Pipe Repair Question

Hey all....quick question. I didn't see a sticky for pipe repair questions so I thought I'd just make a new thread and ask. I've decided to give a few badly oxidized stems a bleach bath, and left them in for an hour, as I've heard is normal. I coated the lettering and tenon with Vaseline to prevent the bleach from eating away at them too. Now, I left them in for an hour and then checked both stems, but some of the oxidation remained. Can I leave them in the bleach for longer or will it damage the stem in some way? Thanks in advance ;-)

I left mine in over-night. It pitted the vulcanite, but I kind of like that.

Yes you can go longer as needed. I usually check hourly or so to avoid having to clean up deep pitting but it takes what it takes.

Thanks guys....back into the soup they go ;-)

Oh...and I switched from rubbing alcohol to Everclear today....I'm normally a scotch drinker, but I couldn't help myself ;-) This stuff packs a punch, lol. I'm going to bed now.

Haha! I used a bunch to clean out a few falcon stems and my wife got concerned when she saw the level in the Everclear plummet .

LOLOL...after reading what I posted last night, I made it seem as if I were drinking rubbing alcohol!! Let me be clear, I was using the rubbing alcohol to clean my pipes and thought I'd switch to Everclear. Which as is apparent was too tempting for me and had a few nips last night. Horrible stuff really, but when mixed with the right juice is tolerable. This is the first "clear" liquor I've had in over 15yrs....it will be my last, lol

rickcharles606 said:

LOLOL...after reading what I posted last night, I made it seem as if I were drinking rubbing alcohol!! Let me be clear, I was using the rubbing alcohol to clean my pipes and thought I'd switch to Everclear. Which as is apparent was too tempting for me and had a few nips last night. Horrible stuff really, but when mixed with the right juice is tolerable. This is the first "clear" liquor I've had in over 15yrs....it will be my last, lol

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so how did the pipe come out?

I left it in overnight and it's pretty rough and pitted now, but it appears that all the oxidation lifted as well. I'll buff it out tonight on my polishing wheel, but sadly I don't have any carnuba wax to buff it with. However, I do have some very fine buffing compound that I use when buffing my knives, so I'm going to give that a go. I'll post some pics later tonight or tomorrow.

One other tool I've used for removing the oxidation from vulcanite stems is a nail file that you can get from Sally Beauty or the like. It's got different very fine grits and one facet is a fine polishing pad that really works well to get rid of the gunk manually. Still a good buffing with a compound afterwards but this reduces the time that will take quite a bit. They're pretty inexpensive just a few bucks.