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Pipe refinishing

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Comments

  • How do you guys deal with stems like this that have just been chewed with no mercy? 
  • KA9FFJKA9FFJ Master
    edited February 2022
    @jwesthurl
    As long as it is just dents, and not chips or holes, heat can sometimes help to bring most of it back to original. Take you time, be warned, DO NOT OVERHEAT or suffer the consequemces.
    Usually won't bring it all the way back, but from there sanding including micro mesh ( using plenty of water) should come close...
    Hope that helps...
    The button can be a different animal. Sometimes rebuilding and shaping are required...
  • @KA9FFJ thanks for the tips. Do you use a lighter?
  • KA9FFJKA9FFJ Master
    edited February 2022
    No, I use a heat gun on low, constantly rotating the area to avoid hot spots...

  • vtgrad2003vtgrad2003 Master
    edited February 2022
    @RockyMountainBriar

    I completely understand your aversion to it, but let me ask you this:

    Imagine you were about 20' up on 4 bucks of scaffolding (i.e., about the gable height of a standard two story house), in a new house under construction, and you had a 125 lb, 12 foot by 4 foot board of sheetrock in your hands and you fell off. While trying to throw the board away from the scaffold so it doesn't land on you, you fall directly on the first bucks' crossbars across your back--the force so strong that is literally launches you back up over 10' in the air and you then fall, inverted, flat on your neck and shoulders onto a 3/4" T&G plywood floor. Do you think that would hurt? Do you think that might cause some permanent damage?

    That's what happened to me back when I was 19, and I have had chronic back pain and muscle spasms ever since. 

    So, I'm faced with three choices:

    1. Take the narcotics doctors want to give me--narcotics known to be addictive such as oxycodone (I'm sure you heard the stories before)
    2. Take tons and tons of ibuprofen every single day--of course, at some point I'd probably end up with kidney or liver failure, and ibuprofen does nothing for the muscle spasms, only the pain. (When I tried this years ago I was having to take between 10 and 15 ibuprofen every day just to function like a normal human being.)
    3. Smoke Delta 8 mixed with CBG hemp, which is completely legal in my state, doesn't need a prescription, doesn't metabolize through the kidneys or liver, is only a fraction of the psychedelic potency of regular marijuana (i.e., Delta 9), is made from completely natural products (i.e., hemp), where the "buzz" is like drinking a single beer which is gone in roughly 30 minutes. And lastly, I have zero back pain unless I do something stupid to throw my back out, and my back spasms are almost totally gone except for when I drive long distances in a single day. 

    I simply chose to take the latter course, and faced with the alternatives, it seems like the logical solution to me. 

    Just so you educate yourself on what I'm smoking--look especially under the "effects" section:

    https://fernvalleyfarms.com/product/sour-g-cbg-flower/

    What I do is I put a little Delta 8 extract on this flower in order to not only enhance the muscle relaxing effects, but because it speeds up the effects. If I'm having spasms or pain, within about 15 minutes after smoking this, they're gone. 
  • @vtgrad2003
    I'm truly happy for you that your Delta 8 + CBG hemp is helping your chronic back problem, but you still can't have my St. Patty's pipe, (not that you would want it anyway)...😏
  • @KA9FFJ
    Thanks man! I'm a Scottish Polack anyway, so don't worry! 🤣

  • @vtgrad2003
    Notice, I said I do what you like.  

