Re-Dye of a Dr.Grabow Starfire Wirecarved #85

March 28, 2016 by Troy W 2 Comments

 

Some time back i was thinning  out my herd of  Dr.Grabow’s that i never smoke anymore. I had this Westbrook #21 and sent it of as a gift to a friend of mine on The Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. He had mentioned he was looking for a # 21 shape and since i never smoked mine i thought he should have it . In his kindness he sent me back this  Dr. Grabow Starfire #85 by surprise . I have owned more #85 pokers than any other Dr.Grabow shape ( 30+), so I’m sure he thought it would have a good home as well. It was clean as a whistle and is in excellent shape. The finish was getting a little thin and i like my black wirecarving black ,not semi black . So i did a little cosmetic work on it . I stripped off the old wax with a light scrub of Oxy-Clean , warm water and a Scotch -Brite pad. I then mixed up purple and black dye for a two stage wirecarved color match. I gave the bowl two good coats of  dark purple. After drying i added two real thin coats (drying between coats) of black to let the purple show through. While the bowl was drying i filed out one small tooth mark and sanded the stem with 600-2500 grit. Bowl and stem back together after a wipe down and drying of  mineral oil and final inspection before going to the buffer. Pipe after buff and wax. The pipe is a great smoker and a fine addition to my Dr.Grabow #85 collection. Thank you OB (Old Briar). Til next time, Good smokes to you.