Tag Archives: superglue

Rebirth of a No Name Bakelite Pipe with Bakelite Stem

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This pipe came to me from Chuck Richards (Desertpipe) in a box he sent me. It is the first of three old timers that he sent for me to work with. It is a common interest that we share – this love of the old timers and restoring them to some of their former glory. The first four photos below show the pipe as it was when it arrived to my work table. There is no stamping on the pipe at all. The gold band is stamped 14K Gold Filled. The stem has no logos or stampings. The underside of the bowl and the Bakelite base has no information stamped on it either. It is much like some of the WDC or William Demuth pipes that I have from the same era. The pipe itself was in pretty decent shape. The bowl was very clean. The rim was undamaged and the finish on the bowl was quite nice. The double grooves around the bowl were filled with grit and the surface had a few pits in it. The Bakelite bowl base and shank were in good shape. There seems to have been a metal decorative rim that went around the base between the bowl and base that was missing. The 14K gold filled band was in place but was on backwards so that the stamping of the gold was upside down. The stem was very oxidized and had been filed to give a steeper angle on the taper to the button. The filing had gone too deep and the airway next to the button was exposed. At first examination it appeared that the stem was too hard a material to be vulcanite and the filing marks did not look like they were on vulcanite. My initial guess was that the stem was also Bakelite.
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I removed the bowl from the base and reamed and cleaned it. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer back to a very thin cake. I cleaned out the airway at the bottom of the bowl. I used a dental pick to clean out the dual lines around the bowl top. I cleaned out the reservoir in the bottom of the base with cotton swabs and Everclear. I cleaned out the shank with bristle and fluffy pipe cleaners and Everclear as well. I removed the band from the shank by heating it gently. The glue softened and I was able to remove it and turn it around. I tapped the band with a small furniture hammer to flatten out the edges and squared the edges. I reglued it with wood glue. When this work was done I set the bowl and shank aside and went to work on the stem.
The stem took significant work. Somehow my camera failed (maybe the photographer did) and I was unable to get any good photos of the stem work. I built up the filed area against the button with clear superglue (Photos 1 -2). I layered on lightly, let it dry, relayered it and repeated until the thickness was sufficient enough for the airway to be protected. I also built up the button. It looked to me that a previous repair had been done and a new button had been cut in the stem. I repaired the shape and the thickness of the button. It was an old style bone tenon that was mounted in the shank so I cleaned that up and cleaned the inside the stem. The hole in the button was the old style orific or “o” opening. The rebuilding of the button and stem took the majority of time in working on this old stem. Once it was dry and had cured overnight I worked on the oxidation. I did not want to use anything that could possible harm the Bakelite so I kept the alcohol to a minimum and only on the inside the airway and was careful not let it touch the outside. For the outside I used 240 grit sandpaper to smooth out the newly repaired slope on the stem and to sand out the file marks that remained from the previous repair. I also sanded the corners on the stem to give it a more rounded look in keeping with the era it was made. The 240 grit sandpaper easily removed the oxidation. Photos 3 – 4, though of poor quality, give an idea of how the stem looked after patching with the superglue and sanding with the 240 grit sandpaper. The oxidation was pretty well removed. The button is shaped and the patch on the stem in front of the button is visible. There is still a lot of sanding to do at this point. From the 240 grit I went on to sand with 320 grit and also a fine grit sanding sponge to further blend the patch and to remove the oxidation.
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I put the stem back on the pipe and worked on the fit against the band. When I reversed the band the stem was too large on the right side and extended beyond the width of the band. To repair that I had to take of material at the bottom edge of the top right side and the upper edge of the bottom right side of the diamond to reduce the angle of the diamond on that side. By reducing these two points on the stem I was able to bring the sharp edge to the same width as the shank and band. It balanced the look of the stem. I used the 240 and 320 grit sandpaper for doing this part of the stem work. I continued to use the sanding sponge to blend the patches on the top and bottom of the slope to the button. The next series of eight photos show the progress on the stem. The patch is clearly visible in the photos of the top side. The one on the bottom was not as big and it blended in more easily.
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After removing the scratches and oxidation with the sandpaper I sanded with the fine grit sanding sponge and then progressed through the various grits of micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 to smooth and polish the stem. As I worked on it my initial conjecture about the material being Bakelite was confirmed. The next four photos are a sample of the work of the micromesh sanding pads on the stem. The pad in the photos is 3600 grit. I also used the micromesh on the bowl and the Bakelite base and shank to remove some of the surface scratches.
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I gave the pipe a very light buff on the buffer with White Diamond. I had learned on previous occasions that the speed of the buffing pad can produce heat that can actually damage the Bakelite and cause fibres from the pad to embed in the stem. A very light touch is necessary if you are going to buff these stems. I wanted to give them a quick light buff to remove any remaining scratches and give it a quick sheen. I buffed the base and bowl at the same time as well. The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. I applied a coating of carnauba wax to the pipe by hand. I buffed it lightly with a soft flannel cloth to bring up a shine and finished buffing with a soft shoe brush. The finished pipe speaks for itself. It is a testimony to the life that resides in these old timers. It is a life that will certainly extend beyond mine! As mentioned above, I share a love for these older pipes with Chuck that seems to extend to their restoration and re-entry into the purposes for which they were made. What do you think Chuck? How does the final pipe look to you?
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Refurb on the London Made

