Daily Archives: June 9, 2012

Lifting Tooth Marks from a Lucite Stem with a Heat Gun

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A normal pattern of behaviour for me in my refurbishing work is that once I figure something out that works on one kind of material I want to try it on a variety of similar items. In this case once I had used the heat gun to lift the tooth dents on a vulcanite stem I wanted to experiment with Lucite stems. I had no clue whether it would work or even if Lucite had some kind of memory that would bring the dents back to a smooth surface on the stem. There was only one way to find out since I could find no answers online and that was to give it a try. I figured the worst that could happen if I was careful was that the stem would remain the same – dented or a bit melted and I would have to do a different kind of repair. I had a nice little Stanwell bulldog that was given to that had a Lucite stem that had some tooth dents in the stem – just ahead of the button. There was one dent on top and one underneath.

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The two pictures below show the depth of the marks (Again I ask your forgiveness the poor quality of the photos, several of them are a bit blurry but I think that they give you a good idea of the nature of the problem. The dents look far worse in person than the pictures show). The top photo shows the top of the stem and the second photo the underside. I decided to continue my experiment with lifting the tooth dents with my heat gun on this Lucite stem as it seemed like a good candidate for the trial.

I personally like working with a clean surface when I am doing this kind of work so I scrubbed the tip to clean it of any grime or grit that might be in the dents. I used a soft cloth dampened with Isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface then I buffed it with a quick light touch on a White Diamond wheel.  The pictures below show the stem just before I used the heat gun on it. You will see in the photos that there are small pits close to the button as well as the larger dents on both sides. The crevice between the button and stem body also has some scratches that would need to be sanded out once the tooth dents were dealt with.

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As I explained in the post on the vulcanite stem I once again stood the heat gun on its end pointing upward. I used the wire stand built into the handle to stabilize the gun in this position (see the picture previous post on lifting tooth marks from vulcanite). I wanted to be able to have both hands free to maneuver the stem over the heat so having the gun positioned in this manner allows me to do that. I set the heat gun on low heat as before because I did not know how the heat would affect the Lucite. I have found that high setting can too easily burn the vulcanite so I was assuming the same thing would be true of the Lucite.

I worked the stem over the heat keeping it about 4-6 inches above top of the gun tip as it allows it to thoroughly heat the Lucite. I move the stem constantly back and forth across the heat. I kept the stem on the pipe as before and used the bowl as a handle. In this instance I worked to just keep the first 3/4 inches of the stem from the button forward in the heat. I stopped frequently to check on the progress and see if there was any blistering on the stem. It took a bit longer for the heat to work on the Lucite. I think it must be the density and hardness of the Lucite that makes the difference. With the application of heat the Lucite began to return to its original smoothness. I kept the heat on the stem until all the dents were gone. The reason I believe the process worked was because the dents in the Lucite were not cuts in the surface but actual dents. The application of the heat did the trick.

Once the surface was smooth I took it off the heat and cooled it the same way I did the vulcanite. I did not want the stem to bend accidentally while it was soft so I dipped the tip in some running cool water to set the new surface. I dried off the tip and then sanded the area with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper (with water on the stem as I sanded) and then moved through the grades of micromesh pads – 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 4000 and 6000 grit. By the 3200 grit micromesh pad I found that the Lucite was beginning to have a smooth and glossy finish. The sanding with the final two grades of the pads really polished the stem and gave it the glassy finish that polished Lucite has. I finished by giving it a final polish on the buffer with White Diamond polishing compound and a coat of carnauba wax.

Here are some pictures of the top and the underside of the finished stem.

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Refurb on an Old “The Regent” – fit a horn stem

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Just finished up with this pipe. I had a lot of fun with this one! It is an old horn shaped pipe. It is stamped The Regent and has a sterling silver band on it. The hallmarks are the reclined lion (sterling silver) the Anchor (Birmingham) and a mystery stamp – a five point star (no date sign like that on the British sterling sites). I was reading in Gary Schrier’s Calabash book this evening and came across a calabash with the same hallmarks. He said it was a Faux Birmingham made pipe. The calabash he had was a Manhatten made in New York City. The question is do I also have a Faux Birmingham pipe??

