Restored A Couple Of Ebay Estate Pipes Part

[Tsal]

Nice handy work, they look great!

[Preacher1611]

Awesome! They turned out fantastic!

[Houtenziel]

Good work!
As an aside on off the shelf stuff - Soft scrub WITHOUT bleach actually works amazingly well on vulcanite oxidation, and for polishing stems. I have found that really for any product to work well on vulcanite though, you really have to complete the surface oxidation process of the sulfurs with some type of oxidizer like oxy-clean, etc. That was a lot of ox-es.
I have tried a lot of different stuff, including the Walker Briar works kit, Flitz, Blue-magic, Bar-keepers friend, toothpaste, and probably more. Short of a proper buffing wheel, none has worked quite so well as the Softscrub(no bleach!).

I've worked on a lot of stems, tried any number of things, and have settled on burning off the bulk of oxidation over a candle then a quick 400/800/1000 grit to get the gleam lines right and generally polish with toothpaste. Bleach pits, I won't use it and prefer things that I'm comfortable having in my mouth be used for cleaning. Burning the oxidation also helps to raise indents material wasn't removed from, careful around logos and the button, keep it moving, too much heat and the Vulcanite will bubble. Barkeepers and toothpaste really only polish, they remove light oxidation but I wouldn't use them as a first step to remove any.

I've used a candle a few times for really bad oxidation, particularly around the button where I'd rather not be using abrasives that will round it's profile(and as you say, also raises chatter). The danger of bubbling is high though and margin for error with fire is thin, so I've taken to giving the stems an oxy-clean bath and then carefully scrubbing off the loosened oxidation.

[oldbill]

Good work!
As an aside on off the shelf stuff - Soft scrub WITHOUT bleach actually works amazingly well on vulcanite oxidation, and for polishing stems. I have found that really for any product to work well on vulcanite though, you really have to complete the surface oxidation process of the sulfurs with some type of oxidizer like oxy-clean, etc. That was a lot of ox-es.
I have tried a lot of different stuff, including the Walker Briar works kit, Flitz, Blue-magic, Bar-keepers friend, toothpaste, and probably more. Short of a proper buffing wheel, none has worked quite so well as the Softscrub(no bleach!).

I've worked on a lot of stems, tried any number of things, and have settled on burning off the bulk of oxidation over a candle then a quick 400/800/1000 grit to get the gleam lines right and generally polish with toothpaste. Bleach pits, I won't use it and prefer things that I'm comfortable having in my mouth be used for cleaning. Burning the oxidation also helps to raise indents material wasn't removed from, careful around logos and the button, keep it moving, too much heat and the Vulcanite will bubble. Barkeepers and toothpaste really only polish, they remove light oxidation but I wouldn't use them as a first step to remove any.

Never really thought about burning oxidation off, I may do that in the future. My aim when I pick up a used pipe is to remove the nasty stuff off of the inside and outside of the pipe and get it back to a smokable condition, not necessarily to get it back to showroom luster which would obviously require a few more tools than what I have in my arsenal. When I have the time to devote to it I'll probably hit you guys up for advice on different techniques and products and really doll up my collection.

[Thelonious monkfish]

Never really thought about burning oxidation off, I may do that in the future. My aim when I pick up a used pipe is to remove the nasty stuff off of the inside and outside of the pipe and get it back to a smokable condition, not necessarily to get it back to showroom luster which would obviously require a few more tools than what I have in my arsenal. When I have the time to devote to it I'll probably hit you guys up for advice on different techniques and products and really doll up my collection.

You don't really need a completely stocked shop for restorations. I have never used a buffer on a pipe and get by with a pretty minimal amount of tools. Decent set of files, 400-1000 or so grit sandpaper, nylon brush and q tips, candle, toothpaste, Halcyon/Paragon wax and cotton balls are most of what I use.

[Houtenziel]

Never really thought about burning oxidation off, I may do that in the future. My aim when I pick up a used pipe is to remove the nasty stuff off of the inside and outside of the pipe and get it back to a smokable condition, not necessarily to get it back to showroom luster which would obviously require a few more tools than what I have in my arsenal. When I have the time to devote to it I'll probably hit you guys up for advice on different techniques and products and really doll up my collection.

You don't really need a completely stocked shop for restorations. I have never used a buffer on a pipe and get by with a pretty minimal amount of tools. Decent set of files, 400-1000 or so grit sandpaper, nylon brush and q tips, candle, toothpaste, Halcyon/Paragon wax and cotton balls are most of what I use.

Pretty much the same setup for me. No buffer, no power tools at all actually. My kit consists of some microfiber cloths, 3 old toothbrushes(two loaded with Paragon or Halcyon, and one for scrubbin), Halcyon/Paragon wax, some toothpicks for removing wax from nomenclature/stem logos/bead lines, various grits of wet/dry sandpaper, micromesh pads for detailing stems, q-tips, bristle pipe cleaners, a British Buttner and Castleford reamer, and an e-bay retort(which is totally not required, but saves a lot of pipe cleaners on really dirty pipes).

If you have a Woodcraft store locally, they sell the micromesh pads if that's something you are looking for. I bought them and then sort of decided sanding with normal paper to 1000-1500 grit and then using polish actually gives me better results and is wayyyy less work. Woodcraft also sell Renaissance Wax, which I honestly can't discern any difference from Halcyon.

[Ruffinogold]

Nice !! That Pete is sexy