    I am not sure what I would do.  I have some pain, but I do not normally take any meds except OTC Advil/Aspirin/Tylenol occasionally, and usually just for headache or fever.  I will say, I have been in six automobile accidents (I cracked the windshield in two of them), three motorcycle accidents (one with a semi-tractor), multiple dirtbike wipeouts, two 4-wheeler crashes, a downhill ski run that popped my right knee (I am still missing a ligament in it), and who can remember whatever else?  My neck makes clicks like a ratchet’s in a socket wrench when I move it left right.  The most recent crash a few years ago was with my RoadGlide dueling the broadside of a Buick Rendezvous hurt the most.  I still have all of the prescription  muscle relaxants and pain  killers I was prescribed by the ER Doctor.  I read the side effects and didn’t use them.  Luckily, I did not have any broken bones or major injuries. I wish I would quit getting into accidents, I keep using all of my “Lottery Luck” on stupid stuff like not breaking bones/cracking skulls in accidents.
  • @RockyMountainBriar
    You're not getting my St. Patty's pipe either...😏
  • @KA9FFJ
    I guess I will have to find my own then😢
    I have been wanting to make a green pipe, I even have the dye and some of that black/green brindle swirl ebonite stem material,  but I lack the briar.
  • @RockyMountainBriar
    Since I don't have the means or the knowledge to repair a shank band, this solution was the best I could come up with. 
    And since I got the pipe for like $4 bucks, it became a perfect candidate for a specialty pipe I didn't have.
    Weird looking? Yes, but also functional...
  • RondyRRondyR Connoisseur
    I have somewhere around 200 or so pipes that I’ve gotten at antique stores and the like that need sanitation and restoration, but I cannot possibly afford to send them all to Briarville and the like for professional restoration. 

    I would absolutely love for someone here to post a full list of everything they can think of that I would need to restore them myself. Pretend that I want to open my own pipe restoration business (I don’t, so just pretend) and please tell me every item and tool that I would need to buy in order to do so! 
  • @RondyR
    That's a great question, I'm interested in the answers. @KA9FFJ, @RockyMountainBriar and @PappyJoe should have some great input!
  • @RondyR

    Start with page 1 of this discussion if you haven't read through all 56 pages yet. A lot of basics were covered earlier.
    If you still have questions, then ask and some one will answer specific questions.

    For example, some people swear by the salt and grain alcohol method to clean the bowls. There is also a method of using cotton balls and alcohol.
    190 Proof Grain Alcohol works best but other high proof spirits will also work.
    DO NOT use rubbing alcohol. 

    If, after using the salt and alcohol method, you still find some old tobacco smell, pack the bowl with used coffee grounds (NOT flavored grounds).
  • @RondyR
    I would add an alcohol retort to the salt/cotton ball/alcohol/coffee grounds methods (For Briar pipes, other woods are probably ok too, NO clay or meerschaums though).  Just be aware that the hot vapors will strip the exterior finish if allowed to get on the outside of the pipe if not careful.  It will soften and remove nasty gunk and smells from a shank, airway and bowl that otherwise would probably remain without it.  The retort treatment will frequently remove some much gunk that the stem fit will become very loose.  You will need to get comfortable with tightening stems.  Only high proof alcohol such as Everclear works well though.  Some people use rubbing alcohol, but I’m with @PappyJoe on this, I only use “drinkable” alcohols.  Also be very careful when using high proof alcohol on stems, some will haze/melt/disintegrate.  Vulcanite ok.  Acrylic, Real Amber, and faux Amber Not ok, others???
  • @AceFour;
    That is a beautiful pipe, Brother.
  • Another STL Shoe box stummel. Found a stem that was a close fit, as far as tenon to mortise, but was far short of matching the shank...

  • In case you were wondering, this is a brand new, unused stummel with nothing seemingly wrong with it. So why was it in the box?
    Upon close inspection, I found no air draft had been drilled! The mortise was there, but that's it!
    I don't make pipes. I don't have the equipment or schooling to make pipes. I know my limitations, but I decided to try and drill one anyway... it was free...
    I won't go into detail, but let's just say I lucked out...


  • Now the matter of the stem vs. the shank. At first I was going to do a gradual taper down the shank to a match with the stem. But instead of that major surgery, I elected to settle for a quick rounded taper on the shank. I made a cone shaped sander out of 220 grit, then we t to work...
  • Looks like a quasi military mount!
  • Your right @Balisong
    All it needs is a metal cap covering the shank end to complete the affect...😁
  • @KA9FFJ;
    Really sweet, Brother!
  • @KA9FFJ
    If you decided to, you might find a large shell casing and make a true military mount.  It looks good though.  You hit that airway right on the money too👍🏻
  • @RockyMountainBriar
    Agreed brother. I had to do a double take after drilling that airway. It was my first one, and as near perfect as I can get. I think I'll call it quits with a perfect record, and leave the airway drilling to @Corey562 (Abb)...😉
  • @KA9FFJ awsome work.  That's a nice collection

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