Hydrogen Peroxide for stem cleaning
Bernie
glass with some 3% solution for about 20 minutes. Came out clean. Polished
with denicare stem polish and it looks great. So I've now got 8 stems in the
same glass and will do the rest later. Anyone else tried this?
P.Melchior
"Bernie" <nospamber...@email.com> wrote:
Nope, i'd never tried it. But it sounds like a good idea.
H2O2 is a very strong oxidizing/bleaching agent. (If you spill one
drop of 30% H2O2 on your finger, the spot turns white in a matter of
seconds) I wonder about the long term effect. Can you keep us posted?
Happy puffing from the Netherlands
Peter
(Every once in a while I smoke a cigar. Now is once in a while)
>
>
Never argue with a Scorpio. You lose...
*********************************************************
It's useless to respond by email, because the emailadress
provided doesn't exsist.
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Bernie
"P.Melchior" <ditwordn...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3d34a03f...@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
> Hello,
>
> "Bernie" <nospamber...@email.com> wrote:
>
> >Tested it on an old rough looking stem this morning. Just dropped it in a
> >glass with some 3% solution for about 20 minutes. Came out clean.
Polished
> >with denicare stem polish and it looks great. So I've now got 8 stems in
the
> >same glass and will do the rest later. Anyone else tried this?
>
> Nope, i'd never tried it. But it sounds like a good idea.
> H2O2 is a very strong oxidizing/bleaching agent. (If you spill one
> drop of 30% H2O2 on your finger, the spot turns white in a matter of
> seconds) I wonder about the long term effect. Can you keep us posted?
>
> Happy puffing from the Netherlands
> Peter
> (Every once in a while I smoke a cigar. Now is once in a while)
>
> >
> >
>
After removing the 8 stems they were clean. This is clean as in there were
no deposits on them but any discolouration due to oxidisation remained. The
stem polish is however quite good for that.
Robert DOnnelly
I haven't tried using fingernail polish remover to clean my stems as
yet, but I have tried using oxy-clean vs bleach, and I think I will
stick with bleach. I didn't like the results oxy-clean gave me.
However as a side note it works great for cleaning my bristle brushes
I use to clean out the shanks.
Happy Blends,
Robert
"Bernie" <nospamber...@email.com> wrote in message news:<ah195n$pgba1$1...@ID-112332.news.dfncis.de>...
Balkan
Very interesting! What material are the stems made from, please? Thanks in advance.
Balkan
http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/aconfrariadocachimbo/
"Bernie" <nospamber...@email.com> wrote in message news:<ah195n$pgba1$1...@ID-112332.news.dfncis.de>...
F.N.
Posts about this topic always set me off into a ramble, being a
polymer-person :-)
For quick cosmetically appealing results, peroxide and bleach may look
great as a solution. BUT: Peroxide is (aside from UV radiation) the
best reagent to degrade the rubber lattice that is present in your
vulcanite/ebonite. Since you have no reference as to the reaction rate
or the permeation of the reagent into the stem material, you don't
really know to what depth in the material the reaction occurs. Long
term effects: vulcanite will get brittle, not hold in other components
of the vulcanite blend, and show more of the dreaded 'oxidation'
effects (which in reality is excess sulphur leakage) at an even faster
rate.
I'd try this out on an old stem first, one that could be sacrificed to
science.....
Always be suspicious of things that work fast and effectively - you
may be doing more damage than good, esp. with chemical reactions.
I dislike the use of any reactive chemicals such as peroxide or
chlorine bleaches on stems or bowls. My concerns being mainly, that I
don't know what conversions could be taking place within the material
- moreover, what kind of bloom (oxidation - degradation will take
place inside the smoke-canal - something that can't be readily seen or
removed.
One more point... You should not submerge the tenon into these baths.
Aside from the disastrous effects of the tenon becoming
brittle...there is deifinitely a decrease in width , since you are
blaeching away material. This thinning may be uneven, so that in the
end you will find either leaky joints and simply loose fits of tenon
and mortise.
