About a month ago my wife surprised me with a haul of five that I could have never pulled off. She is an incredible woman and apparently has a better eye then myself.  This was the worst of the lot.

The pipe upon receiving, a Savinelli Hercules 320 EX. She was big and beautiful.

She was in decent shape a little cake, rim char,the button was worn and the biggest problem was the stem logo, it was beyond saving very worn.

I started with my Castleford Reamer working from the smallest to the largest attachment and in this case the largest was too small. I moved to 250 grit sandpaper so I could take it back to the briar and finished it off with 400 grit paper.

 Next the build up on the rim, I applied Method wood for good polish and let it soak in for 10 min . After the 10 min I worked at the area with a children’s toothbrush to break up the tars. 

I was able to remove the build up but there was still char present . In fear of changing the shape of the bowl I decided to work at it slightly with micro mesh pads to lighten it as much as possible.

 

The internals were pretty clean when I received the pipe, I cleaned the mortise and chamber with EverClear, Q-tips, hard/soft pipe cleaners and a shank brush.

I un-rolled two cotton balls then twisted them together, I then turned them tightly into the mortise . I filled the chamber with a little EverClear and waited for the swab to absorb the alcohol. I then placed two cotton balls in the chamber soaked them with EverClear and set the bowl aside to absorb what I missed with my previous cleaning.

Next I moved to the stem . I applied non-bleach Soft Scrub with a children’s toothbrush and worked it into the oxidation. After leaving it for 15 min I used a rag and Magic Eraser and scrubbed until the oxidation was removed.

With the oxidation removed I could now address the button.

I roughed up the area of the button with 400 grit sandpaper and then cleaned the stem with alcohol. I mixed a paste of thick black CA glue and activated charcoal powder and applied it to the button with a toothpick spreading it evenly across the surface. Happy with the shape I sprayed it with accelerator.

 With the paste hardened I could form the new button. Using needle files and sandpaper the new button took shape. It was now ready for the final sanding.

I let the bowl soak for a few hours after removing the cotton balls I could see the chamber was worn. I’ve seen a fellow Pipes Magazine forum member make a bowl coating and thought this was a good time try it. I applied a layer of honey to the chamber then filled it with activated charcoal I let it sit for 15 min then dumped the excess  and I then left it for a week.

After a week the coating hardened.

After the bowl coating cured I could begin work on the stem. I tapped off what was left of the logo and then began sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper then working through the various grits of micro mesh pads to bring back the shine. Now onto the buffer.

Here she is.

 

Finished her up with white diamond, a few coats of carnauba and a micro fiber hand buffing.