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I finished up the refurb on a London Made billiard. It is a big pipe 7 1/2 inches long. This one was by far the worst one in the lot of three large pipes that I had in my box to refurbish. The rim was in very rough shape with burn marks on the right hand side and dents and scuffs from banging out the dottle. The bowl was heavily caked and the stem and shank were virtually plugged with tars.

I reamed the bowl and cleaned the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and a shank brush and isopropyl alcohol. Then I gave the bowl an alcohol bath over night. The next morning I took it out of the bath, dried it off with a soft cloth. Once it was dry I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads (1500-6000 grit) until it was smooth. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and some isopropyl to clean off the sanding dust and any remaining oils from my hands. I restained it with an oxblood aniline stain thinned with isopropyl alcohol.

I went to work on the stem after that. The stem was in bad shape. There was a very deep cut mark on the top of the stem about a 1/4 inch from the button. There was also a bite through hole on the underside of the stem. I cleaned and sanded the stem until it was black once again. I left the area around the button, on top and bottom, a bit rough and then filled the cut on the top with krazy glue. I greased and inserted a pipe cleaner in the slot and then filled the hole with krazy glue. Once the glue was completely dry I sanded the two fills I made with sand paper – 400, 600 grit, and then micromesh sanding pads from 1800-6000 grit. (I have read of concern by different folks on how the super/krazy glue can melt or cause damage on vulcanite. I have now been using this process for several years and never had a problem. I have used it on both vulcanite and Lucite. In the past weeks I have also used it on a nylon stem without any probems.)

I took the pipe to my buffer and finished the refurbishing with a buff of White Diamond to polish the finish on the bowl and the stem. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine.

Here are the pics of the finished pipe (once again I forgot to take pictures of the pipe before I worked on it). Thanks for looking. ImageImageImageImageImage

A Creative Pipe Maker’s Anonymous Attempt at a Cool, Dry Smoke

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This is another interesting piece of pipe history. I seem to have trouble passing up odd and creative pipe making attempts. I have no idea who designed or made this one or what the patent information is as there is absolutely no stamping or identification on the pipe itself. I remember seeing one on EBay awhile ago but somehow missed keeping the information. If anyone has any information on it please leave a comment in response to this post.