I have done a lot of refurbishing, and found that the brownish 'crud'
can be softened quite easily in an alcohol bath (Everclear). The soft
layer can be readily removed with a light rub of the green
fibre-scrubbing-pad, or the finest 0000 grade of steel wool. (Go
lightly on any imprinted nomenclature). This is followed with a polish
with white Tripoli and a final buffing with carnuba (from a block)
This gives them a glass-like shine, and prevents any further
discoloration for months.
The best storage for pipes with vulcanite stems is in relative
darkness and no exposure to much heat. (pretty anal because who wants
to hide his male-briar-jewellery?)
I found Dunhill stems as well as Ashtonite, and Cumberland to be the
least prone to sulphur bloom - furthermore, those stems cleaned up the
easiest.
Btw... If you do not own a buffing setup. polishing and buffing
wheels (4" is good enough), suitable arbors, and abrasive compounds
(Tripoli) are readily available at any hardware store. You can attach
these to any electric drill and polish and buff like a pro. If you can
set the drill in a vise - even better.
Ramblings off now....
Please continue puffing away...
Frank
Esoterica Ramsgate in a Ardor 'La Bubala' purchased at last weekend's
C.A.P.S. show.
Mmmm Mmmm Good!
Bernie
--
"Balkan" <bal...@confrariadocachimbo.com> wrote in message
news:cae061d4.02071...@posting.google.com...
Bernie
news:3d3513d0...@news.starpower.net...
> >
> Posts about this topic always set me off into a ramble, being a
> polymer-person :-)
>
Frank I will bow to your experience on this as I don't have a lot myself.
Tim Wisner
>I dislike the use of any reactive chemicals such as peroxide or
>chlorine bleaches on stems or bowls.
I read this far and thought "Oh great, so what should I do?"
>I have done a lot of refurbishing, and found that the brownish 'crud'
>can be softened quite easily in an alcohol bath (Everclear). The soft
>layer can be readily removed with a light rub of the green
>fibre-scrubbing-pad, or the finest 0000 grade of steel wool. (Go
>lightly on any imprinted nomenclature). This is followed with a polish
>with white Tripoli and a final buffing with carnuba (from a block)
>This gives them a glass-like shine, and prevents any further
>discoloration for months.
Then I read this far and though "Sounds good, OK, I'll try it!"
>Ramblings off now....
>
>Please continue puffing away...
>
>
>Frank
Thanks much Frank, I will go get some Everclear and see what I can do
with this nasty looking new Comoy's stem. This is a new idea for me.
Gratefully,
Tim W.
F.N.
I learned most of it from Trevertalbert and my own experinece.
I only wish I could point you to his site. :-(
Cheers,
Frank N.
Anthony Coronado
I maintain a local mirror of his old site at
http://dsrah.dsrnet.com/~coronado/talbertpipes.pair.com/
...with Trever's permission of course. :)
Tony.
--
The more you complain the longer God lets you live.
Robert DOnnelly
blocks work with dremmels?
Happy Blends,
Robert
Tim Wisner <tlwi...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message news:<itobju4k97d39930j...@4ax.com>...
Jörg Bellinghausen
Hi Frank! Hi a.s.p.! Greettings from Germany!
> I have done a lot of refurbishing, and found that the brownish 'crud'
> can be softened quite easily in an alcohol bath (Everclear) ...
A fellow from the German d.a.f.t. newsgroup had good success with a
small ultrasonic water quench, the same type that optometrists use to
clean glasses.These machines sell for about 10-20 Euros and are
available from larger optometrist stores, at least here in Germany.
He puts the stems in the bath for 10 minutes in lukewarm water with a
drop of ordinary washingup liqup added.
Even the stems of some very neglected estate pipes were clean after
this treatment, they only needed a thourough rinsing in warm water, a
paper towel and some cleaners to dry them, and some alcohol or
pipe-cleaning liquid for sanitizing.
The only drawback with this method: ebonite stems discolor quite
badly, so they need a good polish afterwards, but acrylic stems are
virtually unaffected.
He wrote an article about this (in German) for the d.a.f.t. homepage
(which is currently down).
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Jörg