Tag Archives: repairing a bite through with black superglue

Repairing a Bite Through on a Vulcanite Stem with Black Super Glue

Blog by Steve Laug

I recently posted about an old BBB 701 Rhodesian that I restored. It was quite a mess and needed a lot of attention to both the bowl and the stem. In the process I took some photos of the stem repair I did and thought I would write a blog on the process. The first three photos below show the state of the stem when I started. The top and bottom sides of the stem at the button had significant tooth chatter. The top of the stem had the bite through at the button and a much worn edge on the button. The underside of the stem had deep bit marks next to the button and small chatter up the stem about 1 inch. There was oxidation on the stem as well. In the photo there appears to be a crack from the bite through hole into the button and to the edge. That mark is more tooth marks but the stem material is not cracked in that way. The red arrow in the first two photos highlights the apparent crack. In the third photo the arrow points to the tooth marks on the surface of the stem.

The first step in preparing to patch the hole in the stem is to clean up the surface and remove any loose or damaged portions of the stem. I use a dental pick to pick at the edges of the hole and the cracks and broken spots on the stem. I also probe other potential thin spots on the top and the bottom of the stem. I particularly probed the tooth marks on the underside to see how thin the vulcanite was in those areas. Once I had picked away the damage I wiped down the areas with a cotton pad and alcohol. The surface needs to be free of wax or dirt before the patch is applied because these will cause the patch to not bind to the surface of the stem.

I have a nail file that I “stole” from my daughters that is a perfect fit in the slot of most pipe stems that I work on. It is tapered and pointed so that it fits deep into the airway underneath the hole in the stem. I want a hard surface under the patch for the glue to puddle against. In order to not glue the file into the stem permanently I apply a thick coat of Vaseline petroleum jelly to the end of the file before I insert it. I only put enough of the jelly on the file that it does not squeeze out of the hole and soil the repair area. This took time to get the hang of. Too much jelly makes a mess of the repair area and too little makes the super glued file the next problem you will need to address in repairing the stem. It takes practice to get it just right – don’t get frustrated and remember too much jelly is better than too little!

With the file inserted in the airway it is time to start the patch. I drip black super glue around the edges of the hole first to solidify the broken edges and provide a live edge to build on when I fill the hole. I let that first coat of glue dry hard to touch before adding the next layer of glue. I have used an accelerator in the past to quick dry the patch. This time I decided to do it the long way and let the patch cure between coats. In the photo below you can see the ring around the bubble of the patch that is that first layer of the repair. The arrow in the picture points to the cured edge of the repair that surrounds the bubble in the centre. I apply several more coats to the edge to build it out toward the middle. The final coat I purposely overfill because as the glue cures it shrinks. It is a bit more work to sand out the excess material but in the end it makes for a thicker and stronger patch. I also filled the tooth marks on the underside of the stem next to the button with the superglue. These took two coats to build it up enough to reshape the button with files and sandpaper. I set the stem aside overnight to give the glue patch time to cure and harden. The next morning, when the glue had hardened I sanded the patch with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper followed by more sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I work to blend the edges of the repair into the surface of the stem and feather out the surface of the repair to match the surface of the surrounding stem material. In the photo below the arrow points to the patch. It is a slightly different colour of black to the rest of the stem at this point in the process. More sanding and working on the patch will change that. On the underside of the stem I sanded the patches until they were smooth as well. On this particular repair there were two small air bubbles that showed up when I sanded the patch. They are shown by the arrows. I refilled these small holes with a drop of black super glue and let it cure until hard then resanded the patched areas. When repairing the surface of the stem I always check the profile of the stem to make sure that I am not creating bulges in the surface of the stem. I want to maintain the flow and lines of the stem and not change the profile. When I sand the repairs I repeatedly look at the profile and often take pictures to make sure the flow and lines are smooth. The photo below shows the smooth profile of the stem after the repairs and initial sanding. I sanded the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper with a spot of water on the stem. I sanded to remove the oxidation and to blend the patch into the surface of the stem on both the top and the bottom sides. As can be seen in the photos below the patch on the top side is smooth and blended into the stem. It is still a slightly different black colour but more sanding will remedy that. The patch on the underside is well blended. More work needed to be done with the two air bubble repairs to blend them further.

I sanded the stem further with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. 3M makes this product and it is very flexible. I find that it allows me to follow the curves of the stem and the sharp edges of the button with little effort. The top and bottom of the stem are shown after sanding in the next two photos. The patches are now little more than small spots on the stem that will further disappear after sanding with micromesh sanding pads.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads to smooth out the repair and further blend the patches. In the photo below you can see that the patch has all but disappeared on the top side of the stem. The one on the underside looks similar at this point in the process. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The surface of the stem began to shine and have a rich glow in the surface. Each successive grit of pad deepened the shine and the richness of the black stem.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The final two photos show the top and underside of the stem the shine is rich enough that the flash is shown reflected in the surface of the stem. The hole is solidly repaired and the tooth marks on the underside of the stem no longer show. The edge of the button has been sharpened as well to distinguish between the stem surface and the button. The finished stem looks as if it was never damaged though under a bright light the spots are slightly visible if you know what you are looking for. The stem is now ready to be put into service. The proof of the durability of the patch will be seen over time as the pipe is smoked and used. On other stem repairs like this I have never had a problem with durability and I am hoping for the same with this stem.

