TonyS
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- Sep 12, 2012
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New guy and pipe smoker here. I just found my first pipe, a Savinelli Chamgpagne 606KS estate. I want to thank everyone here for all the informative posts that makes this site great. :cheers: I'd like to contribute my little process culminated from you guys' past experiences. Maybe I can help out the next newbie a bit to get his pipe up and running as easily as I did.
After taking apart my pipe I soaked the stem in regular household bleach for 24 hours. This sanitizes and cleans the stem. Concurrently, I did the S&A treatment to the bowl. I first tried Absolut, which IIRC is 80proof, and sea salt. After 24 hours the salt did was a light tan. I then emptied & refilled with more salt but this time used 99% iso alcohol. After 24 hours the salt was much more brownish. Gathered from this I think using the stronger alcohol appeared to draw out the resins, etc., more effectively.
Removing the stem from the bleach oxidation became clearly evident. Ridding the stem of any bleach residue is obviously important so I washed it in water a number of times and then let it soak in water for a few hours. I then went to Harbor Freight for buffing materials.
Harbor Freight is a store that sells cheap tools and tooling accessories. I found a nice 4-piece buffing kit. Being a newbie I can't link to it but the item# is 43657. There's a couple of nice things about this kit. It uses 1/4" mandrels so you can easily mount the wheels in a hand drill or drill press if you don't have a buffer. The two compounds included aren't the ones I'd pick but hopefully they'll do the job. Oh, and the kit's only $4!
So time to get working. I mounted a buffing wheel into my drill press. Using a heat gun I next heated the brown compound just enough to facilitate an easier application to the wheel. I then buffed the stem, never keeping it stationary for more than 1 second lest we damage the vulcanite. After that I wiped down the stem with a clean microfiber rag. Time to change to the second wheel and load it with the white compound. When that's done once again a microfiber cloth is used to wipe off the compound. Now your stem will be shiny but you won't get it really nice until a good coat of carnauba wax goes on. Using another microfiber towel we applied the wax. I have to admit the results are stellar! BTW, if you don't want to use, or have, carnauba then Chapstick applied with a rag will also gain excellent results. Sorry for the crappy pic. For some reason I couldn' get a really good shot. I guess it's just too shiny! My new-to-me Savinelli now looks new to everyone!
After taking apart my pipe I soaked the stem in regular household bleach for 24 hours. This sanitizes and cleans the stem. Concurrently, I did the S&A treatment to the bowl. I first tried Absolut, which IIRC is 80proof, and sea salt. After 24 hours the salt did was a light tan. I then emptied & refilled with more salt but this time used 99% iso alcohol. After 24 hours the salt was much more brownish. Gathered from this I think using the stronger alcohol appeared to draw out the resins, etc., more effectively.
Removing the stem from the bleach oxidation became clearly evident. Ridding the stem of any bleach residue is obviously important so I washed it in water a number of times and then let it soak in water for a few hours. I then went to Harbor Freight for buffing materials.
Harbor Freight is a store that sells cheap tools and tooling accessories. I found a nice 4-piece buffing kit. Being a newbie I can't link to it but the item# is 43657. There's a couple of nice things about this kit. It uses 1/4" mandrels so you can easily mount the wheels in a hand drill or drill press if you don't have a buffer. The two compounds included aren't the ones I'd pick but hopefully they'll do the job. Oh, and the kit's only $4!
So time to get working. I mounted a buffing wheel into my drill press. Using a heat gun I next heated the brown compound just enough to facilitate an easier application to the wheel. I then buffed the stem, never keeping it stationary for more than 1 second lest we damage the vulcanite. After that I wiped down the stem with a clean microfiber rag. Time to change to the second wheel and load it with the white compound. When that's done once again a microfiber cloth is used to wipe off the compound. Now your stem will be shiny but you won't get it really nice until a good coat of carnauba wax goes on. Using another microfiber towel we applied the wax. I have to admit the results are stellar! BTW, if you don't want to use, or have, carnauba then Chapstick applied with a rag will also gain excellent results. Sorry for the crappy pic. For some reason I couldn' get a really good shot. I guess it's just too shiny!
My new-to-me Savinelli now looks new to everyone!
