Pipe restoration tip: new method of pipe cleaning

[caskwith]

I bought a particularly dirty welbour pipe on ebay, the stem was dark yellow from the oxidation and i was having a really hard time cleaning it, also inside the stem it was well gunked up with tar etc. I took a risk and decided to soak the stem in boiling water (freshly boiled from the kettle) and baking soda (to try and help deodorise inside the stem) lo and behold all the oxidation showed up brighly, showing me exactly the areas i had missed, it also seemed to soften the oxidation as when i rubbed it with steel wool it came off quickly and easily. i managed to remove all of the oxidation in a matter of minutes with st/wool and frequent dipping into the hot water, a job that i think would have taken up to an hour if i used my normal methods. also the inside of the stem was cleaned easily, i ran an alcohol soaked pipe cleaner through once, loads of gunk came out, but when i ran the next one through it came out perfectly clean.

so theres my tip of the day, thought i would share it with the pipe restoring community.

(apologies if this is a method that somebody has already mentioned, i havnt seen it before, but im probably not the first to discover this method)

[drrgill]

Thanks.. I have just the pipe to try this with....was thinking about throwing it away.

Drrgill

[caskwith]

Originally Posted by drrgill

Thanks.. I have just the pipe to try this with....was thinking about throwing it away.

Drrgill

great, let me know how you get on. take some before and after pics aswell so you can remind yourself how bad it looked before

[omowasu]

I would have never thought to place a stem in boiling water - I just restored a Hilson Fantasia (and gave it to a friend as a b-day gift) and spent literally hours with a Dremel and buffer pad to get it right. I have an old Danco I want to restore, and the stem is just an awful yellow. Ill try your method and let you know how it goes - with winter coming here in the central US, pipe smokin' season is starting (for me)!

[IHT]

how long did you soak it for?

[caskwith]

Originally Posted by IHT

how long did you soak it for?

initially about 2 or 3 minutes. then i took it out (carefully, lol) and started cleaning with wire wool (my preffered way of cleaning, just needs a quick tripoli polish afterwards to remove scratch marks) every 30 seconds or so i dipped it back in to wash off the residue and highlight the yellows marks again, also helped keep the oxidation "soft", when i had finished i sat it in the water for a minute and there were no yellow marks at all so i knew it was clean. I also then used a small syringe to squirt hot water throug the stem to help dislodge any gunge before running an alcohol soaked pipe cleaner through it, you would be amazed at what came out of the stem!

[Neuromancer]

I have a better way of restoring an estate pipe when I get decent ones that are worth extra effort...for $20 per pipe plus shipping to and from, I send them to Jim Benjamin (858-674-4900) in San Diego...he doesn't do any repairs, just sanitizes them and restores them to like new condition, cleans and polishes them, takes the old cake down (and out to bare wood if necessary), and if you want, will open up the draft hole for you a bit too if you want an easier draw...what he sends back to you, for all intents and purposes, is a pipe that looks as new as the day it came from the store...I read about him in Rick Newcombe's book In Search Of Pipe Dreams, which btw, is a great read...

[NCatron]

I don't recommend this boiling water method with stems that are only "medium-bad". Once I scraped the stem, the discoloration was permanent, kind of a striated look now. It still works well, just not very pretty. So I'd keep this for a last resort.

[IHT]

Originally Posted by Neuromancer

I have a better way of restoring an estate pipe when I get decent ones that are worth extra effort...for $20 per pipe plus shipping to and from, I send them to Jim Benjamin (858-674-4900) in San Diego...he doesn't do any repairs, just sanitizes them and restores them to like new condition, cleans and polishes them, takes the old cake down (and out to bare wood if necessary), and if you want, will open up the draft hole for you a bit too if you want an easier draw...what he sends back to you, for all intents and purposes, is a pipe that looks as new as the day it came from the store...I read about him in Rick Newcombe's book In Search Of Pipe Dreams, which btw, is a great read...

thanks for reminding me. we talked about this guy in the "FAQ" i do believe. i need to send off a really nice tim west pipe that i broke the stem off of.

[caskwith]

Originally Posted by NCatron

I don't recommend this boiling water method with stems that are only "medium-bad". Once I scraped the stem, the discoloration was permanent, kind of a striated look now. It still works well, just not very pretty. So I'd keep this for a last resort.

The discoloring should never be permanent, somewhere deep down there is clean rubber, you just need to get to it, if your stem is so bad that you can scrape it deep down and it still yellow then the stem should really be replaced as it has gone too far.

[canadasmokes]

Iv got a pipe i could give this a shot with as well.

[Neuromancer]

Originally Posted by IHT

thanks for reminding me. we talked about this guy in the "FAQ" i do believe. i need to send off a really nice tim west pipe that i broke the stem off of.

He doesn't do repairs, Greg...I just snapped the tenon off of one too, so I have 3 options I guess...have a new vulcanite made to match the old, have it made in lucite, or have them repair it with a delrin tenon plug...I have two sources and on recommendation from the guys at smokersforums.org I think I'm gonna send it to Dave Wolff at Walker Briar Works - the other place I know of is Tim West/J. H. Lowe who I'm told also does a good job...