Restoration of a Barclay Rex HGP Briar Root Labelled “THE DUKE”

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I read a post by dmcmtk on Pipe Smokers Unlimited Forum regarding a pipe he picked up that was a Barclay Rex with a white spot on the stem. He had written to the store and received a response that the pipe was made for them by Dunhill. I had no idea that Dunhill had made pipes for the NY shop so I began to hunt down some of these pipes looking for the tell-tale white dot on the stem. I found some on Ebay under the Barclay Rex shop store there and one stood out to me and seemed to call my name. The write-up on the ad read:

“This is a HGP Stubby Briar Root estate pipe that has been carefully restored on-site.The stem is in excellent condition and has very little visible wear; there are a few nicks on the bowl. This pipe was made by hand for Barclay Rex and likely dates to before 1960. The letters HGP actually stand for the craftsman’s initials.”

The story and the shape intrigued me and it had the white spot on the stem. I was hooked. It had a buy it now price so I went for it. I contacted the store and paid the bill and the pipe was mine. I was not too concerned about the condition as I would work on it anyway. The ad said that it had been carefully restored on-site so I would see what that meant when it arrived. The photos below were on Ebay and give a good idea of why the shape caught my attention. I wrote to Barclay-Rex to find out a little background information on this pipe and the stamping it showed in the pictures. I received this email response:

Dear Steve,
This was made by a pipe maker who worked for Barclay Rex for a time in the mid-20th century. His initials were HGP and he would stamp his pipes as such. We are unsure why the maker decided to place a white dot on his stem, but we have come across one or two more of his with the same combination. Unfortunately, his full name has been forgotten with time.
– barclayrex1910

When the pipe arrived it was in good shape. The stamping indeed was HGP over Briar Root on the left side of the shank and The Duke on the bottom of the shank. Part of the shank and bottom of the bowl was flattened so that it was a sitter. I took it apart to examine it more closely. It was anything but cleaned and restored. The stem was rough – there was oxidation next to the band that went quite deep. There was a gouge on the right side of the stem that was quite deep. The top and the bottom of the stem from the taper to the button had obviously been modified to make a more pronounced taper. The file marks were still evident in the vulcanite. The width of the button end of the stem had also been modified and was narrower than originally designed as the sides of the stem also showed file marks. The button itself had a orific opening but someone had modified it into a poorly shaped slot. The stem had deep tooth marks on the surface of top and bottom near the button. There was a bite through on the top side next to the button. The angle of the taper was very abrupt and sharp with distinct cut marks. The tenon was fit for a filter by the appearance of it and the inside was very tarry. A filter would not have fit with all of the buildup in the stem. The bowl was another story. It was out of round with burn marks on the inner edge that needed some work. It had been reamed so that was not an issue. Then inside of the shank was filthy. The tars and oils were thick against the end of the mortise.

I decided to work on the stem first. I wanted to address the taper of the stem and cleanup the file marks and gouge in the top portion. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches and reshape the taper. This took quite a bit of sanding to reshape the angles and edges of the stem. There was a slight hip on both sides of the stem that needed to be sanded out to get a smooth flow to the lines of the sides. The next series of photos show the progress in reshaping and repairing the stem. I worked on the taper first to remove the sharp angles of the sides and top of the taper and work on a flow to the profile of the stem. I sanded the gouge on the top right side of the stem until it disappeared and also worked on the transition from the flattened top and bottom of the taper and the round end next to the shank. The wet spot on the first photo next to the button highlights the spot where the small hole in the top of the taper was. At this point the taper is smooth and the transition is beginning to look right. The profile shot below shows the work that has been done. I continued to sand and smooth out the taper to give it a look similar to a Peterson tapered stem. The first photo shows the taper after all of the shaping. I rubbed some Vaseline on a pipe cleaner and inserted it in the orific slot in the button so that I could patch the hole in the top side of the stem. The second photo below shows the size and placement of the hole. I used black super glue for the repair and sprayed it with the accelerator to harden it more quickly. I found that the accelerator allows me to sand more quickly but curing actually takes longer. I sanded it with sanding sticks to smooth it out and then build it up several more times to give more thickness to the stem at the button. I reshaped the sharp inner edge of the button with a needle file. After sanding with the sticks I sanded the patched area with 220 grit sandpaper and then with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to smooth out the scratches and blend in the superglue patch with the rest of the stem surface. I finished sanding the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-3200 grit pads and dry sanding with 3600-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each three grit sequence of pads and let it sit until absorbed before continuing with the next set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the last three grits of micromesh I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and when dry put the back on the pipe and gave it a buff with White Diamond. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I decided to top the bowl to even out the rim as most of the inner rim damage did not go too deeply into the bowl. Topping it would smooth out the rim and allow me to correct the damage that made it out of round. I set up the topping board with the 220 grit sandpaper and sanded the top until the rim was smooth and the burn damage was minimized. I sanded the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to further mask the damage to the inner rim. I sanded the topped bowl with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then with 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I cleaned out the sanding dust from the bowl with a damp cloth and wiped down the top of the bowl with an alcohol wipe to prepare it for restaining. I decided against restaining the whole bowl and to just stain the rim. Thanks to Greg I have a set of staining pens that make this kind of thing quite easy. I started with the lightest stain pen and then used the medium stain pen to match the colour of the bowl. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave the bowl and rim a quick buff with carnauba wax. After the buffing I sanded the band with the micromesh sanding pads and then polished it with a polishing cloth. The finished bowl is shown in the photos below. The next photo shows what I did next, though in retrospective I probably should have done this first, I did not. I cleaned out the inside of the shank with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the tarry buildup in the mortise and airway of the pipe. Once I finished cleaning out the inside of the pipe I gave it a quick buff with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax, buffing with a soft flannel buff between coats. The finished pipe is shown below. The restoration and refurbishment are complete and now it can be honestly said that it has been “restored”. The amount of work it took to bring this pipe back to a finished look was far more than I expected when I bid on it. I honestly was surprised at how dirty and unfinished it was when it arrived. Now I have a pipe that I can be proud of and enjoy smoking. The look and feel in the hand is exactly what I like and I look forward to firing up the first bowl in it very soon.