fluffie666

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fluffie666
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Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:33 pm

fluffie666

Post by fluffie666 »

Hello forum members

My name is Peter Krepek. I am 37 years old, live in Walnutport Pennsylvania and I've been smoking pipes for about three years. I don't make my own pipes yet. At the moment, I am concentrating on cleaning up old estate pipes with the intention of actually being able to restore them (bring them back to their original state).

After about a month into the smoking hobby I discovered estate pipes. I quickly developed a soft spot in my heart for these old smokers. They have a history behind them. The old masters intrigue me. Preben Holm, Sixten Iverson and the Danish pipe carvers of late are the ones who amaze me. Even carvers like Mark Tinsky, who in their modest beginnings, became so obsessive about carving that they just holed themselves up somewhere, smoked and carved pipes.I find this type of obsession very honorable and believe that the pipes, no matter who made them, deserve to be brought back to their original condition so they can be smoked or just admired.

I started out by teaching myself how to remove oxidation from these old things and making the stems shine. I acquired a buffer, some compounds and then realized that each stem needs to be handled with some kind of technique as to not remove to much material in order to get a desired result. I realized I can clean up a 70 year old stem to a mirror finish but, in doing so, I can remove so much material from that stem and it is possible to be left with only a shiny toothpick sized stem of a mouth piece. This fact does not sit well with me and is the main reason I am on here. To ask questions about the techniques used to remove oxidation and to eventually start turning my own stems.

I stopped selling pipes that I cleaned up because I felt I was dishonoring the pipes. I don't know enough to say that I can refurbish or restore a pipe. I can clean them up, have them smokable and shiny. But at this point, I can not restore (bring them back to their original condition).

I have many questions, many pipes and a long road to learning how to turn my own stems. I hope to find some information on here and later on in my endeavor, I hope to be able to provide sound information to someone in my shoes who wants a slow and solid learning experience.

I am honored to be on here with so many experienced and like minded people. I thank you for being here and my wife thanks you as well because she is tired of hearing me mutter around the house about stems, oxidation, keeping button lines sharp, removing material, lathes, etc.
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sandahlpipe
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Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:49 pm
Location: Zimmerman, MN
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Re: fluffie666

Post by sandahlpipe »

Welcome to the forum! We've got a couple of pipe repair guys on here, though the most of us are just plain old pipe makers. Hope you find what you're looking for!
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
http://sandahlpipe.com
pipedreamer
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Re: fluffie666

Post by pipedreamer »

Welcome!!!
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Ratimus
Posts: 337
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: fluffie666

Post by Ratimus »

Welcome aboard! If you want to learn pipe repair you need to go to the ultimate fount of knowledge (and internet memes), George Dibos a.k.a LatakiaLover. I'm sure he'd appreciate having a fresh soul to corrupt.
Ryan Richardson
R2 Pipes/Ryan's Luxury Goods
______________________________________
"You can't convince a stupid person that what he's doing is stupid, because the stupidness inside him is telling him that it's smart"
pipedreamer
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Re: fluffie666

Post by pipedreamer »

Welcome!!!
DocAitch
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Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 12:44 am
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: fluffie666

Post by DocAitch »

Welcome!
Your desire to return those old pipes to their original condition is understandable, but there is another point of view that I carry over from my fascination with old military firearms.
Each of those nicks, dents , rust spots and tooth marks ( in this case) are the patina of the individual history of that artifact. (That patch of deep pits on the receiver of a Finn M39 may have been caused by blood). Firearms collectors don't want that patina removed, nor do some pipe collectors want the history of their piece removed.
Sanitation is one thing, scrubbing to anonymity is another bird entirely.
If a stem is so damaged as to make the pipe unsmokable, that is a different proposition.
George Dibos is THE master of stem replacement, but he works mainly with very high end stuff. Read all of his stuff and watch all of his videos. Kamkiel, in China, does interesting work on beat up Dunhills as well.
There is also a very active forum on pipe repair and restoration on the Pipe Smokers forum as well, if you haven't already found it. Some of the information is very helpful, some not so much.
DocAitch
"Hettinger, if you stamp 'hand made' on a dog turd, some one will buy it."
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
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