The pipe itself was in rough shape when I got it. The stem is chewed up badly and I have not taken the time to rework the stem. It is the dreaded nylon stem so it always leaves me cold in wanting to work on it. It is probably the most unforgiving stem material there is in my opinion. You can sand and sand it and it does not seem to change the damage. The heat gun and boiling water do not seem to lift the dents and tooth marks at all. What is there seems to be permanent. The bowl was badly caked – in fact so badly caked that it had a split in the side of the bowl. The finish is strange – best I can say about it almost little worm trails in the briar. The stem was stuck in the shank. I thought at first it was a screw tenon it was so tight. Under the stem was the flat base with what looked like an adjustment screw of some kind. It was also stuck tightly.

I reamed the bowl and found that the draught hole was in the bottom of the bowl – like a calabash. I opened that with a dental pick and cleaned it out. I packed the bowl with cotton bolls and filled it with isopropyl alcohol. I use 99% as it has little water content and seems to work well in drawing out the oils and tars. It took quite a bit of alcohol as it filled the reservoir below the bowl. I put a pipe cleaner in the stem and laid it aside overnight. My hope was that the alcohol would not only draw out the tars and oils but loosen the adjusting screw on the bottom of the shank as well as the stem.

In the morning I removed the cotton bolls. They were almost black with the tars and oils that they drew out. The stem was actually loose – that happens so little that I was surprised when I turned on it and it came out. I was expecting a screw tenon and found that it was not at all. It was an aluminum tenon made to hold a Medico style paper filter. The one in the tenon was almost black with grime and now it was soggy as well. I am still trying to figure out the airflow on this pipe. I also was able to turn the adjusting screw under the stem and it came out as well. I expected that it would adjust the airflow somehow (kind of like a Kirsten). But it was not an adjusting screw at all; instead it was a stinger like apparatus with a long twisted blade on it. Now the airflow was becoming clearer. The smoker pulled the air through the bowl down through the air hole in the bottom of the bowl. Once there it entered the chamber that ran the length of the shank and bowl and contained the twisted stinger. That apparatus would pick up the liquids and oils of the tobacco. The smoke would go up through a hole in the top of the chamber and enter the shank where the paper filter would trap the remaining debris of the smoke (and in my opinion whatever flavour still remained) before delivering it out the slot at the end of the stem.

I cleaned out the chamber and the shank by filling them with isopropyl and plugging the holes and shaking the fluid for several minutes. I would unplug and dump the dirty alcohol down the drain. I repeated this until the fluid came out clear. Then I cleaned the chamber and shank with a shank brush and bristle and ordinary pipe cleaners and more isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean and fresh. The stinger soaked in alcohol and I scrubbed it with 0000 steel wool until it shone. The stem needed a lot of cleaning though it was more dirt and grime that came out rather than tars. I was able to polish the tenon inside and out and clean up the stem. The dents and tooth marks I left alone. One day I will have to work them over and see if I can remove them. But not that day!

I scrubbed the outside of the bowl with a bristle tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove all of the grime from the bowl surface. I cleaned out the crack in the bowl with my dental pick. I then wiped it down with acetone and restained it with a medium brown aniline stain, flamed it and then buffed it with Tripoli and White Diamond. Once it was polished and clean I coated it with several coats of carnauba wax and then buffed it with a clean flannel buff.

I finished up the pipe and put it back together. I added a pipe softee bit to cover the bites and dents on the stem and make it more comfortable in the mouth. I packed a bowl of nice Virginia in it to try it out. I decided to leave out the paper filter and just smoke it as it was. It was an interesting and cool smoke though it pretty much removed the flavour of the Virginias that I chose to smoke. This one will sit in the cupboard as a memorabilia item but will not enter the rotation.

 

Here are the pictures of the process of repair. I patched it with black super glue and built up the angle of the stem to give a clean flow. I filled the dents and bite throughs on both sides of the stem. I sanded and sanded with 240 grit sandpaper and micromesh 1500 through 12,000 grit. Then gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil and finally several coats of wax. The last four photos show the final product.

