Monthly Archives: October 2012

GBD 9438 New Standard Restoration

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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

IMHO (in my humble opinion): The purpose of the online forum community

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I have been thinking quite a bit about the purpose of online communities and forums. I have been on the road for three weeks with no internet access and decided when I got home I would finish writing this piece. Part of this comes from being involved in two of them with regard to pipe smoking and another part comes from what I do for work in training leaders on a global basis and utilizing an online forum for that process as well. So I have been involved in online forums for the better part of 12 years. I have had experience as a participant, moderator and a forum operator/administrator. On the positive side, I’ve learned and shared many great ideas, made valuable new contacts and friends and was able to communicate quickly and efficiently with a wide scope of people in all different parts of the world. On the negative side, I found that it was easy to fall into excess participation and a huge time drain and if not disciplined in my usage – very addicting as well.

As I reflected on the concept of forums I came to the conclusion that it would be helpful for me to put pen to paper with regard to what I am expecting from these forums and what they can provide for me. This kind of writing exercise helps me keep perspective on the waxing and waning life of the online community.

What an online community/forum is

  1. Pipe Forums are a place of intellectual exchange. They are a safe environment for sharpening ideas and skills and reflecting on common and new experiences with other individuals who share the same hobby and passion.
  2. They are a place where one can learn new ideas and refine old ones. Through the sharing of ideas and experiences new ideas, skills and aspects of the hobby can be learned and explored and earlier ideas and thinking refined.
  3. A place to enjoy community – though this is at some levels artificial, it does open the door to ongoing enjoyment and sharing with some of the individuals I seek to know more fully through phone, emails, private messages and often through personal visits and the exchange of gifts.
  4. Influencing the forum’s evolution by becoming an involved member. The beauty of being positive contributor to the shape and form of the community.
  5. Contributing to the learning and experience of others and reciprocally receiving from them in like measure.
  6. Making new friends and contacts – this often comes as follow up work is done and relationships are worked on through the various channels mentioned in number 3.
  7. A way of keeping up with current events that relate to the field of interest. A broad spectrum of forum readers makes for a broad reporting on events of interest.
  8. A place that always has new opportunities to learn and develop a broader and deeper understanding of the hobby.

What an online community/forum is not:

  1. The Forums are not my real life. I do have a significant social life apart from the forums and usually use the forums as a bit of escape from the normal stresses and strains of my life. Because they are not my life I do not expect them to do for me what the folks around me real time provide in terms of support and care. I expect them to provide a haven, a respite from the nonsense of people issues that I deal with every single day.
  2. The Forums are a place for sharing opinions and ideas and as such they can be a bit volatile. People cherish their opinions and have a hard time dealing with disagreement. But it must be remembered the point is not to create a monochrome community where we all say nice things and always agree. Rather they are a place to sharpen one another and learn new skills.
  3. The Forums are not a face to face community. They do not provide a real life context and people join by and large because of common interest or shared hobby. They cannot provide the information needed to make a full orbed assessment of and connection with another person without each individual taking time to deepen that outside the online community. In many ways they provide an artificial sense of community based on perceived shared interests. Outside of that limited setting those on the forums may have little else in common.
  4. The Forums do not provide a vehicle to facilitate understanding the tone and emotions of those who post. Because they are limited to written communication (Though some have chat rooms that seem to have some users) there is no real way to know the feeling behind words that another is writing to you. It is easy to misread emotion and feeling into what is written that was never intended. Thus we can easily be sucked into drama that is unnecessary because it is not based on any reality.

Many of the ideas and thoughts were found as I researched this topic online. The next part of this article has been adapted from an article by Steve Pavlina on Effective Online Forums Usage http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/effective-online-forum-usage.htm

He lists some of the potential negative side effects of excessive forum usage that I found helpful reminders for me in learning and maintaining moderation in my participation in the online community.

