How to Restore an Estate Pipe
Intro: How to Restore an Estate Pipe
When I got in to this hobby of pipe smoking and collecting I had a slightly tricky time finding information on restoring estate pipes. With more and more younger guys like myself taking up the hobby I've decided to make this instructable for the good of all.
I'll start things off by saying welcome! This a very fun and enjoyable hobby and you should be able to find a lot of enjoyment in your pipes and a great community surrounding it.
I will also say that yes, smoking is in fact bad for you be it a pipe, cigar, or cigarette. Since you're here though you probably have already made the decision to smoke and all things considered it's good that you've chosen the pipe. The dangers associated with smoking are greatly diminished with pipe smoking as inhalation of the smoke is not done and it, like cigar smoking, is largely for the flavour. Yes nicotine is a part of it but certainly not the main attraction.
Well let's get started shall we?
I'll start things off by saying welcome! This a very fun and enjoyable hobby and you should be able to find a lot of enjoyment in your pipes and a great community surrounding it.
I will also say that yes, smoking is in fact bad for you be it a pipe, cigar, or cigarette. Since you're here though you probably have already made the decision to smoke and all things considered it's good that you've chosen the pipe. The dangers associated with smoking are greatly diminished with pipe smoking as inhalation of the smoke is not done and it, like cigar smoking, is largely for the flavour. Yes nicotine is a part of it but certainly not the main attraction.
Well let's get started shall we?
STEP 1: What You Will Need.
Alright here is what you'll need...
-An estate pipe to work on (obviously)
-Pipe cleaners
-Reamer. The one pictured is a Castleford set of reamers and is my preferred type. The other that is used by many is the Senior reamer but I don't really care for it.
-Drill bits. These are a maybe but good to have just in case.
-Buffing wheels and something to attach them to. Not really needed but they make your life easier. Mine attach to my drill.
-Jeweller's Rouge,
-Carnuba wax (optional really)
-High proof alcohol. Everclear is the preferred but I just used this vodka.
-'Magic eraser' (not pictured)
-High grit sandpaper (not pictured)
-A pipe to smoke while you work (optional)
Now let's get to work.
-An estate pipe to work on (obviously)
-Pipe cleaners
-Reamer. The one pictured is a Castleford set of reamers and is my preferred type. The other that is used by many is the Senior reamer but I don't really care for it.
-Drill bits. These are a maybe but good to have just in case.
-Buffing wheels and something to attach them to. Not really needed but they make your life easier. Mine attach to my drill.
-Jeweller's Rouge,
-Carnuba wax (optional really)
-High proof alcohol. Everclear is the preferred but I just used this vodka.
-'Magic eraser' (not pictured)
-High grit sandpaper (not pictured)
-A pipe to smoke while you work (optional)
Now let's get to work.
STEP 2: Determine What Needs to Be Done.
If you bought your pipe from ebay and the description was good you should already know. But we will determine this now regardless.
-Take a look at the rim. Does it have 'cake' on it? Well if it does (like mine here) it will need to be removed. If it's slightly charred there's only slightly destructive things that can be done to remove it but that's beyond the scope of this instructable.
-Look at the stem. Is it oxidized? Is there a lot of 'tooth chatter' around the bit? There are several materials that a stem can be made out of and the type we'll be dealing with here is Vulcanite. Eseentially hardened rubber. This material will oxidize over time as the sulfur used in the hardening rises to the surface. Lucite, and acrylic stems do not oxidize and are much easier to deal with.
-Can you remove the stem? Gently twist the stem and try and remove it. Don't twist or pull too hard as it's possible to crack/break the shank (the wood the stem fits in to) or break the tenon (the part that fits in to the shank) off which would be no good.
I couldn't take the stem out when I got this pipe so I put it in the freezer for a few minutes and the cooling allowed me to twist and remove the stem.
And now that we know what we need to do let's move on!
-Take a look at the rim. Does it have 'cake' on it? Well if it does (like mine here) it will need to be removed. If it's slightly charred there's only slightly destructive things that can be done to remove it but that's beyond the scope of this instructable.
-Look at the stem. Is it oxidized? Is there a lot of 'tooth chatter' around the bit? There are several materials that a stem can be made out of and the type we'll be dealing with here is Vulcanite. Eseentially hardened rubber. This material will oxidize over time as the sulfur used in the hardening rises to the surface. Lucite, and acrylic stems do not oxidize and are much easier to deal with.
-Can you remove the stem? Gently twist the stem and try and remove it. Don't twist or pull too hard as it's possible to crack/break the shank (the wood the stem fits in to) or break the tenon (the part that fits in to the shank) off which would be no good.
I couldn't take the stem out when I got this pipe so I put it in the freezer for a few minutes and the cooling allowed me to twist and remove the stem.
