Daily Archives: June 6, 2012

Refurbed and old timer – WDC Bakelite

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I finished up a pipe that is stamped WDC in a triangle and Bakelite on the shank. The bowl is briar and by the way the stem is put together it is clear that it is an old timer. It has a screw mount stem with a bone tenon and the red Bakelite stem has an orific button.

The bowl was caked and had cob webs! (no kidding). The bowl and shank were cleaned and reamed as usual. The stem had bite marks and needed to be sanded and then finished with micro-mesh pads and finally a trip to the buffer and Tripoli and White Diamond. The bowl was re-stained with cherry and then buffed and polished. The stem was over turned a bit so heated the tenon water and it seemed to expand (?) a bit and loosen so I was able to straighten it out on the shank and it fit perfectly. I wonder if on these old bone tenons that the hot water may actually expand them a bit – not sure how that works but it certainly worked with both of the ones I did today.

Thanks for looking and all of your comments. It made for a great day and it is good to look back and see the work completed today!

Before:

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After:

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Refurbished another horn stemmed pipe

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I just finished the second little horn stemmed French pipe that I picked up recently. It is stamped P. Viou which is an old French brand made in St. Claude. It is a 5 inch long pot that is paneled as well. The bowl was in pretty good shape – I reamed and cleaned it. The finish was rough so I removed the varnish and the stain and re-stained it. It came out a bit darker than the original but it really highlights the grain. The rim is beveled in a bit, chamfered nicely.

The stem was a mess. The previous owner obviously gnawed it and clenched it so the horn was dented and chewed with the profile changed. I steamed the dents and lifted them with a damp cloth and hot knife. Most of them came out. I sanded the stem and cleaned up the chewed part. I then restored the profile and filled the remaining spots with super glue and then sanded and buffed. I like the end product.

Here are some before shots:

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Here is the refurbished pipe:

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Refurb on a Irwin (GBD Second) Saddle stem Billiard

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The 1976 GBD Catalogue says this about the Irwin pipes: “The warm dual-tone brown finish deepens with repeated smoking. Finest Rum is used in the special process of maturing these fine pipes. Its smooth flavour complements the natural taste of fine tobacco.” Knowing that when I came across this old timer I put in the pile to recondition while I was off this week. It is stamped Irwin over London England on the left shank. On the right side is the shape number 1207. It was caked a bit so I reamed the bowl and wiped it down with alcohol. The shank was dusty and dirty so it was cleaned as well. The bowl then went into the alcohol bath and sat for a half hour while I worked on the stem. It was in pretty good shape with a minimum of teeth chatter. I sanded out the tooth marks and sanded the residual oxidation on the stem. I then buffed the stem and polished it.

Once I was finished I took the bowl out of the bath and wiped it down. It was clean and once it dried was ready for sanding in preparation for a new coat of stain. I wiped it down with clean alcohol to remove any dust and then stained it with a cherry stain to bring out the brown highlights in the finish. I then buffed the entirety and waxed it with carnauba. I am very happy with the results. Thanks for looking. Here are the before shots:

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Here are the pictures after refurbishing

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Refurb on a Gourd Calabash

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This one needed a bit of work. The Meer bowl came out easily. The cork gasket was dry so I greased it with Vaseline to soften it. While it softened I cleaned out the gourd with a pic and wipes. It had some hard tars in it. The bottom of the bowl was black so I cleaned it as well. The rim was tarred and dark so I wiped it clean and then sanded with micromesh pads to get the grime off and give it a sheen. I set it aside and went to work on the outside of the gourd. It had lost its shine. I cleaned it with Murphy’s Oil Soap and once clean sanded with the micromesh pads. Once done I buffed it with White Diamond and Carnuba. Then I went to work on the stem. It is amber. In the case a piece of the stem was chipped and lying loose. I used super glue and repaired the chip. The silver band was loose on the gourd so I removed it and cleaned it with silver polish. I refastened it with superglue. Once the entire pipe was cleaned and the stem was cleaned and dry I reassembled the pipe and gave the cork another coat of Vaseline before putting the bowl back in. It is stamped with hallmarks that are hard to see as they are worn. It looks like the reclining lion (sterling silver) the other two are worn. The makers mark is MSNF in a rectangle. Not sure who that is? Anyone know??

Here is the finished product. Thanks for looking.

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I wrote to Gary Schrier regarding the Calabash via email and he replied as follows:

… Your pipe was made in the London area, and hallmarked at Goldsmith’s Hall, London, because of what sounds like a leopard’s head, that hall’s guild mark. The maker’s mark, “MSNF,” is unknown to me. Chances are likely it belongs to the “mounter” or silversmith who did the work (but not necessarily the maker of the actual pipe). It’s an insignificant brand, though; this does not detract from the pipe. It was probably made around 1907 thru 1911. I hope you enjoy it.