It was dirty and I reamed and cleaned the bowl and shank. It had a thick cake and a bit of cob webs in the bowl and shank. It also did not have a stem. It came to me as a bowl without a stem. I had an old horn stem in my can of scavenged pipe parts that was that right shape and whose tenon fit perfectly. It was about a 1/4 to large in diameter. I used my dremel to bring it close to a fit and then sanded it until it was a perfect fit. While I worked on it I removed the silver band in order to get the stem fit to be flush with the briar. When I was finished with the fit I polished the horn stem until it glowed with 400 and 600 girt wet dry sand paper, micromesh pads up to 4000 grit and then Tripoli and white diamond. Then I reset the band with a bit of superglue and then put on the stem and gave the silver a polish and the pipe a buff.

I have included a pic of the stem first to show you the look of the beautiful old horn stem. It has an orific button (single round hole in the button). It seemed to match the age of the pipe in terms of look.

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The rest of the pics are of the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

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Refurb – A pair of Astleys 68s

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Just finished the final buff on these two and thought I would post them. In researching the net for information on these pipes I found a 1968 catalogue that showed that they originally had saddle stems. I sorted through my stem box and found two saddle stems for these Astleys bowls. I fit these stems to the bowls. They are stamped Astleys 68 which is a pot shape. They also have the address on Jermyn Street London stamped on them. The bowls were reamed and cleaned. I then restained them with black stain, fired the stain to set it and then buffed with white diamond lightly before waxing with Halcyon wax.

The pipe with the band had a crack in the shank that I repaired and pressure fit with the nickel band. The blast on this pair is nicely done. Astleys called this their Crusty Briar line. Here are the pics. Thanks for looking.

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Reworking the button on a Perspex Stem on a GBD Prehistoric

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I was gifted this older GBD Prehistoric by a good friend who knows I like working on seeming irreparable pipes.  He knows that I enjoy the challenge and that I work to get them back to a workable condition. The stem was truly a mess as can be seen from the photos below. It had bite through holes on both the top and the bottom of the stem. The button was destroyed by the bite marks. This one would prove to be a bit of a challenge. My usual method of repairing bite throughs with Super Glue would not work as the hole was on both sides of the stem. You can tell by the three pictures below the size of the hole. I included even the blurry ones to show the extent of the problem that needed to be addressed.

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After carefully picking at the holes with my dental pick I could tell that the surrounding Perspex material around the holes was compromised and pieces continued to come off with very little pressure on the dental pick. It was clear then that I would have to shorten the stem back to the point on the stem where there was solid material to work with. To do this involved cutting off almost a ¼ inch of the stem. The two photos below show the stem after the material has been removed. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum on it to take back the stem to this point. Care must be exercised to keep the finished surface straight and level. But I have found that this is fairly easy to do with the Dremel set at the lowest speed.

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Once the stem is cut back to the solid material a new button has to be carved. I use a series of needle files to do this. Note in the picture below the three files that I used the most. The top one is a flat rectangular one that does a great job on the top and bottom of the stem to cut a straight 90 degree edge into the Perspex. The oval and the round file I used to open the slot in the button to match the shape of the one I cut off. Once the stem has been cut the airway at the end is merely a round hole or as in this case was barely flared. I like an oval slot in the button and the files do a great job in that process. I have two sets of needle files that I use. I clean the teeth on the files with Isopropyl alcohol and a brass tire brush. It keeps them from getting clogged with the Perspex dust.

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In the three pictures below you can see the button that has been cut in the stem. I also used sandpaper to thin the stem profile forward of the button to give it the proper slope and give the button some depth. Note the rough surface of the stem is caused by the use of 240 grit sandpaper to accomplish this task. The top photo is the top side of the stem at the button, the second is the underside of the stem and the bottom photo is a profile shot to show the look of the button. When the stem was at this point it still needed quite a bit of sanding to smooth out the new button and shape the stem. The edges in the profile are a bit sharp and needed to be rounded to match the part of the stem that remained untouched. I rounded the edges with the 240 grit sand paper to match the shape of the stem.

