Repairing a Missouri Meerschaum General "second"
This is not a homemade pipe. But it does demonstrate a technique that I have used on a number of homemade pipes, especially those made of a cob or ash or fruit wood or even a corn stalk.
The MM General is a long, deep smoke. The bottom of the cob bowl remains cool to the touch for an entire bowl of tobacco. But its design is silly (if you don't have an aide constantly at your behest, who can hold it for you when you need to set it down). It is not a sitter, and will fit no pipe stand or pipe rest, unless you make one specifically to fit it. I use one of my few properly proportioned, empty tobacco tins that can keep it mostly upright.
My General was included among the 10 random pipes in a box of "seconds" that I purchased from MM a few years ago. I believe it (incorrectly) had a straight stem shoved into it when it arrived. Also, it arrived with a crack along the bowl rim. After close inspection, this crack appeared to extend down about 2/3 of the length of the bowl. I considered repairing it immediately, but could not convince myself that I could adequately close the hairline crack. So I smoked a dozen or two bowls of tobacco in it, to scorch and open the crack wide enough to admit some of my pipe spackle.
Plaster of Paris (PofP) will shrink and crack as it dries. To prevent this, I create an exactly 50:50 mixture of PofP [purchased from a home improvement store] and fine sand [purchased in the craft section of Walmart]. I have used this successfully as a fire-proof liner in my otherwise flamboyantly flammable corn stalk pipe, and that has held up well for a few years now. It is also ideal for repairing the interior bottom of a cob pipe that has begun to burn through. I've even used the PofP/sand spackle to repair a pipe made of real Meerschaum.
With this specific job, I mixed ½ level tsp of each dry ingredient. For spackling the inside of a pipe bowl, both the sides and rounded tips of a wooden Popsicle stick (craft stick) serve as a useful trowel. The quantity of water to add to the blended, dry PoP with sand is exactly less than the few drops that you do add. Always. But that's okay. A runnier mixture will penetrate crevasses better, and it begins to set fairly quickly. You can mix this in the bottom of a cut-off paper or plastic cup, which can then be discarded afterwards.
With this cracked General, I began with a slightly runny spackle, which seeped its way into the defect. As the mixture became a little thicker, I added a second layer to the interior of the bowl, and freshened the bowl rim.
The repair chore itself takes about 2 minutes, start to finish. What always takes me more time is retrieving the spackle ingredients from where I store them, and then returning them when I'm done.
Once fully set, I use a partially worn out, cardboard emery board (fingernail file) to smooth the rim, and a rolled-up section of stiff sandpaper to lightly smooth the interior of the bowl.
Bob
This is not a homemade pipe. But it does demonstrate a technique that I have used on a number of homemade pipes, especially those made of a cob or ash or fruit wood or even a corn stalk.
The MM General is a long, deep smoke. The bottom of the cob bowl remains cool to the touch for an entire bowl of tobacco. But its design is silly (if you don't have an aide constantly at your behest, who can hold it for you when you need to set it down). It is not a sitter, and will fit no pipe stand or pipe rest, unless you make one specifically to fit it. I use one of my few properly proportioned, empty tobacco tins that can keep it mostly upright.
My General was included among the 10 random pipes in a box of "seconds" that I purchased from MM a few years ago. I believe it (incorrectly) had a straight stem shoved into it when it arrived. Also, it arrived with a crack along the bowl rim. After close inspection, this crack appeared to extend down about 2/3 of the length of the bowl. I considered repairing it immediately, but could not convince myself that I could adequately close the hairline crack. So I smoked a dozen or two bowls of tobacco in it, to scorch and open the crack wide enough to admit some of my pipe spackle.
Plaster of Paris (PofP) will shrink and crack as it dries. To prevent this, I create an exactly 50:50 mixture of PofP [purchased from a home improvement store] and fine sand [purchased in the craft section of Walmart]. I have used this successfully as a fire-proof liner in my otherwise flamboyantly flammable corn stalk pipe, and that has held up well for a few years now. It is also ideal for repairing the interior bottom of a cob pipe that has begun to burn through. I've even used the PofP/sand spackle to repair a pipe made of real Meerschaum.
With this specific job, I mixed ½ level tsp of each dry ingredient. For spackling the inside of a pipe bowl, both the sides and rounded tips of a wooden Popsicle stick (craft stick) serve as a useful trowel. The quantity of water to add to the blended, dry PoP with sand is exactly less than the few drops that you do add. Always. But that's okay. A runnier mixture will penetrate crevasses better, and it begins to set fairly quickly. You can mix this in the bottom of a cut-off paper or plastic cup, which can then be discarded afterwards.
With this cracked General, I began with a slightly runny spackle, which seeped its way into the defect. As the mixture became a little thicker, I added a second layer to the interior of the bowl, and freshened the bowl rim.
The repair chore itself takes about 2 minutes, start to finish. What always takes me more time is retrieving the spackle ingredients from where I store them, and then returning them when I'm done.
Once fully set, I use a partially worn out, cardboard emery board (fingernail file) to smooth the rim, and a rolled-up section of stiff sandpaper to lightly smooth the interior of the bowl.
Bob
