As you no doubt have learned, the pre-Cadogan era GBD 9438 is one of my favorite shapes. I have this model in several finishes (Tapestry, Fantasy, Seventy-Six Collossus) but was lacking a smooth finish. This one, found on Ebay, went unnoticed until the last few minutes of the auction. It is only a New Standard grade, but looked in good shape with no bite marks, etc. on the stem. I thought from the pictures that it would only require a simple clean up.
Here is the pipe as it was delivered.
The bowl had a very thin cake, which I reamed slightly revealing a very nicely maintained bowl and bowl top. There was a little stain lightening on one side, but I think with use, it should blend in. The stain is an interesting reddish-brown color, GBD called a “tobacco brown” finish in their 1976 catalog. The bowl was polished with tripoli, white diamond and finally several coats of carnuba wax.
The stem was soaked in oxyclean, with a dab of grease on the brass rondell. I sanded it with 1000, 1500 and then 2000 grades wet sandpaper. Then, the last two grades of micromesh were used (8000, 12000). The stem was then polished on the buffer with tripoli, white diamond and final top coat of plastic polish. There were no bite marks to lift or sand out, so it was a relatively simple clean-up.
Here is the finished pipe.
Al Jones
rebornpipes 
now that’s one to be envious for.. great find and great repair
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Nice! Just wanted to respond. I thoroughly loved your post. Keep up the great work on rebornpipes.wordpress.com . Wonderful!
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OK, this is just wrong. For one you just did up one of my dream pipes, two, you kicked it’s butt, well done.
GBD 9438……. a classic. I fell in love with them when “Muddler” dumped 2 of them on my work bench for refurbishment…… Maaaaaaaaaaaaan OOOOOOOOOO Man!
Well done bud!
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Great looking pipe, Al! Well done!
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Thanks guys, I enjoyed it today at Boswell Pipes in PA with some other forum member. It really is a nice smoking pipe, no ghosts, gurggles, etc.
I usually do a white back-drop for photographing finished pipes. When I asked my wife where it was, she told me the cat had eaten it………That is better than my pipes!
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Great work on that one Al. It really shines. As you know that is also one of my favourite shapes as well. Well done!
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A wonderful pipe for sure. Worth your effort to bring this beauty to the show floor. It looks great and will provide someone with much joy.. My favorite shape for smoking a good flake.
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