Mainly to answer a single question about the grain asked by @Kelon that I didn't feel competent enough to answer 
My recent junk shop rescue, a London Crown pipe. It had a really poorly fitting replacement stem screwed into the briar of the shank. The bit sat at about a 45 degree angle and was a good bit smaller than it should have been. I cut the cake and cleaned the outside up quite a bit. I then had to gently file out the threads left by the replacement stem in order for a Medico stem to fit. The Medico is darn near a perfect fit now! Just had one bowl in it so far, but it smokes quite nice. I ended up puffing stupid fast due to a rather obnoxious swarming of hornets all around my deck today. I should have just abandoned the deck for the back yard, but the pipe survived. Not even the slightest hint of gurgle. I seem to lose some detail when editing pics from my phone, so here's a link to view full sized shots if you're so inclined.
Link
My recent junk shop rescue, a London Crown pipe. It had a really poorly fitting replacement stem screwed into the briar of the shank. The bit sat at about a 45 degree angle and was a good bit smaller than it should have been. I cut the cake and cleaned the outside up quite a bit. I then had to gently file out the threads left by the replacement stem in order for a Medico stem to fit. The Medico is darn near a perfect fit now! Just had one bowl in it so far, but it smokes quite nice. I ended up puffing stupid fast due to a rather obnoxious swarming of hornets all around my deck today. I should have just abandoned the deck for the back yard, but the pipe survived. Not even the slightest hint of gurgle. I seem to lose some detail when editing pics from my phone, so here's a link to view full sized shots if you're so inclined.
Link
