Water damage...

[Briarfox]

Well the garage connected to our shop went up in a blaze of glory last night. besides 3 utility carts and all our landscaping tools, nothing else including pipes was burned.

However the firemen knocked wholes into the shop and soaked it with water, completly water logging our pipes and drowning our tobacco. Whats the process for drying out a pipe? Will letting them sit save them? There was an inch of water/white foam in most of the bowls...

Lathe and mill survived!

[kkendall]

Wow! I'm really sorry to hear that! Glad to hear it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

[KurtHuhn]

Wow, that SUCKS!

That foam is just soap, if it's the same stuff we use around here. Rinse out bowls and let them sit. Be sure to keep them out of the sun and any strong airflow, and let them dry slowly. They should be fine.

[Briarfox]

ok so drying slowly is the key? Thanks for the tip, I was contemplating leaving them in the sun.

[KurtHuhn]

Yes. If they dry too fast, internal stresses will result, and you'll run the risk of cracks and checks developing. After they dry slowly for a month or so, you can move them into the sun to be sure they're completely dry.

You can even do it the scientific way, and weight them every few days. When they stop losing weight over three successive measurements, they're about as dry as they'll get without help from the sun.

Note that, after they dry out, you may need to refit the stems. The mortis hole could change dimension ever so slightly.

[sethile]

Wow, sorry to hear about that! Very glad most of the valuables escaped, and extremely thankful no one was hurt!

[wdteipen]

Sorry to hear about your damage, Briarfox. I hope you get things back in order soon.

[Briarfox]

Well now that things have settled we only have some rust on the chucks, table saw, band saw. Nothing that won't clean up! The biggest tragedy is that the shop no longer smells of pipe, it's now a bond fire smell. Guess I just need to spend some more time inside to get it back upto it's glory days