  1. Reduced concentration and focus
  2. Reduced productivity
  3. Chronic procrastination
  4. Increased pessimism and/or apathy
  5. Being distracted by endless debates and idle gossip
  6. Gradually substituting tribal group think for your own intelligence
  7. Impaired social skills, neglected relationships, and a weakened social circle (a consequence of substituting online socialization for face-to-face conversations)
  8. Reduced energy (forum participation is sedentary compared to more active social outlets)
  9. Reduced self-esteem
  10. Career and income may suffer (including loss of employment)
  11. Forum addiction

From that point the article gives some suggestions that I thought were helpful in using forums effectively and avoiding the negative side effects. I am not sure I agree with all of his suggestions but I found them thought provoking and worth passing on to those of you who are reading this piece.

1. Take a Forum Fast  – First, if you’re currently active on any forums, go on a forum fast. Stop visiting all forums for a while; don’t even lurk. I recommend a fasting period of 30 days, with a bare minimum of 14 days. This will help you break any unconscious habits and regain your perspective, so you can intelligently evaluate the role forums should play in your life. Otherwise, you may be coming from a place of unconscious habit and will likely overestimate the value of continued participation. If you’re currently a forum moderator, take a forum vacation, and enlist someone to temporarily assume your moderation duties. Redirect the time you would have spent in online forums to something positive like exercising or reading books. If you don’t think you have the discipline to do this, simply make a post in each forum explaining that you’ll be taking the next 30 days off, and if any forum member catches you online, you’ll pay the first person that emails you about it $100. This should give you enough leverage to stick with your fast.

2. Reassess Your Forum Usage Habits – Once you’ve completed the initial fasting period (and not before), take a fresh look at your forum participation habits. Imagine that you just discovered each forum today for the first time. What are the pros and cons of participation? Is this the best use of your time, or can you imagine something better? If you’re using forums to get specific information, would it be better to simply read books, articles, or blogs? If you’re using them as a social outlet, would it be better to join a local club and meet people face-to-face? Looking back on your previous pattern of behavior, would you say you were addicted? Did your usage pattern become unconscious? If so, how do you intend to prevent that from happening again?

3. Clarify Your Expectations – If you decide to participate in online forums, clarify your expectations. Whether you intend to use forums for market research, to make new contacts, or as an outlet for your humorous wit, get clear on why you’re there.

4. Establish Reasonable Boundaries – To limit the risk of forum addiction, set clear boundaries for yourself and write them down. You can limit the number of times per week you check each forum, the total amount of time you spend participating, or the number of posts you’ll allow yourself to make each week. Track your weekly usage on a scrap of paper to keep yourself consciously aware of your participation habits. Don’t go dark and succumb to unconscious habituation. Establish clear boundaries such that if you cross them, you know you’re at risk of falling into a pattern of addiction. And if that ever happens, it’s time to immediately begin a new fasting period.

5. Let It Go – If you find yourself repeatedly succumbing to forum addiction or other negative usage patterns, you may decide it’s best to simply do without. At the time of this writing, I no longer regularly participate in any online forums or message boards. When I clarified my intentions, I realized my #1 reason for participation was to contribute and to help people. But using forums as a contribution outlet was inefficient, since it would too often lead to lengthy (and mostly unproductive) debates. I found that sticking with one-to-many outlets like writing articles and maintaining a blog were a much better use of my time. Blog comments still allow some interactivity, but the time required to manage them is reasonable and the personal relevance of most blog comments is extremely high.

6. Replace Online Socialization with Face-to-Face Contact – Regarding the social aspect, online forums are a poor substitute for meeting people in person. While there’s certainly some social benefit to forums – many people have met their spouses in online forums, including me – it’s important to physically spend time with human beings instead of via a computer screen. If you need a new social outlet, join a local club or association, especially one that meets weekly. I found that when I joined Toastmasters International and began attending meetings and competing in speech contests, my interest in socializing via online forums fell dramatically. Even the best online communication pales in comparison to face-to-face, belly-to-belly contact.