Reworking an Imperial Treble Zulu – Stainless Steel Tenon

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I picked up this older Imperial Tobacco Co pipe – a Zulu shape number 354. The shape number makes me wonder if the pipe was made by Comoy’s. Maybe someone here knows for sure. The number is missing on the Comoy’s shape number chart on Pipedia. The pipe is interesting to me for several reasons. It is the third in a group of three pipes by Imperial that came to me in an EBay lot. The first two were Two-Points and this one a Treble. I had not heard or seen this line before these came my way. The other reason is that several pipes in this lot had stainless steel tenons! The Treble has one and at first I thought it was original – the stem did not fit well as the tenon was stuck in the bowl and the stem would not seat all the way to the shank. The bowl was in pretty nasty shape. With lots of darkening and the grain virtually obscured under dirt. The rim was caked and tarred. The bowl was full of broken cake and cobwebs. The stem was gnawed with deep bite marks, the button destroyed and the tenon stuck in the shank.

I was able to remove the tenon from shank with a big pair of channel locks and some serious twisting and turning. I filed the end of the tenon and cut grooves in it so that the epoxy would have something to bite into when I pushed it into the stem. I then slid a pipe cleaner into the stem and threaded the tenon on the cleaner. When I got down to the stem I mixed some epoxy (two part mix) and painted it on the tenon. I let it set for a few moments and then pushed it into the stem. I wiped off the excess around the stem and tenon junction. I set it aside and worked on the bowl. ImageImage

I reamed the bowl and cleaned both it and the shank. Then I used a fine grit sanding pad that I have here to work on the lava on the top of the bowl. Once that was done I wiped down the bowl with isopropyl alcohol to remove the grime and the finish. The next photos show the bowl after the initial cleanup. From there I put it in the alcohol bath and went back to work on the stem. ImageImageImage

The next series of two photos show the bite marks on the stem and the state of the button. The bite marks were very deep and some were actually cuts in the stem material rather than just dents. I used my heat gun to raise the dents as much as possible but honestly they did not come up very much at all. This one would be a bit of a challenge. I used sanded the stem around the button and the dents with 240 grit sandpaper to get the oxidation off that area. I was going to use the superglue to repair these bite marks and needed a clean surface to work with. Once I had sanded the area clean I used a dental pick to pick away the brown left in the dents. I wanted to clean out the dents as much as possible and roughen the surface in the dent for a good bond with the glue. The first picture shows the top of the stem, the second shows the bottom. ImageImage

Once they were clean and ready I washed the area down with some isopropyl alcohol to remove any remaining sanding dust. Then I put drops of superglue in the holes on the underside of the stem first. Once they were dry I did the same with the dents on the top side of the stem. The three photos below show the glue in place – they appear as shiny black spots in the photos.ImageImageImage

I set the pipe stem aside to thoroughly dry and took the bowl out of the alcohol bath. I dried it off and then sanded the top of the bowl with the fine grit sanding pads that I have. The top is showing some nice grain and the tars are coming off nicely. ImageImageImage

I wiped down the bowl and rim with acetone (fingernail polish remover) to remove the remaining finish and grime. The white cotton pads in the background of the next three photos show what still remained on the bowl after the alcohol wash. I wanted to get the bowl down to bare briar so that I could refinish it and then give it a new coat of stain. My goal was to highlight the beautiful grain on this one. ImageImageImage

I guess I must get a bit bored doing the same thing or something, because I went back to the stem to sand the patches that I had made. I used emery cloth to get the patches even with the surface of the stem. The next series of three photos show the progress on cleaning up the stem and evening out the stem surface. The patches are beginning to fade and blend into the stem. ImageImageImage

After sanding the stem I cleaned out the stem and the shank. It was a dirty process. The first picture below shows just a few of the many pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I dip them in the cap filled with isopropyl that is pictured in the photos and swab out the stem and shank with them. ImageImage

