I was gifted this stummel by a friend who passed on one of Alan`s rejects or cast off pipes that just did not make the grade for him. This one came to me unfinished and without a stem. I worked on it quite a while trying to fit a stem. That seems like it should have been an easy task but it was not. There was a twist in the drilling of the airway that made all stems fit at an angle rather than facing straight on the shank.

I stained the pipe with a black under stain and then buffed it off to highlight the grain and then gave it a top stain of medium brown. I opened the airway a bit large to straighten it as much as possible. I faced the shank with sandpaper to even things out as much as possible. The problem with the twist in the airway did not allow a stem to face correctly so I banded the shank with a pressure fit nickel band. I fit a stem from my stem can so that the tenon fit well and then did minor adjustments to the outer diameter of the saddle to make a proper fit into the band. With the band I left it extended beyond the edge of the shank by a 1/8^th of an inch. The stem fit well into that area for a good tight fit. I polished the stem and the bowl with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to finish.