Stolen!

The day before we moved across town, someone broke into my Jeep and stole my pipe bag and a couple tins of tobacco.

The Grabows and a Peterson Dunmore from the 1970's are gone. After all the hours that went into restoring these fine pipes, some punk is probably going to use them to smoke pot. A tragic end to a piece of pipe history.

They opened my cigar case and left it (and my tools in the back seat) alone. All they took were the pipes. I am so glad to be out of that neighborhood.

Will post some more once I get settled in and have some more estate pipes for restoring.

May be off the frid for awhile

We will be moving in the next couple of weeks, so updates to this blog may be scarce for a few weeks.

I will get some stuff up when I can, but packing and moving will have to come first.

Putting it all together

Here is the first of the pipes in its finished condition.

I have smoked a few bowls out of this pipe and it smokes very well. I look forward to many years of enjoyment from this fine pipe.

Still have a bit of polishing to finish, but that will be no problem. It looks good as is.

Notes on Stem Cleaning

There are other methods for cleaning the stems other than the bleach method I outlined earlier.

Some guys will use Oxyclean over bleach as it will not eat into sensitive parts. I have not tried this, but some guys swear by it.

Other ways to clean stems involve sanding away the oxidation by hand. Other methods use Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or Bar Keeper's Friend, Soft Scrub, or other such cleaning products.

Some methods will take more time than others. A lot of it depends on how much oxidation is on the stem. If the stem is really dirty, you may find yourself spending several hours of cleaning by hand to remove the grime and restore a shine.

Try some various methods and settle on the one that suits you best.

Time to Polish the Briar

After a couple treatments with salt and alcohol, the pipes are starting to clean up nicely. These things had been the victim of some serious neglect in years gone by. One is completely blocked with gunk and no air at all will pass through it. It took me a lot of pipe cleaners dipped in rum to finally get the inside of the pipe clean and ready for use. Now to focus on the outside of the pipe.

I am starting with the pipe at the top of the photo above. Notice how dark the bowl is. Over the years, dirt and oils from the owners hand and heat from smoking had darkened the coloring of the pipe. I wanted to remove some of this build up on the polish without harming the finish of the pipe itself.

I returned to my trusty Bar Keeper's Friend and gave it a try. I added some to the pipe and gently cleaned it with a cloth. Years of neglect came off the pipe and after a few careful sessions the pipe is several shades lighter than it was and the grain is much more visible now.

I did not want to make it too light so I stopped here and started with the polish. The Bar Keeper's Friend removed the grime, but it left the pipe dull looking. That is where the pipe polish comes into play. I use Paragon wax from Fine Pipes. It is great stuff and best of all, there is no need for a buffer wheel which is great for guys like me who do not have one.

I applied a small amount of wax and worked it into the pipe. Then you let it sit and harden to a dull haze. All you do after that is take a polishing cloth and work it to a shine.


As you can see, the pipe is coming back to it's former glory and will be ready to smoke very soon.

Stem Cleaning Time...

Now is time to move on to the stem of the pipe.

There are a number of methods out there for cleaning up an old stem. The one I am going to use today is the bleach method.

For starters, you will need the following:

Bleach
Petroleum Jelly
Water
Q-tips
Small container
Fine grit sand paper
Polish of your choice

Take some bleach and make a solution in the small container. I use one part bleach to three parts water. Some guys will use a weaker or stronger solution, the jury is still out on what is best.

Next you will take some Petroleum Jelly and use the Q-tip to apply a layer over any logos or metal parts on the stem. Bleach will eat away a number of logos out there and the jelly will protect them from harm.




After you have the sensitive parts covered, it is bath time!

You will let this soak until the oxidation is removed from the stem. Some highly discolored stems will take quite awhile, while others like this one only take a few minutes before they are done. If you start to see black streaks in the bleach solution, REMOVE THE STEM! The goal is to remove the oxidation while leaving the good stuff intact.

After you remove the stem, rinse under water to halt the bleach action. You will notice that the stem is dull and rough feeling. To fix this, you will need sand it smooth and polish it.

I use fine grit sand paper until I have a nice smooth surface. Start with 400 or so paper and work down to 100 for best results. For polish, there are a number of products that guys use from furniture polish to auto wax. Today I am using what I happen to have on hand. It is finishing polish from 3M. I had never used it before and was unsure what it would do to the stem, but it cleaned up nicely and has a good shine to it.


For cleaning the metal stinger, I used some Barkeepers Friend and some elbow grease. The stem cleaned up well and in all, the stem looks great!

If the bleach method is not something you would want to try, I have had good luck with Bar Keeper's Friend alone. It takes some time and lots of work, but you will remove the oxidation and bring a nice shine to the stem.

24 hours later...

Well it has been a day and this is what the pipes look like. The pipes are still very dirty, so I will give them another treatment.

Will check back in a day or two and see how they are doing. The kids are wanting to play games tonight, so I will work on the stems tomorrow...