I heard that there is a trick that will get rid of that discoloration that happens to the stems after smoking them for a while. Is this true? If so, does anybody know how to do it?
Jason
Getting rid of "oliving" on old stems.
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LexKY_Pipe
- Posts: 875
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Lexington, Kentucky USA
Use a buffing wheel (1725 RPM) and some brown tripoli compound to begin with. If that doesn't work, use green tripoli. Be careful not to heat the stem when using the buff.
A good buff system can be had a Beall Tools. You can find them at www.bealltool.com
Hope this helps.
A good buff system can be had a Beall Tools. You can find them at www.bealltool.com
Hope this helps.
Soak the stem in bleach (half bleach and half water to be safer) for about an hour. That will remove tha vast majority of the oxidized sulfer that is discoloring the stem. Be sure to finse it off very well in cool water afterwards until the slick feeling is gone.
Then buff it or light sand with 600 grit before buffing.
Then buff it or light sand with 600 grit before buffing.
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Todd_Pytel
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Chicago, USA
A question about the buffing details here... I've read the ASP buffing FAQ, but I'm not sure that I'm doing it right. Or maybe I'm just losing some important info in however many pages that thing is.
I was trying to remove some oxidation on a stem recently, and couldn't quite do it with the wheel. It was just slight oxidation - not enough that you'd notice it at a glace, but you could see it if you compared the color in different parts of the stem. And mostly it was at the shank/stem junction, so I wanted to be careful not to dig too hard at it. The wheel was doing *something*, but all it was doing was making the oxidized parts shiny. I was using a 6" Pimo unsewn muslin buff with Pimo's brown tripoli bar on my lathe, first at 1800 rpm, then at 2400 rpm. Should I have...
1) Pushed a little harder? (I'm pretty sure that's the wrong answer...)
2) Kept on buffing for longer? (Maybe)
3) Increased the speed? (Seems unlikely - 2400 rpm is pretty high for a 6" wheel, right?)
4) Used a different compound? (I thought brown tripoli was the thing for light oxidation, but I hear lots of opinions)
5) Used more compound? (Maybe. The wheel only seems to take a barely perceptable amount off the bar.)
6) Used a different kind of wheel? (Wouldn't sewn wheels be better if you want more cutting action?)
7) Something else?
Any advice is much appreciated. Also, it was nice meeting some of you at the show this weekend. I look forward to spending much more time making pipes and chatting here once summer vacation kicks in.
I was trying to remove some oxidation on a stem recently, and couldn't quite do it with the wheel. It was just slight oxidation - not enough that you'd notice it at a glace, but you could see it if you compared the color in different parts of the stem. And mostly it was at the shank/stem junction, so I wanted to be careful not to dig too hard at it. The wheel was doing *something*, but all it was doing was making the oxidized parts shiny. I was using a 6" Pimo unsewn muslin buff with Pimo's brown tripoli bar on my lathe, first at 1800 rpm, then at 2400 rpm. Should I have...
1) Pushed a little harder? (I'm pretty sure that's the wrong answer...)
2) Kept on buffing for longer? (Maybe)
3) Increased the speed? (Seems unlikely - 2400 rpm is pretty high for a 6" wheel, right?)
4) Used a different compound? (I thought brown tripoli was the thing for light oxidation, but I hear lots of opinions)
5) Used more compound? (Maybe. The wheel only seems to take a barely perceptable amount off the bar.)
6) Used a different kind of wheel? (Wouldn't sewn wheels be better if you want more cutting action?)
7) Something else?
Any advice is much appreciated. Also, it was nice meeting some of you at the show this weekend. I look forward to spending much more time making pipes and chatting here once summer vacation kicks in.
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LexKY_Pipe
- Posts: 875
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Lexington, Kentucky USA
Were you using green or brown tripoli compound? I usually use the brown and have been able to remove stubborn oliving on very old stems with little pressure and a 1725 rpm wheel. I would use the green for really stubborn oxidation. You can use the brown on the stummel too as an initial cleaning after shaping. But do not use the green on the wood; only on the stem.
You need to load the tripoli wheel until you can see the tripoli on the wheel. New wheels have to be charged more then used ones. For tripoling, you need enough compound to be able to feel the compound on the stem. Then you should use white diamond compound to remove the tripoli and to begin polishing the stem.
You need to load the tripoli wheel until you can see the tripoli on the wheel. New wheels have to be charged more then used ones. For tripoling, you need enough compound to be able to feel the compound on the stem. Then you should use white diamond compound to remove the tripoli and to begin polishing the stem.
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alexanderfrese
- Posts: 317
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Bochum, Germany
- Contact:
I found some stems, that seem to be oxidized below the surface. Just what you said. Polishing them gives them a nice, rich, glassy shine – on the green parts. :naughty:
This seems like a contradiction, since oxidation needs oxygene from the surrounding air, so it should start right at the top, but hey, what else is working the way it should?
I never use any very coarse polishing compounds, since I feel, I can control the abrasice effects much more when I sand those stems with 800 (I do start completely green stems with 400 or even lower) sand paper. To my experience, this is the only way to get rid of heavy oxidation if you don't use any chemicals, I never tested the bleaching. Something scares me about ist, I dunno.
I take the hard way to do it by wet sanding them until matte black and go for the polishing weel after that. Stinky, ugly, business. I do that watching TV. In my own room, when no one else can see the gunk in the boil of water…
Just my two Euro-Cents
Alex
This seems like a contradiction, since oxidation needs oxygene from the surrounding air, so it should start right at the top, but hey, what else is working the way it should?
I never use any very coarse polishing compounds, since I feel, I can control the abrasice effects much more when I sand those stems with 800 (I do start completely green stems with 400 or even lower) sand paper. To my experience, this is the only way to get rid of heavy oxidation if you don't use any chemicals, I never tested the bleaching. Something scares me about ist, I dunno.
I take the hard way to do it by wet sanding them until matte black and go for the polishing weel after that. Stinky, ugly, business. I do that watching TV. In my own room, when no one else can see the gunk in the boil of water…
Just my two Euro-Cents
Alex
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Todd_Pytel
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Chicago, USA
@LexKY_Pipe: I was using brown tripoli, but I'm thinking not enough of it (as you suggest). I'm also thinking that a sewn buff would be a better choice than unsewn.
@alexanderfrese: Yes, I eventually went the wet-sanding route for that stem and it worked fine. I even tried out the Micro-Mesh, since I recently picked up the small sample pack of it from Woodcraft. Pretty neat stuff. But it's still a time-consuming and messy business. With a bit more practice, I could probably do the whole thing in 30 minutes. And that's fine for a nice pipe (which this one was), but I don't really want to spend that much time on a $20 EBay estate that I only smoke occasionally.
@alexanderfrese: Yes, I eventually went the wet-sanding route for that stem and it worked fine. I even tried out the Micro-Mesh, since I recently picked up the small sample pack of it from Woodcraft. Pretty neat stuff. But it's still a time-consuming and messy business. With a bit more practice, I could probably do the whole thing in 30 minutes. And that's fine for a nice pipe (which this one was), but I don't really want to spend that much time on a $20 EBay estate that I only smoke occasionally.