Jeff Bridges wrote:


>> I was told that they were made of pewter.


I hope I didn't sound snippy; I figured you were just repeating what
you had heard.


>> When I was moving a couple of pipes from the person's home where
>> I bought them, with just two fingers one of the pipes would "melt"
>> in my fingers or bend ... you can take out [a dent] with a broom
>> handle inserted into the pipe and using a rubber mallet you can
>> bang out the dent.


Yes, most organ pipes are soft enough to bend without even trying.  The
thin-wall pipes with high tin content are the worst, but there is still
lead in 99% of those as well.  This is why I have had pipes come to me
completely flattened and I have been able to open them up and make them
usable again.  The metal is very workable.  I would not try the broom
handle and rubber mallet idea -- this technique is far more subtle than
that.

We have, or make, round rods called mandrels that vary in size from
thinner than a pencil up to a foot diameter or more.  We usually use
drill stem.  It must have the right curved shape on the end or it will
add dents to the pipe.  The correct mandrel size is slightly smaller
than diameter of the pipe.

Usually a paddle is used, not a rubber mallet.  I use a 1"x4" board,
about a foot long and specially shaped on the sander, to paddle out the
dents when needed.  In most cases the dents come out with a technique
of pressing it on the leading edge of the mandrel.  The mandrel is
anchored to a very solid wall.

When I pressed the dents out of the 16-foot trombone resonators in
the Kimball Welte Philharmonic I installed in Texas, we anchored
a specially made cone-shaped mandrel, as tall as myself and 15 inches
in diameter, to a brick wall and pressed the pipe made of thick
hardened lead on and off of the mandrel until the pipes were fully
round once again.  When I got them they were about 2 inches away from
being totally flat.  The same went for the Walhorn 16'.  The pipes can
be seen on my web page at
  http://www.thepianoworld.com/kimball_welte_philharmonic.htm

>> I was told that they were not made of lead because of the sound

quality.

But they probably have some lead in the mix anyway.  Sounds like
a mostly tin pipe.


>> I will sell those for 50 bucks apiece if anyone wants them.


That is about what they would charge for a new replacement of such
a pipe.  eBay sells these single pipes all the time.  Check out what
prices they get for those.

D.L. Bullock    St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com