I reinserted the stem in the shank and wiped the entirety down with an alcohol soaked cotton pad. I wanted to see where I was at with the stem and the bowl. You will notice the addition of a band in the photos below. Once I refit the stem I could see that the stainless tenon was indeed a replacement and that it was misdrilled – it was set in the stem too high making the match at the tenon impossible. I decided to work on the shank rather than pull the tenon, redrill the hole in the stem and reinsert a bigger tenon. I could still do that should I desire. I sanded the shank a little to reduce the gap between the stem and shank. Then I pressure fit a band on it to guide the stem to the proper fit. It worked well actually and the stem lines up nicely now. ImageImageImageImage

I took the next two photos to show the state of the stem patches at this point in the repair process. You can see that they are virtually invisible on the top of the stem and just slightly visible on the underside. At this point I continued to sand the stem and work at the area around the button to redefine it and to blend in the patches. I used a fine grit sanding pad and an extra fine grit pad to remove the scratches and to make the button area more defined. I then worked over the stem with the usual list of micromesh pads from 1500-6000 grit. ImageImage

I restained the bowl with an oxblood stain and buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and buffed with a soft flannel buff to bring out the shine to the pipe. You can see from the profile shots that the button is more clearly defined and the flow of the stem looks correct from the bowl to the button. The patches on the stem have blended quite well and though still visible if you look closely are smooth and black. ImageImageImageImage

Refurbishing another Mystery Pipe

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I picked up this pipe in an EBay lot recently. The other pipes were older Barlings and Bewlays. I know that it belonged to the same gent originally because all the stems have matching tooth marks. This guy must have had jaws of steel. His bite marks showed a repeated pattern of biting down in an identical place on each pipe. The amazing thing on this one is that though the bites were deep they did not break through the surface of the stem.

The first series of pictures below show the pipe as it came to me in the lot. Rim had some tars and cake build up. The bowl was dirty but not caked. The exterior of the pipe was also dirty but not damaged. The mystery to me is the material that this bowl is made of. It is very light weight and a bit odd. There is some resemblance to Laxley meers from the Isle of Mann. They made meers for Peterson, Nording and Barling as well as some under their own brand. I have found that those I have worked on and now own are uniformly heavy and thick bowled. This one is not that way at all. This little guy – and I say little as in 1 1/2 inch tall and a bowl outer diameter of 1 1/8 inches and bore of 3/4 inches – is somehow incredibly light weight. Think in terms of a featherweight briar and you are close. The stem is heavier than the bowl… Those are the things that leave me mystified with this one. I wonder if it is not some sort of resin????

The copper coloured band on the shank is actually copper tape. It was covered with a coating of glue to give it some resilience I would guess. The shank extension is vulcanite as is the stem. The stem is badly bitten but no bite throughs. It will take a bit of work to take care of those and to remove the deep oxidation. The tenon is also a reverse tenon. It extends from the shank like a Carey Magic Inch tenon. The stem slides over the tenon.

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Using my dental pick as a lever I pried away the tape on the shank. I wanted to see what was underneath to know if I was dealing with a separated shank extension or what. As can be seen in the next photo it appears that the tape was merely cosmetic. The shank extension and the joint of the two parts were liberally coated with glue. It appeared to have been wood glue and it was very hard. I was able to peel away bits and pieces of the glue by picking at it with the dental pick and my finger nail. Note also the reverse tenon on the shank that I spoke of above. It is anchored in the shank and is not removable. It seems to be an integral part of the shank extension.Image

The next two photos show the junction of the shank and the shank extension with the glue removed. I used some 180 grit sandpaper to work on it and then finished with 220 and 240 grit to remove the remaining bits. The junction appeared to be sound. There were no cracks and once the glue was removed the connection was tight and smooth.ImageImage

I continued sanding the shank and extension through 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper as well as the usual micromesh pads from 1500-6000 grit. The three photos below show the finished shank. You will note that the band between the bowl and the extension is also sanded clean. The glue was so built up on it that it needed to be sanded to clean away the build up.ImageImageImage

