Stem logo?

[Charl]

I've recently been asked by a very good pipe friend of mine, to replace a stem on his Stanwell Viking pipe. He dropped the pipe and just wanted it to be smokable again, so I replaced the stem, but minus the brass (?) stem logo.
I do not go in for pipe repairs, nor do I want to, but I was wondering how you would remove it from the old stem and fit it onto a new one?
And then, to take it a step further: what would you do in case of a stem logo that's been embossed and painted, like for example the P on a Peterson stem?
Inquiring minds and all that...

[sandahlpipe]

I've watched a repairman do the letter thing on a stem. It's a combination of a hot stamp melting the rubber and then a China marker (at least in this case) to make the color white. It's surprisingly durable. As for how to remove it and fit it to the new one, I wouldn't be able to help you there.

[Sasquatch]

I think if you heated up the old brass one it would fall out.

Then, same thing, heat er up, press it in?... Might be easier in acrylic than rubber, I dunno.

[Charl]

That's what I would think as well, Todd.
But knowing George, we both will most probably be wrong!

[LatakiaLover]

"Melting it in" is indeed how the GBD & similar brass rondels were affixed at the factory, but unless you have the same sort of electrically heated, V-block equipped, "guillotine style" arbor press they did, don't mess with trying to do it that way. Those presses move on only one axis. Human hands holding soldering guns move on three. Irretrievably screwing up an otherwise finished stem is virtually guaranteed.

Besides, many of those little medallions are little more than foil-thick, and the face of the arbor press ram molded/shaped them while pushing them in. Cutting one out of an old stem and mashing on it with a soldering iron will just mangle it.

Inletting by hand and gluing in place is the only way an occasional job can be reliably done that I know of.

Impressed marks that are filled with paint are somewhat easier to pull off (with practice) but still FAR trickier than would seem to be the case because most of the time you'll be stamping a curved surface, and the stamp faces are flat. Well made stamps are also spendy, usually starting around $100.

Messing with rondels and paint-filled logos is not recommended for hobbyists. The many assorted inlaid dot type ones are no problem, though, as long as you have a way to clamp/hold irregularly shaped delicate objects (like stems) to drill holes in them accurately.

[Charl]

Thanks George!
So it was indeed best for me to just leave it alone!