight friction fit and now my Darwin Natural looks like a “Royal Irish” Darwin🙂. ‘Schwing’. This upgrade worked out much better than the army mount failures earlier.
Thanks for the info. I heated it up until I though it was red, but since I’m a newb, who knows? I did anneal the piece partway through, or so I though. It was too far gone once the silver buckled (I heard it pucker)🙁and made the rippled shape. I think I need to find a silversmith and metal spinner to teach me. There are some things that are tough to learn from “The Google” or YouTube “Rabbit Hole”😬.
Here is my pitiful attempt at metal spinning😖 I really worked over the second one😳. The first piece was 32 gauge and the second was 34 gauge. I thought the lighter disc might be easier to spin. I also cut the disc smaller once I saw the first one was too large. I though that the smaller size might keep it from buckling.....I was incorrect. The metal did not flow like I expected. After annealing, the disc’s still seemed “springy”🤔
I am tempted to cut the rounded portion off of the large piece and silver solder it onto a band.
These next two are some pretty old pipes, and high grade pipes. I believe they are from the 30’s and most likely the “Old Bruyere” even older. They both have severely cracked shanks.
The Royal Comoy’s Liverpool Supreme has it’s original and complete (except for the leather washer) “Grand Slam” which was patented in 1933. This “Grand Slam” is the earlier MK1 with a threaded screw in the end. The later MK2 “Grand Slam” has a threaded cap. I know the “Grand Slam” is original to this pipe because the pipe’s shank is stamped with a *1 which denotes the size of the leather washer to be used on the “Grand Slam” inner tube.
These old (somewhere either side of 90 years) higher grade Comoy’s pipes are in pretty decent shape except for the cracked shanks, they should clean up pretty well. I will probably line the shanks with stainless steel tubes. I do have my work cut out for me.
Damn! That is some stinger.
Nice looking pipes, good find...
That's a "Grand Slam"
Ever since I found out that you can get a gross of SAK's on EBay for almost nothing, I have them laying all over the house