And now that we know what we need to do let's move on!
STEP 3: Some Basic Cleaning.
I always start with a pipe cleaner with a little alcohol on it to swab out the stem and the draft hole in the pipe. I was lucky with this one as it hadn't been smoked much (or just kept very clean) and took very little swabbing to get clean.
You'll want to swab your pipe cleaner through until it comes out as nice as it went in and this can sometimes take a good deal of time.
You'll want to swab your pipe cleaner through until it comes out as nice as it went in and this can sometimes take a good deal of time.
STEP 4: The Stem.
Now the stem. I like to go here first as I find it's usually where most of the work is. What we'll want to do is clean off the oxidization and tidy up the tooth chatter around the bit if possible.
Since the oxidization on this vulcanite stem isn't so bad we can get right to it but some stems require a little something more. Some will be entirely a sick yellow/green colour and this will call for a bleach bath. You'll want to coat the tenon, the flat edge that it leads in to, and any maker's marks on the stem (metal or not), and any metal in petroleum jelly so that they aren't eaten by the bleach and then drop the stem in some bleach. I've used it undiluted with no ill effect so that's what I can recommend. I will say that you should monitor it closely and check on it every few minutes so it spends no longer in there than it needs to. This will leave it rough and badly needing a polishing.
We will start by masking the shank so that we can do our work and not lose the nice flush fit of the stem to shank as we do our work.
One option that you have is a so called 'magic eraser'. Moisten it up like you normally would and start scrubbing. The 'magic eraser' is a very fine abrasive so it suits this task beautifully.
If you want or need to clean up the tooth chatter you'll need to hit it with some sandpaper. Be prepared to spend a good amount more time cleaning up the sanding marks. I used 600 grit wet/dry in it's wet state as the chatter wasn't bad at all.
After all of this it is time to bring it over to the buffing wheel to hit it with some rouge. Be sure and tie your hair back it it's long like mine because you do not want to get it caught.
This is a four inch wheel with the drill set at roughly 800-1000 rpm. Be very careful not to let the stem get too hot as burning it is a possibility.
Touch your stem to the buffing wheel at roughly the 7 o'clock position if it is spinning towards you and don't let it catch any edges as it could rip the pipe from your hands and throw it wherever it wants. It's hard to describe the motions that you'll use but you should get the hang of it pretty quickly.
Since the oxidization on this vulcanite stem isn't so bad we can get right to it but some stems require a little something more. Some will be entirely a sick yellow/green colour and this will call for a bleach bath. You'll want to coat the tenon, the flat edge that it leads in to, and any maker's marks on the stem (metal or not), and any metal in petroleum jelly so that they aren't eaten by the bleach and then drop the stem in some bleach. I've used it undiluted with no ill effect so that's what I can recommend. I will say that you should monitor it closely and check on it every few minutes so it spends no longer in there than it needs to. This will leave it rough and badly needing a polishing.
We will start by masking the shank so that we can do our work and not lose the nice flush fit of the stem to shank as we do our work.
One option that you have is a so called 'magic eraser'. Moisten it up like you normally would and start scrubbing. The 'magic eraser' is a very fine abrasive so it suits this task beautifully.
If you want or need to clean up the tooth chatter you'll need to hit it with some sandpaper. Be prepared to spend a good amount more time cleaning up the sanding marks. I used 600 grit wet/dry in it's wet state as the chatter wasn't bad at all.
After all of this it is time to bring it over to the buffing wheel to hit it with some rouge. Be sure and tie your hair back it it's long like mine because you do not want to get it caught.
This is a four inch wheel with the drill set at roughly 800-1000 rpm. Be very careful not to let the stem get too hot as burning it is a possibility.
Touch your stem to the buffing wheel at roughly the 7 o'clock position if it is spinning towards you and don't let it catch any edges as it could rip the pipe from your hands and throw it wherever it wants. It's hard to describe the motions that you'll use but you should get the hang of it pretty quickly.
STEP 5: Working the Rim.
Well by now the pipe you've been smoking may have gone out so now that you're done polishing the stem take this time to relight. It's alright I'll wait.
...Ready?
Okay now that the stem is out of the way we can take care of that rim. Luckily this part is simple. Take a cotton rag (I used old t-shirt scraps) and wet it pretty well with some saliva (alright so saliva isn't required, you can use water if you like). Now get your elbow grease and start rubbing that gunk off.
This takes time so don't be discouraged if you're not making progress very quickly.
...Ready?
Okay now that the stem is out of the way we can take care of that rim. Luckily this part is simple. Take a cotton rag (I used old t-shirt scraps) and wet it pretty well with some saliva (alright so saliva isn't required, you can use water if you like). Now get your elbow grease and start rubbing that gunk off.
This takes time so don't be discouraged if you're not making progress very quickly.