7. Be a Dabbler, Not a Fixture – Another tip is to treat forum participation as temporary. If your goal is to make new business contacts, then dive in and participate actively for a while, maybe 30-90 days. Make new friends and contacts, collect private contact info, and then abandon the forums. Continue to develop your new relationships via one-to-one communication like email, phone calls, and if possible, face-to-face meetings (such as at industry conferences). Temporarily dabbling in many different forums is a more effective way to build contacts than pushing a single forum far beyond its usefulness.

You can also use the dabbling method to gather general information on a subject. Seek out a number of relevant forums and bookmark them. Then spend a few hours scanning each forum once every six months to soak up the current wisdom. Whenever you have a specific question, pop in and search the forum archives. If searching turns up a blank, feel free to post a new message, harvest the answers, and disappear.

8. Avoid Addiction – Online forums are tricky beasts. At the time of this writing, my feeling is that ongoing daily participation in any single forum for more than a few months is almost invariably unproductive. Eventually the initial benefits like gaining knowledge and making new contacts produce diminishing returns. And then the negative effects like forum addiction set in. Regular participation (even from unconscious habituation) will still provide some benefits, but the longer you participate, the less efficiently those benefits are realized.

Close cousins of forum addiction include online gaming addiction, web surfing addiction, blog addiction, email addiction, and news addiction. The common pattern is that unconscious habituation overrides conscious, clear-headed decision-making. If you ever find yourself with such an unproductive habit, take steps to reassert conscious control. Use a period of fasting to regain your perspective, reexamine your motives, set clear boundaries, and find alternative outlets. Manage your forum usage consciously to serve your goals, and avoid the trap of addiction.

Online forums can be a powerful productivity tool, but self-awareness and discipline are required to prevent them from becoming a pitfall of procrastination.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the use and abuse of Forums. They are a great tool for making our world much smaller and a way for us to reach out to others who share a common interest in the pipes and tobaccos we love. Let’s have your responses.

What About Needle Files

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A needle file is a tool that I have referred to often in this blog and one that I use almost every time I work on a stem or shank in the refurbishing process. I have three sets of files that each has 12 files in various shapes. The reason for the three sets is the size of the files in each set. The picture below shows one of the sets that I have.

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Needle files are commonly used in crafts or design work to finish small pieces of material. My daughter uses them in her jewelry design work to open the tiny holes in beads to make them easier to thread. They are also used in model building, guitar making, fine instrument repairs and a world of other work. They are an indispensable tool to do the fine and detailed work needed in tight spaces. Most common files are made from a hard steel bar with a series of narrow or pointed ridges or teeth that face upward. The needle file is no different and is made up of a series of teeth laid out on a piece of metal, usually with a handle on the end. It is a very small tool that is usually sold in sets of five or more files. Two of my sets have handles – one with a hard plastic handle and one with the end dipped in rubberized material. The third and smallest set is exactly like the one pictured above.

You will find if you do a Google search for needle files that there are many different types and descriptions and it can be a bit daunting to figure out the difference. The easiest explanation on the difference in the files that are available on the market is based on the cut of the teeth and the size and shape of the file, as each file is designed to be used for a different purpose. The teeth in the file are specifically designed to create different finishes on an object. Diamond needle files, hand files, checkering files, crossing files and half round ring files are a few of the common types of needle files that exist today. The chart below shows some of the shapes that are commonly found in a set of files.

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I have found that a needle file is excellent for shaping, designing and smoothing the button area on a stem, opening the airway in the slot and also opening the airway in the tenon. The different shapes of the files allow me to cut the vulcanite or Lucite in the shapes that I am aiming for. I personally like an oval slot so I use three different shapes – a round, an oval and a wedge to shape the slot. The round file and the oval file also work well on the tenon. I use a rectangular flat one to cut the edge of the button and to shape and reshape that area of the stem. The file is pushed it back and forth over the piece to create friction between the teeth of the file and the object. The teeth of the needle file pushing against the object will work to shave off pieces of the material until the desired effect is produced. A needle file is typically used to carve out the intricate details, smooth out a surface or provide a specific finish on a piece.

