This restoration was fairly simple – just what I was looking for after tackling a run of trickier repairs.

This Trypis pipe hit the worktable in fairly good estate condition. The rim was hidden under a coat of lava but looked to be in decent shape otherwise. The stem was a bit oxidized and the alligator-skin rustication was dirty and packed up with old wax, grease and other goodies.

When I twisted off the stem for the above pic, I found a crack in the top of the shank – actually two small parallel cracks. This sort of spiral stress fracture is usually caused by putting too much torque on a stuck stem while trying to remove it – one good reason to keep your pipes clean.

While I was deciding what to do about the crack, I removed the very dirty stinger from the stem and dropped in into…