pipemakersforum.com

I have a pretty little estate billiard that had cracks through the upper rim, so I chased them with the belt sander and stopped when I had achieved a pot. It will work well for smoking in my truck since I often smoke during my short trips, but there are still a couple cracks. So now I want to play with the meer inserts that I purchased a while back.

The problem is that my first two attempts with the meer were disastrous. I plopped them in tap water for a soak, and they disintegrated. I can't get very far this way. Should I have wet them more gradually? I could do the whole job dry with a dremel but I think the established method is to carve it wet, yes?

I plan on gluing the insert with egg white, as someone suggested, but you may have another suggestion.

Sounds like those inserts may be pressed “meerschaum”.
An alternative to egg white would be water glass- (sodium silicate).
I can’t comment on working the insert, I don’t know what you have available.
DocAitch

I did everything with a dremel, pocketknife, and sandpaper, and glued it with CA. Worked great, smokes like a champ. I'd include a pic if I could figure how to upload and insert.