old grabows, how to clean the metal?

[juanmedusa]

I got some old estate grabows and I'm going to completely clean, refinish and restore them for personal use. Two of them are the stinger style that threads into a threaded metal receiver that presents a metal band at the end of the shank. These bands seem dirty, tarnished? but I'm not so sure what the metal is, what cleaner I should use, should I completely avoid abrasion or use abrasion? IDK. Any help would be appreciated. I am comfortable with the rest of the pipe but would love pointers on this part. I'm bad at posting pictures here but can quickly email some if you pm me. Thanks.

 

[Pruss]

I'm not an expert on Grabow pipes, so hopefully someone wiser will come along. I have, however, cleaned up a handful of Grabows with the metal band you are describing. I sanded them by hand starting with coarser grain up into fine grain sanding pads. I've used both micromesh pads and 000 and 0000 steel wool on these metal bands to good effect. I finished the polish on a buffing wheel with white diamond and carnauba wax.

-- Pat

 

[williamcharles]

The metal  is aluminum and I clean mine with Brasso if just tarnished. Any good metal polish should do it. If scratched, since they're Grabows, I don't bother with trying to remove scratches from them.

 

[Jimmy1973]

I use Mother aluminum polish.They shine like a mirror.You can use it on the screw in part to remove any corrosion.Just make sure you clean it off very well.It really tastes bad and will burn the crap out of your lips. :suspect: 

 

[KevinM]

Now there's a scary coincidence. My missus insisted I watch the Oscars with her and so, to make myself useful, I decided to pick up a few of my pipes and do a bit of sprucing up. One was a Dr. Grabow Sculptura blast poker with the stem you describe. It has to be past 40, yet smokes very well, often being taken on vacation as a sturdy, low maintenance, dependable chum. The screw in the shank was kinda cruddy, so I took an old toothbrush to it, then followed up with a Jewelry polidhing cloth, two-sided variety, one for cleaning, one for polishing. It worked very nicely and took but a moment. Good thing my missus hollered, "You're missing Amy Adams!" Amy's my fave.

 

[rothnh]

I've a few old Grabows, a Westbrook, an Emperor and a couple others, including, IIRC, a Viscount?

I use Nevr-Dull on all the metals for my pipes.  A can lasts for years.  I got mine at the Coast Guard Exchange, but it's also available at WalMart:

http://www.nevrdull.com/

 

[PlateauGuy]

Thanks Roth!  I've been using Mothers Aluminum, but I'll go to Walmart for the Nevr-Dull.

I also soak the stem & stinger in oxy-clean before I start polishing.  Then I tip the stem upside down into Everclear to finish sterilizing it.

 

[williamcharles]

Thanks Roth!  I've been using Mothers Aluminum, but I'll go to Walmart for the Nevr-Dull.

I also soak the stem & stinger in oxy-clean before I start polishing.  Then I tip the stem upside down into Everclear to finish sterilizing it.

Just don't soak a Grabow stem in bleach unless you give the metal parts a very good coating of petroleum jelly. Maybe a short soak won't hurt them but a long soak in bleach will eat the aluminum ruining the threads. I learned the hard way.

 

[rothnh]

Thanks Roth!  I've been using Mothers Aluminum, but I'll go to Walmart for the Nevr-Dull.

I also soak the stem & stinger in oxy-clean before I start polishing.  Then I tip the stem upside down into Everclear to finish sterilizing it.

Just don't soak a Grabow stem in bleach unless you give the metal parts a very good coating of petroleum jelly. Maybe a short soak won't hurt them but a long soak in bleach will eat the aluminum ruining the threads. I learned the hard way.

Some will disagree, but I'd recommend avoiding using any bleach on pipes entirely -- no go on Metal, wood, rubber, plastic, etc.

Oxy-Clean isn't bleach, so no problem with using that.

 

[williamcharles]

Thanks Roth!  I've been using Mothers Aluminum, but I'll go to Walmart for the Nevr-Dull.

I also soak the stem & stinger in oxy-clean before I start polishing.  Then I tip the stem upside down into Everclear to finish sterilizing it.

Just don't soak a Grabow stem in bleach unless you give the metal parts a very good coating of petroleum jelly. Maybe a short soak won't hurt them but a long soak in bleach will eat the aluminum ruining the threads. I learned the hard way.

Some will disagree, but I'd recommend avoiding using any bleach on pipes entirely -- no go on Metal, wood, rubber, plastic, etc.

Oxy-Clean isn't bleach, so no problem with using that.

That's why I didn't mention using Oxy-Clean but you remind me of something. Some people soak for 18+ hours in Oxy. It states on the container to use it within 6 hours after mixing. It stops working after 6 hours so a longer soak is just a soak in soap.

 

[jonnylaw13]

I've a few old Grabows, a Westbrook, an Emperor and a couple others, including, IIRC, a Viscount?

I use Nevr-Dull on all the metals for my pipes.  A can lasts for years.  I got mine at the Coast Guard Exchange, but it's also available at WalMart:

http://www.nevrdull.com/

I ALWAYS keep nevr-dull around, as soon as I read this post I grabbed it and hit up my grabow regal adjustomatic, WOW! what I difference that made, cant believe I didnt think of it sooner!

 

[DWT]

I've always used the buffing wheel w. a little white rouge. Works good on the bands, too.