STEP 6: Reaming
Well alright now we're going places! Could almost be done even!
Now that our rim is nice and clean we can ream the pipe. Reaming is the removal of some of the 'cake' or carbon build up in the tobacco chamber. This 'cake' should not be very thick (about 1.5 mm ideally) and you will on occasion have a pipe in your hands that has a very large amount of 'cake' built up that you'd have trouble getting a golf tee down. This is because some of the old hands of pipe smoking never reamed their pipes and viewed them as disposable tools with which to smoke their tobacco. Not necessarily a wrong view but not one that goes hand in hand with collecting pipes.
This pipe didn't really need a ream but I did it anyway because that's just the kind of guy I am. Take your reamer and gently start cutting down that carbon.
Now after reaming you may want to give your pipe the 'salt and alcohol' treatment. This is accomplished by plugging the draft hole with a pipe cleaner, filling the bowl with the kosher salt (table salt will do but coarse and non-iodized is preferred), and saturating the salt with alcohol. Leave it to soak for about a day and then empty it of salt and clean out the chamber. The purpose of this is to rid the pipe of any ghosts of tobaccos past that it may have. I personally always give the pipe an exploratory smoke to determine if it actually needs this treatment or not.
One thing about alcohol though. If you spill any on the exterior of your pipe be sure to wipe it off immediately. The stains used on the wood are alcohol based and so alcohol will strip the stain from your pipe if you don't wipe it right away.
Now that our rim is nice and clean we can ream the pipe. Reaming is the removal of some of the 'cake' or carbon build up in the tobacco chamber. This 'cake' should not be very thick (about 1.5 mm ideally) and you will on occasion have a pipe in your hands that has a very large amount of 'cake' built up that you'd have trouble getting a golf tee down. This is because some of the old hands of pipe smoking never reamed their pipes and viewed them as disposable tools with which to smoke their tobacco. Not necessarily a wrong view but not one that goes hand in hand with collecting pipes.
This pipe didn't really need a ream but I did it anyway because that's just the kind of guy I am. Take your reamer and gently start cutting down that carbon.
Now after reaming you may want to give your pipe the 'salt and alcohol' treatment. This is accomplished by plugging the draft hole with a pipe cleaner, filling the bowl with the kosher salt (table salt will do but coarse and non-iodized is preferred), and saturating the salt with alcohol. Leave it to soak for about a day and then empty it of salt and clean out the chamber. The purpose of this is to rid the pipe of any ghosts of tobaccos past that it may have. I personally always give the pipe an exploratory smoke to determine if it actually needs this treatment or not.
One thing about alcohol though. If you spill any on the exterior of your pipe be sure to wipe it off immediately. The stains used on the wood are alcohol based and so alcohol will strip the stain from your pipe if you don't wipe it right away.
STEP 7: But What Are the Drill Bits For?
You may be asking that question by now and here is where I'll tell you!
If your pipe (like this one here) has a bit of obstruction of the draft hole you may need to clean it out. If you were able to pass a pipe cleaner in to the bowl in the first step you can just skip this step but if not...read on!
Now you must be very careful here because you don't want to be putting an unneeded hole in your pipe! This is very easy with straight pipes but bents require a little more care.
Find a drill bit that will fit the draft hole nicely and feed it in. Mine was 9/64.
Either hold the bit in a vise or grab it with pliers and gently turn it and it should clear it up easily. If you feel that you need a drill here then you should probably take a smaller drill bit because you shouldn't.
If your pipe (like this one here) has a bit of obstruction of the draft hole you may need to clean it out. If you were able to pass a pipe cleaner in to the bowl in the first step you can just skip this step but if not...read on!
Now you must be very careful here because you don't want to be putting an unneeded hole in your pipe! This is very easy with straight pipes but bents require a little more care.
Find a drill bit that will fit the draft hole nicely and feed it in. Mine was 9/64.
Either hold the bit in a vise or grab it with pliers and gently turn it and it should clear it up easily. If you feel that you need a drill here then you should probably take a smaller drill bit because you shouldn't.
STEP 8: Done!...Well Almost.
Technically you could call it done right here. By now your pipe is in fine smoking shape and will perform just fine.
However you're like me and want to bring it back up to looking like new you'll want to give a coat of carnuba wax to give it the shine it deserves.
Put a new buffing wheel on and get out the carnuba!
A nice no-stitch flannel wheel is the preferred but use what you can get. There are some great wood buffing systems out there and one used by many pipe makers and wood workers is the Beall system which is one that I'll be investing in at some point.
Start your wheel spinning at about 800-1000 rpm and give it a small amount of carnuba. You won't need much.
Give your pipe a coat of the wax. Hold your pipe firmly and use a light touch, let your wheel do the work.