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The next two photos below show the stem after that reshaping has been done. I then had to polish the stem to get it back to it clear sheen. I started that with some 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper that was used with water to give it the bite to cut through the scratches of the files and the sandpaper. The first photo shows the pipe next to another GBD Rhodesian for comparison sake. You can see in that photo how much of the Perspex stem I removed to cut the new button. The second photo shows the shaping and flow of the stem once I have finished with the polishing with the wet dry sandpaper.

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The last three photos show the finished pipe. The bowl was polished and the polishing on the stem was done with the micromesh pads through the 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 4000 and 6000 grits soaked in water to facilitate a good polish. Each grit level of micromesh took out more of the scratching that remained after the sanding. By the 3200 grit the surface was smooth and shiny. The last two grits gave it a thorough polishing and then I finished it on the buffer with White Diamond and carnauba wax.

Lifting Tooth Marks in an old Charatan Stem with a Heat Gun

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I picked up this old Charatan 33X Bell Dublin off of EBay in the 90’s and refurbished the bowl and rim and gave it a good polishing with some Halcyon 2 wax. I find that the wax works very well on sand blasted and rusticated surfaces. This one turned out to be a great smoking pipe.  The briar is extremely lightweight and has a nice deep blast to it. Charatan does this shape like no one else and it is a favourite of mine. I liked everything about this old pipe but… it had some incredibly deep tooth marks on the stem.

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The two pictures below show the depth of the marks (Please forgive the poor quality of the photos, though they are a bit blurry they communicate the problem. Know that it was far worse than the pictures show). They arc across the stem just in front of the button and extend about a half inch into the stem. The top photo shows the top of the stem and the second photo the underside. I covered them for the longest time with a rubber softee but really did not like the feel of that in my mouth so I decided to experiment with lifting the tooth dents using my heat gun.

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I scrubbed the tip to clean it of any slurry that had built up under the rubber softee tip. There seems to always be a white calcification under the rubber guard. I cleaned that up with my buffer and some sandpaper. The photos above show the stem after I had cleaned it and it was ready to be heated.  I have a heat gun that I can stand on its end pointing upward. It has a wire stand built into the handle that stabilizes the gun in this position (see the picture below). Having the gun positioned in this manner allows me to control and manipulate the stem with both hands over the heat. I set the heat gun on low heat as I have found that high setting can too easily burn the vulcanite. I learned that painful lesson on some precast stems that I was trying to bend. I had used the heat gun to bend my stems for quite some time but had not used it to lift the tooth marks from the stem until I used it on this stem.

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The trick I have learned in the process is to keep the stem about 4-6 inches above top of the gun tip as it allows it to thoroughly heat the vulcanite but not burn it. I move the stem constantly back and forth across the heat. I kept the stem on the pipe this time and used the bowl as a handle. In this instance I worked to just keep the first inch of the stem from the button forward in the heat. I stopped frequently to check on the progress and see if there was any blistering on the stem. The blistering can easily happen and is a pain to deal with. It can be sanded out but it is a case of creating a problem while solving another one – kind of like how plumbing repairs always work out for me. It did not take long for the heat to do its magic. Vulcanite has memory so with the heat it returned to its original smoothness. I have found as long as the bite marks are not actually cuts but dents they will lift out with persistence and heat.

Once the surface was smooth again I took it off the heat and cooled it by dipping the tip in some running cool water to set the vulcanite in its new position. It is the same principle that is used in bending the stems. You heat and get it bent to the position you want and then dip in cold water to set it. I figured it would work the same in this instance and it did indeed work. I dried off the tip and then sanded the area with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper (with water on the stem as I sanded) and then moved through the grades of micromesh pads – 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 4000 and 6000 grit. By the 3200 grit micromesh pad I found that the stem was beginning to get a smooth and glossy finish. The final two grades of the pads really polish the stem and give it a glassy finish. To finish the work on the stem I took it for a final polish on the buffer with White Diamond polishing compound. It really shone when that was done.  The work was finished after I gave it a good coating of carnauba wax.

Here are some pictures of the top and the underside of the finished stem.

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