Question on polishing stem on an estate pipe

[hawky454]

Seriously. The Mr Clean sponges kick ass!

[SchmidtN]

I just bought a 2 pack and cut it up into chunks. I have an ebayed Savinelli coming in mail that I'll try it out on.

[hawky454]

Cool man, let me know how it works for ya. Some fella mentioned it to me on another forum and I've been using them since. Of course you still need to sand and polish but they work much better than anything I've ever tried. Needless to say, it still takes some elbow grease.

[SchmidtN]

I used 400 sandpaper to get out the larger teeth marks, then worked down to 0000 steel wool, then used the white sponge, then did an alcohol swab and finished with chapstick.

Before:


After:



Of note I lost the magic wand off the stem when using the white sponge and the after picture of the top looks like it has a brown spot on it still. After I looked at the picture I looked at the stem again and can't find it. Not sure if the flash picked it up, or if it's a reflection of the shelf in the garage. The sponge was interesting... it was kind of like foam rubber you dab in water and it crumbles apart pretty easily.

[hawky454]

Looks really good my man! Yeah I should have said something about that. If you want to keep the nomenclature you need to be very careful, but that's pretty much the case with whatever solution you use to clean stems. Good job chief!

[bilder]

If you use the bleach method there are some things to be mindful of.

On low quality stems, the bleach will eat them up. I tried this on an old no name pipe a couple years ago and after 30 minutes in bleach the stem had dissolved so much that it was useless. If you have a stem of questionable quality, you may want to test a drop on the back to see if it will work.

Also, you can add a bit of petroleum jelly to any logo markings to protect them from the bleach.

I have started to avoid bleach due to this. I like older pipes and the stems are just not of high enough quality to survive a bleaching.

[d_mc]

A good alternative to bleach is Oxi-Clean.
You should still cover any stem markings with petroleum jelly.
But, generally, Oxi-Clean will be much gentler on the old Vulcanite. . .and won't eat away at the rubber if left soaking too long.

[Nank Brown]

Guys,guys,guys if your going to clean an old pipe and stem didn't you know that your supposed to use 110 proof vodka!!! c'mon I thought everyone did this??? haha

[vasco]

If you use the bleach method there are some things to be mindful of.
On low quality stems, the bleach will eat them up. I tried this on an old no name pipe a couple years ago and after 30 minutes in bleach the stem had dissolved so much that it was useless. If you have a stem of questionable quality, you may want to test a drop on the back to see if it will work.
Also, you can add a bit of petroleum jelly to any logo markings to protect them from the bleach.
I have started to avoid bleach due to this. I like older pipes and the stems are just not of high enough quality to survive a bleaching.

From previous experience I know that normal bleach (the one the wife uses in laundry) don't do that, you may be using some other much stronger stuff or then you got some really strange stem mode of something else.
In any case, just add water. For something as strong as you may be using 95% water and 5% bleach should be good.
Some guys use 50% water 50% laundry bleach and left the stem there for a full day, for me 1 hour is enough.

Some of the stems I clean using bleach turn white, others don't, I don't know why. It goes away when sanding so it's not a problem.
Always protect the tenon zone and nomenclature with something like Vaseline.