Once the bowl had reached that point I cleaned the rim with a brass tire brush to remove the tars and buildup that was in the rustication on the rim. I wiped it down with a soft alcohol dampened cloth to remove the dust and remnants after brushing. I decided to restain the rim and the band on the shank. While I was at it I also freshened the stain on the bowl. The odd thing to me was that the stain was not absorbed when I put it on the bowl. It literally sat on the surface until it was dry. To get the coverage to do any good at all involved repeated applications of stain to the band and the rim edges. If the pipe had been briar or meer the stain would have quickly absorbed into the heated surface. This is yet another piece of the mystery of this pipe. What is this material that does not accept the stain?ImageImageImage

Once the stain was dry I did not buff the pipe at all with my buffer but wiped it down with a soft cotton cloth and hand buffed it with a soft bristle shoe brush. In the pictures below you can see the finished bowl. The band and the highlights in the bowl are almost a reddish brown. It is an attractive pipe when all is said and done. You can see the inside of the bowl after I sanded it down to clean it. It appears to be a brownish colour and feels like briar to the touch and yet there is something different in the feel of it.ImageImage

From the earlier pictures above you can see the state of the stem with the bite marks on the top and bottom near the button. I used my heat gun to raise them as much as possible before sanding the stem to remove the remaining marks. The first two photos below show the stem after heating and sanding with the 240 grit sand paper. The top photo is the top side of the stem. There were four remaining marks as can be seen – three on the surface of the stem and two along side of the button edge. There was also damage to the button surface that is visible. The second photo shows the bottom side of the stem – it was a bit better after the heating than the top side. It still had two bite marks and the button was dented.ImageImage

I sanded the marks to smooth them out and then cleaned the surface of the stem with an alcohol wipe to remove the dust. The first photo below shows the spots of super glue on the surface filling the dents in the stem surface. I do not use much glue, just a spot. When it hardens it is not easily sanded so the less I use on the surface the better in my opinion. I also did a bit of work rebuilding the button edge and surface with the glue. When I am using the glue I work on one side at a time in order to have the glue set without running and making a mess of things.Image

The next two photos show the repairs to the top (first photo) and the bottom (second photo) of the stem after the initial sanding. I used an emery board that I picked up at a local department store to sand the surface at this point. It is sold in the area where they sell beauty supplies and is used for fingernails. I learned the usefulness of these by “borrowing” one from my daughters and really like the usefulness. Both photos show the patches disappearing into the surface of the stem.ImageImage

The next two photos show the patches on both the top (first photo) and the bottom (second photo) of the stem after sanding with 220 and 240 grit sandpaper. The patches are getting to the point where they are invisible. I continued sanding both sides of the stem until I was ready to work on the sheen and polish.ImageImage

From this point I sanded the stem with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper until the patches disappeared into the smooth surface of the stem. I then progressed through the usual regimen of micromesh pads from 1500-6000 grit to polish the surface. Several times in the process I took the stem to the buffer to polish it with Tripoli and White Diamond to see where I needed to do more work on the scratches. I resanded the stem until the scratches were gone – each time using the buffer in between to see the progress. Once it was completed I put it on the pipe and used White Diamond to polish the shank and stem. I coated the stem and shank extension with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it in once it had soaked in. I then gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax. I did not wax the bowl or use the buffer on it as I wanted to maintain the appearance and cragginess of the finish. In the four photos below you can see the finished pipe. The patches are virtually invisible unless you know where to look. The surface is shiny and black. There is still a bit of oxidation that I need to remove on the stem at the shank extension but overall it is like a new pipe.ImageImageImageImage

The mystery remains, what is it made of? Is it meer? Is it clay? Don’t know. I plan on smoking it later today so maybe the way it handles the heat of the burning tobacco may add some information to the mix.