i could really use some help.

when my dad died almost three years ago, my family and i had to clean out his apartment and all that noise.
in an old camera bag, my now-ex and i found a little wooden pipe, still with a bit of ash in it.
now, this is the most awesome little pipe i've ever seen. i don't have any pictures of it because i can't risk my mother ever finding out about it. but it's very small, maybe the length of half your index finger. the bowl has a little chameleon-like lizard carved around it, and the tail is supposed to wrap around the stem to the mouth.
i say supposed to, because it's broken. when we found it, there was basically what looked like really old gum (ew) holding the bowl and stem together. but the tail is missing, and god knows how.
point of all this is... is that i want to get it fixed. it would mean the world to me to be able to smoke a memorial-type bowl on the anniversary, as well as his birthday. i'm also making a trip out to where my sister and i plan to eventually spread his ashes once we pry them out of our insane mother's cold, dead fingers. i would be incredibly happy if i could take the pipe with me and smoke in the spot where i remember standing atop a mountain with my father.
but. i have NO idea who to take it to in order to have it repaired. i haven't been able to get any recommendations from anyone i know or anyone that anyone i know knows.
i live in atlanta, so i'm sure there are going to be location issues if you do know someone. but maybe they will know someone else closer.
i need someone who will be chill with the fact that it has OBVIOUSLY been used for pot, and who will do a nice job with it, and treat it with care.

if you can give me ANY suggestions, please please please do.

 

im so sorry that i have no suggestions but i wish you the best of luck, i know what its like to smoke a memorial bowl.

 

any wood workshops around you? any headshops? that'd be the place to ask

 

would it be possible for you to give it a good cleaning, or would that break it even more?

Even a headshop is going to turn you away when they see the resin on it. They have to cover their own ass.

 

I've cleaned my glass pipes various times over the years, with rubbing alcohol (letting it sit overnight, then scrubbing). However, cleaning a wood pipe really sucks because everything gets right into the wood, the substances just totally meld together!

Repairing the pipe would have to be something you do yourself - and as long as it's not too difficult a job, I'd recommend checking out some stuff on the internet on woodworking, woodcraft repairing, etc. It might only take some good glue and some sanding to make it gorgeous again?

Just an idea. Who knows, learning to repair it might be extremely rewarding - you can real feel connected with the pipe this way.

 

A old man claimed he had the axe Abe Lincoln used to split rails with. The handle had been replaced about 10 times, and it had 2 new heads, but it was still Lincoln's axe.

Would it be possible ro replace the stem with glass/stone/bone/metal tubing...&c?

 

i've cleaned it as best i know how (honestly i don't know how to clean it that well, so there's more that could be done... my bf can help me with that) but i'm sure it's still going to at least smell like it. idk. it's pretty baked into the wood, i'm not gonna lie.

as for fixing myself, it's not really an option... if i thought i could, i would do it in a heartbeat, but like i said there's piece missing and it would have to be carved to match or a similar solution. it's weird, it's like there's the straight part, and the bowl itself, and there's a tube that slides into the bowl from the straight.. but there's no way to keep them securely together.
it was held together with old gum when i found it, but i cleaned it off because honestly it was nasty as anything. i could just glue it together to keep it in one piece, but i just don't feel like that's a proper fix for it.

thank all of you for your suggestions, i really appreciate it

 

btw, i remember listening to the secret machines. interesting music.

 

If you went to a headshop and told that exact same story, or anywhere that may be able to fix it, they may risk trouble to fix it for you, If one wont, never stop trying, someone will be willing.