My Laterst Before and Afters

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Bonanzadriver

Bonanzadriver

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I've been eyballin the Savanelli Author 320 KS for some while now.

Last week I found a decent looking one that had a O.B.O. on it.
After a few offers and counter-offers we settled on what I thought was
an acceptable price.

Well, it just arrived in the mail today at the office. Couldn't wait to get home and start cleanin er up.

The first thing I did when I got home was to make my way up to the mancave, get the poboys refurb kit organized and get to work.

I then proceeded to ream the bowl and then filled it up with kosher salt and everclear and let it soak.

Then I went to work on the stem. Fortunately there was no chatter on
it, just dull and a little oxidized. After thoroughly sanitizing it
with isopropyl alcohol I buffed it up with stem polish. Then over to
the buffing wheel for another polish and finished up with a nice coat of
carnuba.

After dinner I came back up, dumped out the salt & everclear and
then gave the stummel a good soaking in isopropyl alcohol and completely
sanitized the bowl and shank until the paper towels and pipe cleaners
were coming out clean.

Then I scrubbed the stummel with the alcohol using a magic eraser.

Before you know it I've got all of the grime off of her and the rim lookin almost new.

I wiped it down good with a paper towel, in and out and then sat it
on a pipe stand to dry out for a bit while my son and I enjoyed a few
bowls and beers together, catching up on the days events.

An hour or so later I got over to the buffing wheels and went to
work, first polishing it up, wiping it down and then putting a nice coat
of carnuba wax.

Here's the before picture from the ebay ad.


And the afters...




 
Good golly! That's a great restore!

Nicely done sir, nicely done...

:cheers:
 
Thanks Wiz.

I probably enjoy reviving these ol briars as much as I do smokin em. :)

 
Wonderful job on that Author!!! I had no idea one could soak briar and/or stems in isopropyl alcohol, although now that I think on it; I use Everclear all the time to clean mine. Sounds like your "man cave" is a nice setup!! :cheers: FTRPLT
 
Here's another before & after as well as an after (forgot to take the before pics)

I picked up a Dunhill Rootbriar Pot a few months back. It was in really rough shape. Looked like it had been reamed with a steak knife with one side of the bowl wall noticeably thinner than the other...





Here's the after. Many many hours of sanding the interior of the bowl to achieve symmetry in the wall thickness as well as restoring the rim..







Here's a really beautiful Yacht I picked up at an estate sale. The toe had a chip out of it and the stem had the button chewed off. Spent many hours fixing the chip and re-shaping the stummel to eliminate any evidence of prior damage.

I then tried to use the black superglue to create a new button and absolutely failed. So I reached out to Ric Farrah @ Briarville and sent him the refurbed sutmmel and ruined stem, a few weeks later I had my Yacht back. I love the grain on this one...







Since sending this one off to Ric for a new stem I found Vermont Freehand and have purchased a dozen or so stems and have learned to sand, fit, shape and bend em to fit.

I'll post a couple of those in a day or two.
 
Yup, nice Yacht alright!

Vermont Freehand is a great site indeed.. I've been getting rod stock and churchwarden stems from him of late... Going to play with a white stem on a black walnut bowl when the next order shows up...
 
Thanks guys.

Here's a few more "Afters", can't find the befores...


Here's a pretty Savanelli Panel Billiard with square shank and my first effort at a replacing the stem. Not a great fit, but Hey, it smokes great.

Love the birdseye on this billiard...






Here's a Bent Bulldog that had the stem pretty chewed up.

Before





This was the second pipe that I sanded and bent the stem I purchased @ Vermont Freehand...






Lots of sanding but the stem fits better on this one. Kind of fun learning to bend the stems.
Stummel turned out nice. It was pretty caked and grunged up.






This is my Golfin Pipe. A nice little Zulu that smokes great.

This one had some really funky lacquer finish of some sort. Again, lots and lots of sanding on this one, but it turned out nice.







 
:shock: wow! Those are amazing restorations! I just got my first lathe and am planning on turning some new pipes on it. I also oprdered the Bealle Mandrel 3 buffing system to go with it so that I can keep my pipes nice and clean. Thanks so much for this thread. Especially the magic eraser bit. I have to wait for a week for my Bealle to get here but once it does I'll be following your process. First on this Preben Holm Ben Wade Acorn second I just found at a local antiques dealer :)


By the way I love that Zulu. Every time I see one I fall in love with that shape. I Have got to get me one of those.
 
Thanks Hater.

I think the lathe and the 3 wheel buffer set up is "da bomb" baby! Definitely on my list of things to do.


 
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