Antique shop find and imminent restoration project

Started by RoscozRevenge, 08/15/2012 02:53 PM

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RoscozRevenge

I had a little road trip last week to see my sister on her birthday and just happened to pop into a random antique shop... Locked in a tiny display case in the back of the shop amongst a bunch of burnt out pipes was this little jewel. A beautiful set of rusticated Hardcastle meerschaum lined briar pipes. Aside from some stem oxidation and being obviously well used they are in amazing shape!

As close as I can figure these pipes are pre-1967 as the Forest Road factory was closed by Dunhill when they merged Hardcastle and Parker that year.

Both pipes are marked "Hardcastle's London Made" and have the Hardcastle "H" on the stem. The Half Bent has a shape # of "85" and the Setter(?) is marked "663". I haven't had any success identifying or dating these pipes any further.

The tamper may not even be an antique but I like its design. It is stamped "Stainless Sheffield England" and "REG. DES. 930161".

Stay tuned for my restoration efforts  :-)

(I am a little concerned as this will be my first restoration project ;-) )

"If anyone gets nosy, just...you know... shoot 'em. "
-Malcolm Reynolds

lubrix

----
Guru of ruining the moment.

billy82

But I really liked the name "Wish Stealer". It had a Native American ring to it. -Brlesq

A wise geek once told me that moving up from a daily smoke to a weekly or even bi-monthly smoke would be worth it, if I could learn how to appreciate a really really good cigar. -southernrun
http://www.cigargeeks.com/index.php?action=humidors;area=public;member=billy82

kola

Those are some fine looking pipes! Take your time and don't rush anything. There is lots of pipe restoring info on the google-net ... unfortunately most of it is either not good advice, or is just plain dangerous to your pipe. So, if you will indulge me, I would like to pass on some things I learned while restoring an old Stratford that I had picked up.

Ignore any advice to use hard or sharp tools - drill bits, knives, etc. You don't want that stuff near your precious pipe.
Ignore advice to use cleaning agents that you would not use on your best eating implements and is not "food grade". What goes on the pipe goes into you.

I scraped and rounded my bowl by patiently working it with the "scraper" on my pipe tool. It may be out of round by .05 millimeters, and that is fine. It's an old pipe, after all.

If you need to clear the shank hole or the stem, use high test vodka or similar consumable alcohol and pipe cleaners to slowly dislodge the carbon and work it loose. Trying to push the stuff out with hard tools only risks damaging surfaces. Oh, and don't soak the briar in the alcohol (you can soak the stem though).

An awesome tip for cleaning the lip of the bowl and the finished outer briar surfaces ... spit on a cloth, then rub it on the briar. This is guaranteed to remove any carbon "charring" and most any other detritus that may have accumulated on it.  To finish the briar, use some carnuba wax, a Dremel buffing wheel (only on the slowest setting) or soft cloth, and apply elbow grease as required.

The vulcanite stem on mine was pretty oxidized. I used a bleach bath. Yours has a logo on the stem, so you will have to protect it with petroleum jelly or the bleach will remove it. For polishing, rather than using petroleum-based concoctions, I chose to use a product called "Bar Tenders Friend" which is a food grade cleaner that polishes as well as any purpose-sold polishing agent I have found. Lowes or somesuch should have it, and it's cheap. Mix a little water to make a paste, put some on a Dremel buff wheel or a soft cloth, and then put some elbow grease to it (only use a Dremel on the slowest setting). Carnuba wax will give it a nice shiny finish.

Finally, protecting the vulcanite will be your biggest challenge. An excellent solution I use is to keep a small cloth with a couple drops of olive oil on it. After each smoke, I give the vulcanite a quick wipe and it's good to go. So far, not a hint of oxidization.

Hope this helps!
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery - Winston Churchill

toby2


pferg

nice find. good luck with your restoration of them

MT21

Very nice.  Congratulations on a great find.
"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

Gurkha free zone.




Hot Stuff x

Great find!  Good luck with the restoration.
LES
Guru of Morning Calm and Oriental Wisdom


_________________
"So I feel like I've cheated on a wife or long time lover... this is your damn fault Les, you sent me that first Tatuaje!!!!!!  You introduced us!!"  - Bob Cordell

"You got me started on both the Liberty and the Christian's Blend, Les. Now my kids won't be able to go to college." - Brlesq

87North

Guru of "Sarcastic Wit and Folksy Wisdom"


   
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