As the title says this was the first pipe I ever bought ($20 basket pipe), and the shank cracked after about a month (I had a backup before that happened thankfully). After a while in this hobby, I learned about military mounts and couldn't find any for sale that looked like they actually used a shell casing, for some reason copper and silver are popular but not brass as much. I decided to try and restore my broken pipe with this method. I filed the shank to about 10mm around till it was about 1/4" past where the crack visually ended. I went through my reloading supplies and found that a 25-06 was going to be that closest fit I had (I took off the base and should, then chucked it up and thinned the case to get it closer). After much more filling and sanding (and a little bit of epoxy for extra insurance) I got the brass and stem fit as secure and sturdy as possible for me. I had previously removed the stain on the stummel to reveal a much more interesting grain then what it looked like when I got it. You can tell I need more practice on finishing the briar because I couldn't get that really nice sheen like you see on a new pipe (I ordered some 100% carnauba wax, hopefully that does the trick?) and the stem could use a better finish also. The small ring at the shank-stem connection is just rough sanded stem material that I was too afraid to sand further because I finally had an airtight seal. It was already my second stem because I took the first one down too much at that exact spot. It's my favorite smoker now because it's so light, but it seems to gurgle a lot quicker than my other pipes in rotation. Thanks for reading this and sorry for rambling! Any criticism/feedback is always welcome.