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When you look at the file sets you will see that needle files each have a slightly different shape to allow for different uses and handling. In the sets I have there are certainly some shapes that I have never used extensively. At one time or another I have tried them all to see what they can do but have settled into the common 5 or 6 that are close at hand. Each of these files is specifically used for detailing work on the surface of a project. Some of the needle files have a sharp pointed tip, which can be used for opening airways or even puncturing blocked stems or airways. I clean the files with isopropyl alcohol and a soft tooth brush to remove the vulcanite dust from the teeth and to keep the files sharp and useable. Remember, a needle file is not a tool that I would use to file large amount of vulcanite on the stem or to remove excess material, but rather to fine tune shapes and airways on the stem.

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Pick up a set and give them a try. You can read various articles on the blog on opening a stem or and airway, shaping a button or opening a slot on the stem. Each gives detailed pictures and comments on the use of the files.

What is a Pipe Retort and How it is used

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have had a retort kit for many years now. I picked it up on eBay from a fellow who makes them and all profits from his sales go to the Sanctuary for Unwanted and Neglected Animal rescue S.U.N.A. All proceeds help pay veterinarian bills. The retort is owned and manufactured by them for a fund raising tool. I have used it in spurts over the years. When I first got it I used it all the time. I like the way it worked and cleaned up the dirtiest pipe and boiled out the tars and oils in the bottom of the bowl. In recent years I have just forgotten to take it out in the process of cleaning and refurbishing. It is nothing about the kit that makes me forget it is simply that I have used a variety of other methods to clean out the oils and tars. These include an alcohol bath and the bowl stuffed with either rock salt or cotton bolls and filled with alcohol. Both methods have worked well for me so I just seem to move on without doing the retort.

Retort kits are readily available on eBay and include all the things needed for a working retort. The picture below, taken from an eBay sale shows a version of the retort. The one from S.U.N.A. that I have is much more refined and elegant. But the constituent parts of the retort are virtually the same nonetheless. The retort includes a Pyrex test tube to hold the alcohol that is heated with either a candle or an alcohol lamp until it boils up through the surgical tubing through the stem and into the bowl of the pipe. Cotton bolls are used to plug the opening in the bowl and keep the hot alcohol in the pipe bowl.

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I found this drawing of a retort on the Seattle Pipe Club website and include it here to show the constituent parts of the retort. Where it uses an eye dropper, the S.U.N.A. version uses a nicely formed piece of brass tubing inserted into the stopper on the test tube.

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The designer of the S.U.N.A. retort says that the Pipe Cleaning Retort is the result of many years of experimentation by a 40 yr. pipe smoker and collector. He describes the purpose of the system as “the removal of gunk from the pores of the briar, specifically the heel, to sweeten and sterilize. Swabbing with pipe cleaners will not do the job, especially the musty estate pipe and also is great for changing blends without crossover taste. There is also the danger of harmful molds present in old pipes that will be removed by the hot alcohol method.”

How to use the retort

I begin the process by filling the retort test tube with isopropyl alcohol about ½ to 2/3 full. Others have used ever-clear but I have found that the 99% isopropyl alcohol works well for me. It is not only reasonably priced but less volatile than other products. It is also readily available at drug stores. The less water in the alcohol results in a lower boiling point. Put the stopper with the tube (whether copper tubing or eye dropper) into the mouth of the test tube. Attach the surgical tubing over the pipe’s stem. I usually stretch it up to about ½ inch on the stem. The connection of the tubing on the stem should be tight as you do not want the alcohol to seep around the joint when it is hot. (A 1/4″ slit or a v cut in the surgical tubing will make it easier to fit onto pipe bits.) Use cotton bolls to stuff in the opening of the bowl to prevent the hot alcohol from damaging the bowl’s finish.

