# How to refurb a pipe?



## Gixxerjoe04 (Aug 10, 2014)

Wasn't sure where to post this, but after seeing the thread made by @APBcustoms awhile back about a pipe he refurbed I thought it'd be cool to try one. Today at the huge 127 yard sale I was browsing and came across some old pipes and thought why not give it a shot, were only a couple bucks a piece. I found some really good looking ones and don't want to mess them up but just going at it so figured I'd ask first before trying. Also I'll need to buy some new stems for them, where's a good place to buy them at a decent price, looked online and they were like $20 a piece which seems steep for a piece of plastic. On a couple of them the stems broke off so not sure how I'm going to fix that. The last pipe pic had some awesome figure but i guess whoever made it did the gouging stuff and made it look like crap i think.

My assumption on how to refurb it would be to just hand sand it to get the finish and gunk off and oil it down with some type of finish. Not sure what to do about cleaning out the inside of the pipe.


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## APBcustoms (Aug 10, 2014)

For the inside you can sand back the charr so it looks like new or atleast to sand some of it out. Then you wanna roll up some sand paper and go back and forth through where the pipe stem meets. After all your sanding pour salt into the bowl and then flood it with bourbon or rum. Let it soak for a bit and then pour what's left out after that you want to dip pipe cleaners in bourbon then place them inside the stem piece. You want to repeat the pipe cleaner process until no more discoloration appears on the stem this may take a while. Lastly you want to sand the outside and then buff with wax. As far as stems go try out a cheap 3 dollar corn cob pipe and convert the stem.


I'm almost positive that I missed something we will see though


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## Mike1950 (Aug 10, 2014)

@LoneStar is the guy to ask.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## LoneStar (Aug 10, 2014)

Oh boy. you just opened a big ol can of worms! 
Biggest issue you will have is the stems. You can't really just buy a stem. You can buy stem blanks, but they won't fit your pipe until you turn a perfect tenon to match your mortise, then shape the outer diameter to match the shank of the pipe.
It's really a lot of hassle. I make pipes 7 days a week and stems are definitely my least favorite part of the job. They are just finicky and the fit has to be so perfect, and I'm working with the right tools to get the job done. "Winging it" is even tougher!
When I restored a lot of pipes, they had to be realllllly valuable to make it worth replacement stems. I still have boxes of stemless bowls that just weren't worth fixing.
I don't see anything that looks too valuable in the pics, but it wouldn't hurt to post the name on the pipes before you tear into them too much. Could be some hidden gem in there, but they mostly look like pipes that might fetch $10-$20 on EBay when they're repaired. The last one looks like Tracy Mincers work, either one of his Custom-Bilts or one of the companies that stole his style of rusticating pipes. Some of them are actually quite cool, but most of them look sloppy.

You can cut tenons with a wood lathe, but you will mess up quite a few until you get it right. Hardest part will be chucking them straight, and then keeping your cut on the tenon perfectly straight, and also getting the tenon diameter to .01 tolerances. I use a metal lathe, and the main reason is for cutting perfectly flat faces and perfectly straight tenons.

As for cleaning them up, APB got it right, but I would personally just redrill the airway with a 5/32" drillbit. Gets all the gunk out in one pass, and opens the airway if it's too narrow. Be careful to not drill too far into the bowl itself, just drill until the tip of the bit peeks out into the bottom of the bowl. 

So if you want to try your hand at replacement stems, www.vermontfreehand.com can set you up with stem blanks at a great price. Just shoot him an email and tell him what you're looking for.

Here's a site with info on refurbishing old pipes that may have more info for you http://rebornpipes.com/


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## APBcustoms (Aug 11, 2014)

Told you I missed something, the stem!!! Probably didn't explain because that's the worst part haha. Also I like the idea of drilling it out that's gotta be a lot faster @LoneStar


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Aug 11, 2014)

Seems like it may be a pain but I think a couple will look pretty good redone if I can get it done without messing them up. Wanted to redo one and give it to a guy I work with who's helping me out with something for my wedding. Most of them didn't have a name or anything I could see, some have just numbers. One says "limited", one says made in London England, and one said Duke Dr (forgot the name after). Might call a cigar shop and see if the might have replacement stems and go from there. 

@APBcustoms the bourbon and salt thing. Do you use the poured out bourbon from the salt mix for the pipe cleaners or what exactly, kinda confused about that. And you don't put any oil on the outside, just buff?


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## APBcustoms (Aug 11, 2014)

Sometimes I'll do a little mineral oil on them and you can just soak pipe cleaners in bourbon and push them in where the stem attaches


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