A sticky stem - advice needed!

[T.E.Fox]

Greetings to all and sundry

I picked up this smaller 'Chelsea' straight briar in a clearing sale and have set out to tart it up and use it as it is lovely and light and has a bowl size I can enjoy. However, while I've been able to keep myself busy giving the stem a nice polish, I can't seem to dislodge the thing from the rest of the pipe. The stem section of the briar is fairly narrow, and being a fair count of years old, I'd say a bit on the brittle side too. I've tried gently twisting and all the general approaches, but was wondering if the brains trust had any miracle solutions to releasing a stuck stem? Any type of soak or cleaner that works? Not overly confident in what I can and can't put into a pipe without ruining it.

Many thanks in advance
Tom

3130

[Tobias Lutz]

Place it in the freezer and see if you can get a little contraction to gently work it out.

[JustTroItIn]

Did the freezer trick work? If not, try filling the bowl with alcohol and sitting the pipe at an angle where enough will travel back into the stem but not out. This should dissolve some of the tars that are cementing the stem into place.

[T.E.Fox]

Haven't had any luck yet. But have been cycling the two processes to try and wear away at it. It'll happen eventually!

[Emperor Zurg]

You sure it's a regular mortise and tenon and not one of those wretched screw-in stinger things?

[Lostmason]

The one I broke had a aluminum screw tenon that had "iced" up. After breaking the stem and mouth piece, I still had to take pliers after it.
Can a person run a little olive oil in to free them up?

[GWBowman]

I wonder if a Pipe Retort would clean it out.

Crap, that reminded me, I forgot to pick up some 91% rubbing alcohol or Everclear.

[Mister Moo]

I don't think I have had a stem that wouldn't come loose after 30-40 minutes in a freezer, per Tobias Lutz advice.

If it is a screw-mount or you're not sure then twist gently anti-clockwise; if it is not a screw mount, twist gently clockwise. In both cases hold the wooden shank or stummel portion firmly as you twist or you might snap it off. Anyone who ever snapped a shank when removing a lock stem said it was easier to do then they expected. If torque enough to remove a snug bottle cap won't release it, quit, freeze again and try again. That aluminum-looking ferrule sure looks like a screw-in stop. I'm betting left turn to remove.

Any other nomenclature on the pipe besides "Chelsea"?

If that won't do it, take two aspirin and come back in the morning. When cold won't work then there are some heat-expand options. Nobody ever broke a pipe being too patient or too careful, by the way. :D

[T.E.Fox]

All excellent advice gents, and I thank you warmly. I've tried methods various but still to no avail - tried smoking it and smoking it hot to see if there was any luck. Maybe an overnight dose in the freezer and a very careful method of holding the shank is in order. There is no other mars on the pipe besides "Chelsea. Made in France" written upon it. I found one small article about them saying they are a secondary line to a better known manufacturer. I agree with the thoughts of a screw in stem. It wouldn't bother me so much but I can't get a pipe cleaner through it for the life of me, so I'd like to find out what is in it. It gurgles quite bad if the tobacco is anything but bone dry - which is something I'd also like to try and fix. Back to the laboratory for more tests!

[JustTroItIn]

It wouldn't bother me so much but I can't get a pipe cleaner through it for the life of me

This would support the theory that it's a screw in with a stinger. Ideally I think heat would be what you would want here, but I think the vulcanite would get too soft first. If it were me I would probably risk using a bit more elbow grease and accept the chance of possibly breaking it.

[Emperor Zurg]

I wonder if you could put the pipe in a very humid place to swell the wood. If it didn't come out with the wood swelled, maybe a few swell/dry cycles would be enough to loosen the grip on the alleged stinger.

How do you know if the stinger - if it is a stinger - has left or right hand thread?

