428. “Steal with Pride” (or Tales of a Tinkerer)
"Steal with Pride" (or, Tales of a Tinkerer) by Ken Sigel CPG Be forewarned. What follows is not a very technical discussion of an aspect of pipe refurbishment. Rather, it is about the wealth of knowledge in our Pete Geek community and how willing its members are to share that knowledge. “I get by with a little help from my friends,” to borrow a line from Ringo Starr. One aspect of my Peterson addiction is refurbishing tired Petersons and selling them on eBay. I pretend it offsets the cost of buying pipes. In reality, I think I simply move money from one pocket to another as I work for $1 per hour. At any rate, I find it really enjoyable. Collecting, smoking, and refurbishing make up the “three-legged stool” that is the basis for my involvement (addiction?). The more I work on pipes and the more I read about how the masters do their amazing work, the more I realize in I definitely fit in the tinkerer class. As a tinkerer, I continually bump into walls as I try and refurbish pipes. There seem to be an infinite number of obstacles to refurbishing. They don’t occur on every pipe, but they pop up enough to keep me humble. As I rose through the ranks in my 40+ years in the trades of boats and buildings, I adopted an approach that one of my mentors called “Steal with Pride”: try the techniques of others; insofar as you can use them outright—do it. Or, as often is the case, adapt them to your particular task. However, absolutely give full credit to the those from who you have learned and thank them for your learning. I would like to share with you the story of a repair to a damaged DeLuxe stem and replacing the tenon extension. But in keeping with the Steal with Pride ethos let me acknowledge those who provided me the knowledge to get this done. First, there is my original pipe refurbishing mentor Steve Laug. He has patiently guided me along, critiqued my efforts, and in the process become a good friend. Then there’s Charles Lemon of Dads Pipes. He has done some amazing work on some of my very early Patent Pipes, all the while explaining the process and filling my head with explanations of his great techniques. For me, some of them remain aspirational, while others I have used. Lest I not forget, let me also thank Gary Hamilton, the Pete Geek Master of tenon extensions and lathe work. I hope each of them feel that I have effectively channeled some parts of their knowledge into this fairly simple task. I acquired a 1984 11S. To say the least, it was filthy. A quarter inch of cake and an airway that was gummed up from bowl to P-Lip. The outside of the stummel itself, followed in kind. Dull wood and heavily tarnished band. That said, all that was required to refurbish this pipe was essentially a very…