I thought I would follow up my previous post with the results of the cleanup of the pipes.
Now, there are several sites that give tips on pipe restoration, and I assure you I ignored most of their advice. I had 5 pipes to clean up, and I was in a hurry, so shortcuts were taken.
Step 1: Scraped each pipe out with the reamer blade on my Czech tool. Normal enough; I just wanted to make the next step go faster and smoother.
Step 2: Dremel the Ever Livin' Crud out of the bowls. I went all the way down to fresh wood, with a sander bit that was about 4 grit. It was pretty much just a rock spinning on a stick. ;-)
Step 3: Fill the bowls with salt and 91% isopropyl alcohol. I did this twice; once overnight, and the second time for just while we were in church. I also had thrice folded pipe cleaners stuck into the stummels to soak up the yuck out of there. Changed those several times as well. It was very yuk.
Step 4: Cut the stinger off the Kaywoodie, as there was no way in heck I was going to get the insides clean. Good thing I just ordered a few bundles of pipe cleaners from P&C the other week - I used about two-thirds of them!
Step 5: Took the pipes to the sink and started doing some concentrated cleaning. This involved a lot of running water, 800 grit sandpaper, and a lot of elbow grease. I think this is the part that would have made a lot of pipe collectors cringe. I showed no mercy, and just sanded everything off that I could until they were all smooth and as stain-free as possible. Sanded the insides of the bowls as best as I could too. Aside from the rusticated pipes, all the glossy finishes are gone! And to me, they look great.
Step 6: A final pipe-cleaner job on everything. Ruined a dozen more just trying to get everything to come out pearly white.
Step 7: Polished everything with Vernax
Step 8: All pipe components rest for a few hours in front of the dehumidifier. At least one stem wouldn't go back in, so I figured they were swelled up from their bath. It worked.
Thanks for coming along on this journey. I wasn't as careful as most people would have been, but all I really cared about was that the pipes were clean, and looked better than they did when I got them. Mission accomplished.
Below was taken after the 800 grit sanding.
The stems are still foggy after sanding. Final polishing helped a bit.
This is the Peter Kent. This and the Kaywoodie are my favorites, so far.
The Kaywoodie
The Mastersen
The Jost
The Darby (with broken lip). Put a rubber protector on. I didn't even bother to cut it off.
Dog snout free of charge
Now, there are several sites that give tips on pipe restoration, and I assure you I ignored most of their advice. I had 5 pipes to clean up, and I was in a hurry, so shortcuts were taken.
Step 1: Scraped each pipe out with the reamer blade on my Czech tool. Normal enough; I just wanted to make the next step go faster and smoother.
Step 2: Dremel the Ever Livin' Crud out of the bowls. I went all the way down to fresh wood, with a sander bit that was about 4 grit. It was pretty much just a rock spinning on a stick. ;-)
Step 3: Fill the bowls with salt and 91% isopropyl alcohol. I did this twice; once overnight, and the second time for just while we were in church. I also had thrice folded pipe cleaners stuck into the stummels to soak up the yuck out of there. Changed those several times as well. It was very yuk.
Step 4: Cut the stinger off the Kaywoodie, as there was no way in heck I was going to get the insides clean. Good thing I just ordered a few bundles of pipe cleaners from P&C the other week - I used about two-thirds of them!
Step 5: Took the pipes to the sink and started doing some concentrated cleaning. This involved a lot of running water, 800 grit sandpaper, and a lot of elbow grease. I think this is the part that would have made a lot of pipe collectors cringe. I showed no mercy, and just sanded everything off that I could until they were all smooth and as stain-free as possible. Sanded the insides of the bowls as best as I could too. Aside from the rusticated pipes, all the glossy finishes are gone! And to me, they look great.
Step 6: A final pipe-cleaner job on everything. Ruined a dozen more just trying to get everything to come out pearly white.
Step 7: Polished everything with Vernax
Step 8: All pipe components rest for a few hours in front of the dehumidifier. At least one stem wouldn't go back in, so I figured they were swelled up from their bath. It worked.
Thanks for coming along on this journey. I wasn't as careful as most people would have been, but all I really cared about was that the pipes were clean, and looked better than they did when I got them. Mission accomplished.
Below was taken after the 800 grit sanding.
The stems are still foggy after sanding. Final polishing helped a bit.
This is the Peter Kent. This and the Kaywoodie are my favorites, so far.
The Kaywoodie
The Mastersen
The Jost
The Darby (with broken lip). Put a rubber protector on. I didn't even bother to cut it off.
Dog snout free of charge