[T.E.Fox]

Interesting thoughts guys. I can't say I've heard of a left hand thread on such applications, as they are usually only used when a right hand thread would become loose during use - say on certain circular saw arbours. There's nothing to say that they didn't enjoy the idea of being different though! It may be such that the two surfaces have essentially grown together. I'm toying with the thought of running around the edge of the wood that meets the metallic washer with a very fine kerf saw down to the tenon to both remove that locking face and allow somewhere for more penetrative agents to ingress. It would alter where the stem sits once tight of course, but I can worry about that hurdle when it comes time to jump it.

[Emperor Zurg]

I know of a couple penetrants (Kroil being the best one) that would most likely free it up but the trouble is you wouldn't want to smoke the pipe afterwords. Ever.

I would loose my patience with something like this pretty quickly. If the pipe is to be a smoker, then it needs to come apart. Period. It needs to be cleaned and probably needs the stinger removed too. (I hate them things) A pipe that can't be cleaned is worthless as a smoker (to me anyway) and the way I figure, it's impossible to ruin a turd. Therefore, at some point, I'd make up a couple of soft jaws to hold and support the shank and stem as firmly as possible and just wrench the bastard apart and let the chips fall where they may. If it shatters, it goes in the trash; if it comes apart, we move ahead from there. Either way the roadblock is gone.

[GWBowman]

My dad gave me a pipe he picked up at a yard sale/flea market. I couldn't get a pipe cleaner through the stem. Alternated hot water (I mean don't put your hands in it hot) and 91% alcohol. Just sayin'

[NeverBend]

Everyone's giving solid advice to a frustrating situation.

I would torque it both ways, sometimes it breaks the seal going in the wrong direction.

Sounds to me as if there's something sealing an already too tight fit but I've worked on pipes where the smoker glued the stem in.

I'm in @EmperorZurg's camp, it has to come apart to have value. GWBowman advised using a pipe retort and that could help if you haven't tried that.

Good luck.

[Haebar]

With the pipe at room temperature put it in the freezer and take it out within 15-20 minutes. Try to remove the stem then. This a time-critical operation; you have to take advantage of the differential contraction of the two materials by catching them at the critical moment when they are contracting at different rates. Be sure to hold the pipe at the shank so you don't break it off at the shank.

[Lostmason]

Having broken one by losing patience with it ,,,listen to these guys,,,,Warren came to my rescue with another nose warmer,but I still feel bad for breaking the one.

[TheHobbyist78]

Being relatively new to the wonderful world of pipes I don't know if this will help; perhaps someone can corroborate this. I'm an union electrician, and oftentimes when we are pulling out old feeder wires and the ancient Yellow 77 wire lubricant has become nothing but a dried on cake which locks the wire inside the conduit, we will pour Diet Coke down the conduit and let the aspartame and sodium benzoate eat through the wire lubricant. I wonder if this sort of approach would work on a stuck pipe stem as well. There shouldn't be any leftover sugar residue since, well, Diet Coke doesn't have any to begin with. Perhaps it would simultaneously eat through any ancient tars as well as allowing the water to swell the wood. Are there any opinions on whether or not this might work as well? I'd be curious to find out myself.

[GWBowman]

Being relatively new to the wonderful world of pipes I don't know if this will help; perhaps someone can corroborate this. I'm an union electrician, and oftentimes when we are pulling out old feeder wires and the ancient Yellow 77 wire lubricant has become nothing but a dried on cake which locks the wire inside the conduit, we will pour Diet Coke down the conduit and let the aspartame and sodium benzoate eat through the wire lubricant. I wonder if this sort of approach would work on a stuck pipe stem as well. There shouldn't be any leftover sugar residue since, well, Diet Coke doesn't have any to begin with. Perhaps it would simultaneously eat through any ancient tars as well as allowing the water to swell the wood. Are there any opinions on whether or not this might work as well? I'd be curious to find out myself.

It would be worth trying. I suspect from the date the thread was started, he has either got the stem out, or gave up. Diet Coke...I'll keep that in mind for some stuff.

[Bruck]

Pete mentioned glue. If it's glued, sometimes acetone will dissolve superglue. Of course it will probably play hell on your finish as well, but that just adds to the fun :)

And I will observe obliquely that that is an absolutely adorable little pipe. Hope you can save it from itself!