However you're like me and want to bring it back up to looking like new you'll want to give a coat of carnuba wax to give it the shine it deserves.
Put a new buffing wheel on and get out the carnuba!
A nice no-stitch flannel wheel is the preferred but use what you can get. There are some great wood buffing systems out there and one used by many pipe makers and wood workers is the Beall system which is one that I'll be investing in at some point.
Start your wheel spinning at about 800-1000 rpm and give it a small amount of carnuba. You won't need much.
Give your pipe a coat of the wax. Hold your pipe firmly and use a light touch, let your wheel do the work.
STEP 9: Finished!
After that coat of carnuba your pipe should have a beautiful and glass like shine and look fantastic.
You can now enjoy your new pipe and add it to your collection.
Now that you've got your pipe you'll probably want information about the finer points of the smoking of it. I recommend that you head on over to the forums at http://pipesmagazine.com/ . The community over there is great and is always willing to give a newbie the information they need to get the most out of their pipes.
You can also head over to http://pipedia.org/ for information on makers and various other things related to pipes.
You can now enjoy your new pipe and add it to your collection.
Now that you've got your pipe you'll probably want information about the finer points of the smoking of it. I recommend that you head on over to the forums at http://pipesmagazine.com/ . The community over there is great and is always willing to give a newbie the information they need to get the most out of their pipes.
You can also head over to http://pipedia.org/ for information on makers and various other things related to pipes.
28 Comments
Dr Charles Voluse 5 years ago
Cleaning stem- It's almost impossible to remove old "juice" from the inside of a stem. Best way I've found is to plug the joint hole with a Q tip and fill the bite end with peroxide. Let it sit for about 10 minutes- remove Q tip then run a few pipe cleaners thru until they come out clean. The antiseptic agent removes the tar- and leaves the stem virtually germ free. Put a drop of Dawn in the hole and rinse with warm water to remove residual antiseptic.
BarbaraP119 6 years ago
I inherited my father's pipe collection. He started in after WWII and I appreciate the use of everyday items and the easy steps. I look forward to making my first attempts at restoring one of them.
EggersE 6 years ago
KeithRedAllen 8 years ago
gonzowizard 10 years ago
I do have one comment to add, however:
You recommend that your cleaning solvent be vodka, and I apologize in advance in I'm wrong, the cheap plastic jug kind. Springing for top shelf and cleaning your favorite pipe with Zyr vodka or another high-end vodka will leave your pipe with a cleaner taste, much in the same way that Johnny Walker goes down a lot smoother than Chymes whiskey.
Give it a try with your favorite high-proof flavored alcohol and post your reactions!
jdsmithwesson 9 years ago
Joel4019 9 years ago
Thanks for sharing! I'm new to collecting Estate Pipes, and have been fooling around with Trial and Error. The last few Estate Pipes I purchased had a smooth film of for cake, and I discovered that the Alcohol Soaking Trick enabled me to wipe it out. Problem is that even if you let it dry out for several days, if you aren't careful with the first several smokes it will burn through on you (see pic). Is there a method for reconditioning the pipe after an alcohol soak to minimize this risk?
jdsmithwesson 9 years ago
Joel4019 9 years ago
A very thin coat of Clear Fingernail Polish works well if it needs more help.
Dannypinkowski 9 years ago
Do you happen to know what Beall system is preferred by pipe makers?
RobertN5 9 years ago
Thanks, dude. Super helpful : )
Merlin228 9 years ago
One point about the "salt and alcohol" trick. Make sure it's Grain alcohol. Basically, everclear. AND, use an eye dropper and only put a few drops of the alcohol. If you use too much you can ( between the alcohol and salt) dehydrate the pipe to the point where it can crack. Further, when it comes to drilling out the shank. That's a good time to check the draw of the pipe. I find that I prefer a more "open" draw and will usually open up any pipe I purchase. Be it estate or new. Most pipemakers use a draft hole diameter of around 5/32. I usually open mine up to around 11/64 to 3/16 depending on the chamber size and OD of the shank.
paul.hillock 9 years ago
This indestructable is also a good primer for restoring any old pipe. I have some that are easily 20-25 years old that could use a little love.
gigocorp 10 years ago
One tip I thought was good from another pipe restoration tutorial was to always keep the stem moving. Also, you should never put so much pressure on the buffing wheel that it distorts the shape of the wheel. Always use a light touch.
toddzio 10 years ago
They actually use human saliva to clean thousand year old mummies.
I imagine the quicker process would prevent the wood from absorbing much moisture.
muldoon1987 11 years ago
Formatt 11 years ago
tevans1947 12 years ago
Formatt 12 years ago
Giving the tenon a quick dip in boiling water can make it swell a bit and make for a tight fit. Just dip it, fit it, and let it cool.
tevans1947 12 years ago