My B-day present from E!

Well. It seems I must have been doing SOMETHING right. This Friday, as I was sitting on the balcony revving down after a tiresome week, E came out with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face. She was obviously holding something that was to be a surprise - and it sure was!
It turns out that she had been working hard in wood working class in school, trying to get something finished in time for my birthday, but missed the deadline... Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense, here it was, and it was a beautiful little pipe stand made of copper and wood, and with a clever 360-degrees swivelling design!
Thanks a lot E, that is possibly the finest present I have gotten so far!! I will treasure it just as much as I treasure your other wood/metalworking present - the bottle opener!
*The girl obviously knows her dad's interest :D *

Meer coloring finished

I decided to interrupt the Meer coloring experiment that I have had going for about a year now.
The Dragon Claw is beginning to look fine now, and I decided that it should get its remaining color potential by "ordinary" means (i.e. smoking it).
Here's what it looks like now (the one in the middle, doh. The other two are all but unsmoked).

Pete 313 Refurb complete(?)

Well I changed the old P-Lip that I couldn't get right on the Pete 313 (see further below). Instead I fitted the bowl with the shiny new fishtail that I had ordered from Angela at Peterson's of Sallynoggin. I am quite pleased with the result:
Before and after.

Pete Stem found!

Well, today I found the parcel from Petersons on top of the shelf in the hallway, put there by my daughter last Tuesday.
- Oh, that's right, dad, it's for you.
Ah, well. Inside was not only a fresh F/T stem for my 313, but also four foil packs with samples:
- Irish Whiskey
- Old Dublin
- Irish Oak
- University Flake

Seems this weekend will be a Pete weekend!

Oh, and I will add pix of the 313 with the stem attached ASAP.

Had a great time sorting my pipes and considering where and how to display them - I need more racks!
Added a small radio to the setup for starters, I have plans of getting a computer and speakers and Wi-Fi down there in due time - just not right now :D

Finally - a Man Cave worthy of the name

At long last I managed to get in the time window to have my man cave cleared out (sacrificed the sea trout premiere, but the weather was really rotten so I didn't mind).

Pulled out all the old garbage and redistributed it to the other rooms ;) so I could do the first sweeping out of the room. Found some old floor planks that I could fit into the inner compartment ("the smoke room") but decided to mop the floor first. It was dirty. After that the floor planks went on, and a rug in the work shop. SWMBO inspected to make sure it was clean enough.

Found an old table that will serve well as workbench for making pipes, and a smaller piece of furniture that will serve well in the smoke room for fly tying business.

Unpacked the pipes and put the on a big drawer desk after having sorted them out...

Salt treatment - picture

Here it is easy to see that the salt+spirit works. The Pete bowl had a lot of gunk in it...

Stem mishap on the Ole Pete

Well when you look at the pictures of the stem (se earlier "Refurb" post below) you might think to yourself:
- No way is that gonna come back to its earlier glory!
And you are right.

I did my best on this stem, but the end results were so-so, so I decided to order a replacement stem(since all Pete System pipes have a push fit, sometimes referred to as a Military you don't have to send in your pipe to get a stem that fits) directly from Peterson. I have sent them a mail explaining my situation, and that I really don't want a P-lip but rather a fishtail mouthpiece. Now I don't now if there even exists a system replacement stem without the P-lip, but if I get a P-lip I will "mod" it like I have previously done on my Pete Tankard.