Refurb on a 3 part horn

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Just finished up this unique piece. It is three part horn. The bowl screws off the shank and has a briar thread connection. The stem is also a screw on with a metal connection into briar. The stem is also an orific button. There is no stamping on this old timer. I really like the uniqueness of it.

I reamed and clean the bowl. I took apart the three parts and cleaned each on separately. The outside was wiped down with alcohol to get off the grime. The insides were scrubbed with a bristle pipe brush and pipe cleaners and alcohol. The stem was oxidized so it was sanded with 400, 600, wet dry sandpaper and 1800, 2400, 4000 micromesh pads and then hit with red tripoli and white diamond before being given a coat of carnuba. I sanded and restained the bowl with a cherry stain and then buffed and waxed it as well. This one will be a fun one to smoke!

Before shots:

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and after shots:

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Bruyere Deluxe Horn Stem refurb

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Blog by Steve Laug

The two pipes that had what looked like horn stems arrived yesterday. They indeed were horn stems. One of them the little 4 1/2 inch bulldog need some work on the stem as it had some tooth marks. The bowl itself was rough. The varnish (?) was crackling and the lava had overflowed the top of the bowl and stained the wood around it. Fortunately it was not charred at all! I reamed and cleaned the bowl. It was a mess. Then I sent it to the alcohol soak and it lifted some of the tars and stain as well as the varnish. I then reworked the bowl with sand paper and with micro mesh pads. It then was re-stained with a black under stain and then a cherry over stain. I then buffed and polished it.

For the horn stem I heated a knife and used a damp cloth and the hot knife to lift the tooth marks. Thanks to Nigel and others (Chris/Caskwith) who gave that bit of advice. It is the same process that is used to lift dents in the briar. I repeated this process until they were gone and the stem was smooth to touch. I then used micro mesh to sand and polish the stem. Finally I gave it a buff with white diamond and carnuba wax.

Here are the before shots:

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The front rim was solid but the tars seemed to have permanently stained the briar. I did not want to take much off as it would change the panel shape of the bowl so I cleaned the wood as deeply as I could and was able to get it so that I can see grain through the dark stain. I may give the entire bowl a dark stain to further hide the top but still considering that…

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An Interesting Wellington Straight Billiard

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Just finished researching a bit on WDC Wellington Pipes. Yet in all of the research I cannot find the one that I picked up. It is a straight billiard. It is chunky and 5 1/2 inches long. It is a system pipe like the Wellington Bent pictured below but it is a standard P-lip stem with a regular tenon. The band is sterling silver and has the WDC triangle and hallmarks stamped in it – an anchor, a five point star, and an eagle. The shank is also stamped WDC in a triangle under a script Wellington. The stem is stamped the same way. The bowl is U shaped with draft hole at the shank side as usual. From there it drops down into the shank where there is a chamber – a bit different than the well in the picture below. It is more of a wide open chamber that tapers a bit to receive the end of the tenon. Very interesting design.

It was rough so I reamed and cleaned the bowl. Cleared out the reservoir and the shank with pipe cleaners folded in half and then gave the bowl an alcohol bath. I left it in for about a 1/2 hour and then took it out and cleaned it again. It did not need to be re-stained as it retained its colour. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax. The stem needed a buff as well. It was a bit oxidized. The stem is unique as well in that the tenon end is very open and tapering back to the whole in the Plip. Here are the after pics.

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I have also included a couple of adverts that I came on that are interesting bits of history of the brand.

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Had fun with this one – GBD International

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I just finished this beauty – a GBD International. It is a beautiful little pipe. The shape #9456 says it is a bent apple – I suppose that is so. I did some work on what they originally looked like. They had a plateau (Faux?? not sure) top that was stained black and the bowl was a medium warm brown.

This one was pretty well stained with dirt and grit. The finish was blown and the bowl was caked and dirty. The stem was brown and it was a pretty gross mess. It was one I was going to put off but today I decided to work on it. I am glad I did as it was actually quite fun to work on.

I cleaned the stem as usual. It was tough and still shows some oxidation under the flash of the camera. I will do a bit more in brighter light. But it looks good to the natural eye. The bowl was reamed and cleaned and put in the alcohol bath. I removed any of the bits of left over stain left. Then I used a pipe cleaner and stained the plateau black. Once I did that I had the notion to stain the whole pipe black as well. I then wiped off the stain on the bowl and washed it with a damp alcohol rag to get it to the tone of brown I was looking for. I am really pleased with the stain and how it came out. I love the contrasts of the brown undertones and the black overstain. The wipe and then sanding with micromesh really worked to highlight the birdseye and grain in it.

Thanks for looking.

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Here is a final picture to give you an idea of the size.