I love estate pipes. I love the process of refurbishing them (all but for the bleach - for God's sake, wear a white T-Shirt).
As dunhillmanuk once said, "...a bit like my pipes; they're not mine, I'm caring for 'em for someone else eventually."
My latest find on eBay was a Kaywoodie 13B, with 4-hole stinger—a beautiful author shape. Author shapes are my latest thing... You know, I've heard some interesting postulations on why they are called authors, but never the most obvious, which is to me that the bowl stays out of the line of vision of the paper you are writing on, and that the pipe sits comfortably in the mouth for long periods of time, and that the pipe's ergonomics are comfortably sophisticated and sleek, as an author should present to the world himself or herself.
Here is the seller's picture (in which the stem deceptively appears to be aligned):
Her stem was oxidated, her grain grimed, and she was shipped with aged dottle still in her bowl, which had spilled out all inside the packaging. As you can see, I cleaned her up quite nicely:
A brother of the briar related to me the following information pertaining to Kaywoodie pipes: "I understand the 3-hole stinger was introduced around 1957 or 1958 and the Standard line was introduced in 1950. If there's any stamping on the stinger it would date pre 1955, no stampings post 1955."
From this, I deduce that she is a Kaywoodie girl from 1956.
When the seller finally decided to ship my pipe out—days after my having paid for it (which I always do immediately upon having won an item), I got it a day or two later, and found that the stem was offset, not matching up with the mortise as it should. The seller did not mention this. I let him know and was given a partial refund of $10. Very nice. Now, I had to fix my pipe.
I had encountered this before, wouldn't you know it, with another vintage Kaywoodie. I ruined that pipe beyond my powers of repair (I nevertheless managed to sell it). Here is what NOT to do:
Bad Solution:
Heat the mortise up and tighten the heck out of the stem until it twists all the way around. And—the mortise cracks and terrible feelings abound. This might be a good solution in cases where the stinger was only minutely offset and needed only a slight clockwise adjustment.
Good Solution:
Step 1. Estimate the position that the stinger needs to be in for it to line up with the mortise when tightened properly.
Step 2. Get a heat gun. It's worth it. Lighters are not safe — you are likely to warp the vulcanite. I acquired a heat gun at the local craft store for under $20, and yes, I've embossed with it — on shelving brackets that I made... Here they are (you can purchase them on Etsy):
Step 3. Heat up the metal stinger for around a minute. Get it really hot. Watch the vulcanite—you don't want to warp it by applying heat to the stinger for too long.
Step 4. I used needle nose pliers with pipe cleaners wrapped around them, to protect the stinger, while gently twisting it to the proper position, so that it will line up with the mortise when screwed in. You should have time to quickly test it before the vulcanite re-hardens.
Step 5. Gently, oh so gently, let the stinger cool.
The heat gun method worked like a charm for me. Let us celebrate!
God bless you in your endeavors my friends.
As dunhillmanuk once said, "...a bit like my pipes; they're not mine, I'm caring for 'em for someone else eventually."
My latest find on eBay was a Kaywoodie 13B, with 4-hole stinger—a beautiful author shape. Author shapes are my latest thing... You know, I've heard some interesting postulations on why they are called authors, but never the most obvious, which is to me that the bowl stays out of the line of vision of the paper you are writing on, and that the pipe sits comfortably in the mouth for long periods of time, and that the pipe's ergonomics are comfortably sophisticated and sleek, as an author should present to the world himself or herself.
Here is the seller's picture (in which the stem deceptively appears to be aligned):
Her stem was oxidated, her grain grimed, and she was shipped with aged dottle still in her bowl, which had spilled out all inside the packaging. As you can see, I cleaned her up quite nicely:
A brother of the briar related to me the following information pertaining to Kaywoodie pipes: "I understand the 3-hole stinger was introduced around 1957 or 1958 and the Standard line was introduced in 1950. If there's any stamping on the stinger it would date pre 1955, no stampings post 1955."
From this, I deduce that she is a Kaywoodie girl from 1956.
When the seller finally decided to ship my pipe out—days after my having paid for it (which I always do immediately upon having won an item), I got it a day or two later, and found that the stem was offset, not matching up with the mortise as it should. The seller did not mention this. I let him know and was given a partial refund of $10. Very nice. Now, I had to fix my pipe.
I had encountered this before, wouldn't you know it, with another vintage Kaywoodie. I ruined that pipe beyond my powers of repair (I nevertheless managed to sell it). Here is what NOT to do:
Bad Solution:
Heat the mortise up and tighten the heck out of the stem until it twists all the way around. And—the mortise cracks and terrible feelings abound. This might be a good solution in cases where the stinger was only minutely offset and needed only a slight clockwise adjustment.
Good Solution:
Step 1. Estimate the position that the stinger needs to be in for it to line up with the mortise when tightened properly.
Step 2. Get a heat gun. It's worth it. Lighters are not safe — you are likely to warp the vulcanite. I acquired a heat gun at the local craft store for under $20, and yes, I've embossed with it — on shelving brackets that I made... Here they are (you can purchase them on Etsy):
Step 3. Heat up the metal stinger for around a minute. Get it really hot. Watch the vulcanite—you don't want to warp it by applying heat to the stinger for too long.
Step 4. I used needle nose pliers with pipe cleaners wrapped around them, to protect the stinger, while gently twisting it to the proper position, so that it will line up with the mortise when screwed in. You should have time to quickly test it before the vulcanite re-hardens.
Step 5. Gently, oh so gently, let the stinger cool.
The heat gun method worked like a charm for me. Let us celebrate!
God bless you in your endeavors my friends.
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