Charatan's Make Perfection 489DC Pot - The Redux...
Oct 18, 2018 23:21:12 GMT -5
Darin, peterd-Buffalo Spirit, and 9 more like this
Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2018 23:21:12 GMT -5
Back in 2013 or 2014, I won this little pipe off an eBay auction for almost nothing, and I was really a happy camper. The bowl walls were thick, has a great inside diameter, and a nice bent saddle stem. Since, I've smoke a number of non-aromatic blends through the bowl, and this pipe smokes like a champ. The air passage is wide open. I have given it a lite reaming inside and a mild cleaning on the exterior of the bowl recently, but I've really neglected the stem over this period of time, and quite frankly, I'm ashamed at myself. Here's a few photo's of this badly oxidized stem:
I would like to at this point in time, give a whole bunch of credit and thanks to Steve Laug, et al at Reborn Pipes for all of their wonderful blogs, that are packed full of information, and which I've been absorbing and reading over the years. After reading the last several blogs and looking at my pipe stem once again, I said its finally time to bite the bullet and invest in some micro-mesh pads, obsidian oil, and carnauba wax. I don't have a bench buffer, but I did apply some "elbow grease" to this effort. You will notice in the following photo's of the finished product, a bit of oxidation still remains. I think this is because I failed to purchase some needed 220 grit sand paper to use in the beginning (following an Oxy-Clean bath), and a small micro nail type of file to use in the creases of the saddle stem and near the bit. Other than that, I was fairly happy with the outcome. In addition, I'd also used the micro-mesh pads (1500 through 12000) on the mouth of the bowl and all around the bowl. After a good wipe down, I rubbed some obsidian oil on the bowl and shank, and let that settle-in for about a minute. Wiped that down good, and then applied a good 1st coat of carnauba wax and let that set for a good 10 minutes, and buffed that good with a clean cloth. Performed the carnauba wax 2 more times too. The stem was given a good coat of obsidian oil and I let that set overnight, and wiped down the following morning. I then gave the stem a good coat of carnauba wax and later wiped it down, and that was that:
Hopefully, this oxidation thing will not go unchecked in the future with this vulcanite stem or any others. I just need to remember to wipe down my pipe following a smoke, apply a bit of obsidian oil to the stem, wipe down, and that should provide the protection that it needs (oh, and maybe just keep the pipe out of direct sunlight too). Hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking-in pipers
I would like to at this point in time, give a whole bunch of credit and thanks to Steve Laug, et al at Reborn Pipes for all of their wonderful blogs, that are packed full of information, and which I've been absorbing and reading over the years. After reading the last several blogs and looking at my pipe stem once again, I said its finally time to bite the bullet and invest in some micro-mesh pads, obsidian oil, and carnauba wax. I don't have a bench buffer, but I did apply some "elbow grease" to this effort. You will notice in the following photo's of the finished product, a bit of oxidation still remains. I think this is because I failed to purchase some needed 220 grit sand paper to use in the beginning (following an Oxy-Clean bath), and a small micro nail type of file to use in the creases of the saddle stem and near the bit. Other than that, I was fairly happy with the outcome. In addition, I'd also used the micro-mesh pads (1500 through 12000) on the mouth of the bowl and all around the bowl. After a good wipe down, I rubbed some obsidian oil on the bowl and shank, and let that settle-in for about a minute. Wiped that down good, and then applied a good 1st coat of carnauba wax and let that set for a good 10 minutes, and buffed that good with a clean cloth. Performed the carnauba wax 2 more times too. The stem was given a good coat of obsidian oil and I let that set overnight, and wiped down the following morning. I then gave the stem a good coat of carnauba wax and later wiped it down, and that was that:
Hopefully, this oxidation thing will not go unchecked in the future with this vulcanite stem or any others. I just need to remember to wipe down my pipe following a smoke, apply a bit of obsidian oil to the stem, wipe down, and that should provide the protection that it needs (oh, and maybe just keep the pipe out of direct sunlight too). Hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking-in pipers
