Sanded the stem on my fixer-upper...now what?

[Big_Tex]

Hi guys,

I have been working very slowly to repair the old Kaywoodie I bought at the antique store. I cleaned up the bowl wonderfully (salt/rum), and the other day I took some sandpaper to the stem to remove teeth marks and oxidation. I am a little unclear on the next step to take. As of now, I have a scratched up stem. :no: What's next?

 

[bosun1]

Use a "Magic Eraser" from the grocery store to buff the stem up a bit. Wiping it down with Chapstick will keep the oxidation at bay..

 

[kaiser83]

If it is scratched up still from the grit of the sand paper use finer sand paper until it is back to smooth. I am not sure exactly what grit these guys go up to but I am sure you can find it somewhere here. If you have a buffing wheel it is going to be easier for you to put a high gloss shine one it with some carnuba wax...which you will actually wax the entire pipe with to get the shine up once it is all sanded down smooth and to a fine grit. I forgot how high a grit I went to one my pipe, but ti wasn't high enough. Hopefully one of the makers comes along and can tell you an exact for the grit to go up to in order to get the scratches out.

 

[KevinM]

The #s I hear bandied about are 600 and 1200.

Or, if you've removed the oxi and are left with a drab finish, you can do this. Take yr bottle of mineral oil, put a dab on your fingertip, spread it evenly on the stem, let it dry for an hour, then just apply some wax on the stem and polish 'er up a bit. Then take SPF Chapstick, put a little on tip of forefinger and thumb, rub until soft, then apply to bit and last half inch of stem. EZ.

 

[Anonymous]

Increasingly fine grades of wet-dry paper -- up to 1200 grit (wet) anyhow.

If you want to go for ultrasmooth,
http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/abrasives/micromesh.htm

Obsidian pipe oil if you're inclined, but IMHO oiling/waxing a vulcanite stem is pointless at best. Moisture + light + the sulfer in vulcanite = deterioration no matter what. Much more so with some peoples' saliva than others but, like female monthlies, a fact of life.

Lucite's WAY better ! :twisted:

:face:

 

[riff raff]

I use 1500 and then 2000 grit wet paper (automotive grade) then finish with micromesh (8000 & 12000 grit). Auto plastic polish after the 1500/2000 combo will also yield a passable shine.

 

[KevinM]

Lucite's WAY better !

Well, it sure is easier to maintain. And I've watched myself put a Vulcanite-stemmed pipe back on the rack and choose instead a lucite purely because of the anticipated extra maintenance of vulcanite. If you have a bunch of vulcanite briars, I say choose the easiest way to keep them somewhat black. For me, that's watching a movie on the teevee with a few oxi-ed pipes, something mildly gritty, mineral oil, some wax, chap stick and my shirt-tail. Ten minutes each, max, drying time excluded.

I don't know, but I suspect obsidian oil and mineral oil might be the same thing, but the latter is cheaper, which is always appealing to me.

If a piper is after Mercedes Benz black, then he probably needs the Harbor Freight bench polisher. But that costs as much as a bottle of Irish whiskey, and the cost-benefit comparo favors the bottle. Plus it serves as refreshment while polishing vulcanite :sunny:

 

[Anonymous]

Maintenance is an issue.

But the biggest hitter : Pipes with lucite stems never taste like stem.

Same tobacco, same day : you can taste the difference. Switch to lucite from vulcanite, & it's like you'd gotten used to looking through a dirty window and somebody cleaned it.

:face:

 

[riff raff]

But the biggest hitter : Pipes with lucite stems never taste like stem.

Unfortuantely, for my tastes, they taste/feel like....lucite......

 

[Anonymous]

Ravens fan.

Figures. :twisted:

:face:

 

[riff raff]

Ravens fan.

Figures. :twisted:

:face:

Buckle up! <g>

I have a few lucite stemmed pipes (nee acrylic?) but prefer vulcanite. I'm enjoying an old Charatan, that soft rubber just has a wonderful feel. To me, worth the effort maintenance wise. I use my acrylic stems when I'm walking around, etc and need to really clench.

 

[monbla256]

But the biggest hitter : Pipes with lucite stems never taste like stem.

Unfortuantely, for my tastes, they taste/feel like....lucite......

+1 for vulcanite ! Be nice to Yuk, he's trying hard to sound knowledgeable in spite of his age :twisted:

 

[riff raff]

But the biggest hitter : Pipes with lucite stems never taste like stem.

Unfortuantely, for my tastes, they taste/feel like....lucite......

+1 for vulcanite ! Be nice to Yuk, he's trying hard to sound knowledgeable in spite of his age :twisted:

I know, plus he's a Steelers fan so his sense of taste, is, a little off..... <g> I suspect his is rooting for the Ravens in the Super Bowl, so the 49er's don't match their ring record, that has to make him just a tad cranky.

 

[KevinM]

I suspect his is rooting for the Ravens in the Super Bowl, so the 49er's don't match their ring record,

Sounds like a perfectly good reason to me. Plus I don't want other cities to claim the City of Champions name. I think P'burgh was the last in '64 to have both a football and baseball champ. Seems like a long way down Memory Lane at this point :star:

 

[Anonymous]

:lol!:

The Steelers are like a family that's done pretty well, and gotten set in its ways as a result. They were going to do things Pittsburgh's way, come hell or high water. Cement Head Cowher's legacy or not, the result was that, for an example, until last time, they had to depend on somebody else taking New England out for them because doing it "the Steeler way" inevitably resulted in Brady slicing them to bloody ribbons.

You guys spent the entire 2010 off-season -- with outside consultants, no less -- designing and putting together a team that could beat the Steelers. And you did it. What was it -- 52 to 14 or whatever you let them have in garbage time ? That was your catharsis for all those years of Troy Polamalu taking a dump in your soup in the closing, last-chance minutes of games you were winning or close-and-driving in. Good for you.

That didn't get the monkey off your backs, but it did get the Pittsburgh monkey off your back. Kind of. Take away Ike Taylor slipping on the bomb when you were losing to Pittsburgh's second-string quarterback until the final minute, and 35-year-old Third-String Charlie cleaning your clock this year to remind you you weren't All That yet, and you can pretty much run with the big dogs now.

Of course, you're still Baltimore. Your last two offensive plays of the AFC championship game last year showed you that. So you can never breathe easy. No "Relax -- Joe's got this." Even when he does.

It'll be interesting. And I hope you guys win. You got your hearts broken so many times, underdog-rooting Americans everywhere are pulling for you. And you're doing it without the kind of Superman Factor (Polamalu/Harrison/Roethlisberger) Pittsburgh had that always -- one way or another -- used to tip the scales at the last minute.

What's working against you is that you're an AFC team. AFC teams do what they do. And not much else or more (see above re. Pittsburgh). If Option A doesn't work, it could get pretty ugly.

If the other Hairball schemes you the way you did Pittsburgh a couple years ago, it might be a long night for the folks in Bawlmer.

Time'll tell

:face:

PS : 1979. World Series & Stuporbowl.

 

[riff raff]

I know what trips your trigger! <g>. Cant argue against any of that! I have no illusions Cupcakernicky might mop the field with our old guys. But, hope springs eternal.
Now back to vulcanite stems, sorry for the brief hijack.

 

[gravel]

That was a quality aside.