@KA9FFJ Nice....I'm thinking your style of rustication would look better Your style comes out looking almost like a sandblast...this style kinda looks like somebody's six year old found a partially sharpened screwdriver and started "experimenting" with dad's pipe...Then he must have got caught, because the rim is only partially finished. At least that is what it looks like to me Can you tell I am not a fan of "Custombilt's" rustication.
@RockyMountainBriar I couldn't agree more, I mean about Custombilts. It was the best I could do with what I had to work with... but the mechanics are decent and it will probably be a good smoker. I'll be taking it to the pipe show this February...
Here's an old Fischer pipe that I thought was worth the effort to bring back. HUGE pit (crater) on the shank, among 2 other smaller ones... Decided to repair the pits, clean it up and throw it out there at the St. Louis pipe show this February for a small pittance... Before:
I don’t know about you, but I just really enjoy cleaning up and smoking old pipes. Each one has its own history, challenges and rewards. Because you can get them so much cheaper my collection (& PAD) really took off once I discovered this. I really got into it after reading Old Briar by Dave Whitney. Anyone else read this?
@jfreedy I have not read Old Briar, but I have purchased a few pipes from Dave off of EBay. One of them had a stem that was broken in shipping. He sent it with the original stem parts and a stem that “sorta” fit. I rebuilt the broken stem and used it instead of the “marginal” one.
Here's the "final" with the stem. I put quotes around final because I found extremely fine hairline scratches near the button, so I'll redo the top half of the stem. But for the sake of closing this project, here are the pics...
Why they call it a Supergrain I have no idea. Except for a small strip of untouched briar on the bottom of the shank, there's no grain showing on the pipe. Anyway, here's after:
@Zouave I agree. I love to see old, sometimes nearly discarded pipes brought back to life. I made up a card that I have sitting on my table at the St. Louis pipe show. The title on the card reads, "Second Chance Pipes". And that's what I feel like I'm doing... giving old, unused and/or neglected pipes a second chance... For me, it truly is a labor of love...
@KA9FFJ and @RockyMountainBriar that's a good way of putting it. For me I started with my grandfathers old pipes. They were abandoned in the basement after he passed and it was sort of a tribute to him for me to try and repair them all. Now it's the challenge of the work that keeps me interested. I feel like every old pipe has to have a story to it.
Been pretty busy lately. Here's a BRITTNEY made in France that looked like a dog got hold of it or it was used as a cutting board... There were 11 small to medium sized gashes located throughout the stummel. The only way this pipe was going to look good and be useful again was to rusticate...
Comments
Long story short:
Before... after a thorough cleaning...
Nice....I'm thinking your style of rustication would look better
Your style comes out looking almost like a sandblast...this style kinda looks like somebody's six year old found a partially sharpened screwdriver and started "experimenting" with dad's pipe...Then he must have got caught, because the rim is only partially finished. At least that is what it looks like to me
Can you tell I am not a fan of "Custombilt's" rustication.
HUGE pit (crater) on the shank, among 2 other smaller ones...
Decided to repair the pits, clean it up and throw it out there at the St. Louis pipe show this February for a small pittance...
Before:
I have not read Old Briar, but I have purchased a few pipes from Dave off of EBay. One of them had a stem that was broken in shipping. He sent it with the original stem parts and a stem that “sorta” fit. I rebuilt the broken stem and used it instead of the “marginal” one.
I made up a card that I have sitting on my table at the St. Louis pipe show. The title on the card reads, "Second Chance Pipes". And that's what I feel like I'm doing... giving old, unused and/or neglected pipes a second chance... For me, it truly is a labor of love...
👍