I have one I am working on now that is interesting. It is a nice looking shape – Whitehall Washington Park Author. It had an overturned stem that did not line up and was oxidized and spotty on the stem



I heated the stem in boiling water to loosen the glue this morning and turned it until it lined up then cooled it with water. The boiling water raised the oxidation and also softened it. The stem had a lot of marks like someone had used a pair of pliers to try to get it to line up. Pliers marks were all around the stem mid stem. The oxidation had some spots that were dark… so I sanded it and sanded it with 180 and 220 grit sand paper. I wanted to get the tooth marks and pliers marks out as well as the oxidation. The bowl is changing colours from the oils in my hands.



Still in the process of sanding the stem. Next I have to see what I can do to hide the bubblegum pink fills – argghh. We shall see. Will keep you posted.

I am planning on doing the stem with sandpaper and Micromesh pads only. I want to show how it can be done without a buffer. At least that is the plan for now.

This is with 600 grit wet dry sand paper.



The next are with 1500 and 1800 Micromesh pads. Going to work my way up to 6000 before waxing.

Here is the stem after 2400 and 3200 Micromesh sanding

Here it is after 4000 and 6000 Micromesh sanding

Here it is with the final sanding with the 6000 and then a coat of Obsidian Oil.

Ok. Stem is finished. I just picked out the pink fills with a dental pick. Three of the four I have filled with briar dust and superglue.

The first picture is of the fills before picking.

The next two show it picked and filled

These two show the fills on the front of the bowl and the large one on the left side of the bowl. I picked out the fill in both of these larger ones and filled with the briar dust and super glue. I still need to do a bit of fine sanding as the stain will not go into the glue areas.

Here is a shot of it ready for staining



And here is the finished stained bowl. The fills at the shank have vitrually disappeared. The larger ones are still visible but are dark and blend in better.

And now the finished pipe: