By Al Jones
This looked like an easy restoration, but once in hand, it presented a few challenges. I somehow deleted the “before” pictures, so I can’t share them. This sellers picture shows that it was in pretty decent shape. The shape 184 is listed as a Bent Apple on the Comoys shape chart and catalogs.
There was a white piece of the drilled, C stem logo and the button had what appeared to be a very poorly done hole repair.
The briar only needed to be reamed and soaked. There were a few dents that I steamed out with an electric iron and cloth.
For the C logo fix, I entered a local beauty shop for the first time in my life and they recommended a white gel nail polish. I applied the polish,let it sit overnight, than sanded smooth with 800 grit paper, it worked quite well and to the naked eye, is invisible.
I removed the very light oxidation with 800, 1,500 and 2,000 grit wet paper, this was followed by 8,000 and 12,000 micromesh. This removed the poor repair job to a tiny pin hole underneath the bottom. I used the black superglue and accelerator to make that repair. I cut a small v-shaped piece from an old credit card, coated that in grease and inserted it into the button to keep glue from sealing the draft hole. Once the glue set, the plastic card is removed.
The stem was buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish.
The briar was buffed lightly with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.
Below is the finished pipe.