Hold the retort over the heat source, candle or alcohol lamp and slowly move it back and forth over the flame. Hold the pipe by the bowl so that it is level and be careful of the tube as it gets hot. I generally hold onto the stem and the rubber stopper as I move the pipe back and forth. As the alcohol boils up into the pipe, periodically remove the retort from the flame. The instructions require that the unit be supported to allow back and forth flow for best cleaning, not just dangling over high heat source that causes over boil and uncontrolled gushing. As the retort cools, the alcohol will be sucked out of the pipe and into the retort. By repeated heating and cooling the retort, you can flush the pipe with boiling alcohol several times. Once the alcohol turns black with tar, replace it with some fresh alcohol. After about a dozen flushes, remove the retort and clean the pipe with bristle cleaners or a nylon brush. Let the pipe dry out at least six hours before smoking.

NOTE: Some may have a concern about fire or even explosion from heating the alcohol over an open flame. The maker of the retort system says that “our testing to deliberately cause separation due to restricted airway resulted in the connector pulling out of the glass tube due to the increased pressure, a press fit instead of fixed will prevent any explosion. Any remote possibility of a resultant fire using isopropyl alcohol in the amount required to operate the retort can easily be snuffed out by a small towel. The volatility of the alcohol is very low and it requires a low amount of heat to reach the point needed to make the retort function properly”. It is recommended that you use eye protection while working with the retort.

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The retort kit that I purchased included a generous supply of name brand tapered fluffy pipe cleaners, a natural rubber surgical tubing or connector bulb to attach various size stems, a thick walled Pyrex test tube (high speed centrifuge quality) and cotton balls for putting into the bowl. It also came with complete instructions. My kit did not come with a heat source though it appears that they now include a small votive candle.

What Happened to Santa’s Pipe?

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I love the look of old Santa Claus carvings, especially when they include the pipe in his mouth or hand. To me they are a part of the image and mystique of the jolly, old gent. I can almost smell the aromas in the wreath of smoke that encircles his head. Whether you call him Sinterklaas, Saint Nicolas or Father Christmas, it is getting harder to find Santa with a pipe in the politically correct climate of the world in which we live. If you are like me, you have seen endless Santas with apples and oranges, dolls and toys in his hands or a finger next to his nose but rarely a pipe in his mouth. Over the years I have collected a few older figures that I put out each Christmas as part of our celebration and decoration. I also have some older Christmas books from the time I was a child (somehow the books are getting older every year!). These picture him with a pipe in his hand. I remember telling my kids stories of Santa and his pipe. But these days he is sans pipe! Every Christmas I am on the lookout for some of these old Santas – either carved or cast, in photos or cards to add to the collection. Here is an old one that I have in my collection.

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With that information as a back drop for this blog post I want to talk about a discovery my wife and I made last week. Over the past three weeks we were travelling in Alberta, Canada for my work. It is a fall routine for me, having done the same trip five times now. This time we drove over 3000 kilometres and visited many of the towns in the province from the south along the US border to the northern part of the province. We met with individuals, businesses, churches and groups who were, or might be, interested in the work of the Foundation that I work for. We stayed in homes of friends and supporters in each city. It was a great trip for us; the first time my wife has joined me on this jaunt. Each small town and city we visited we made it a point to take some time to walk through small antique malls and second hand stores to look for estate pipes and pipe related items (ostensibly this was my reason).

On this trip I found several older pipes but what was really interesting was a find in a little shop called Holly Berries we visited in Grande Prairie, Alberta. It was a Christmas shop. Maybe it was the snow storms we drove through and the quiet prairies of the North Country that put us in a Christmassy mood but we were in that mood. We went through the front door of that great little shop and walked through the normal assortment of Christmas decorations and ornaments, looking and commenting on what we were seeing. They had the usual ones available for purchase – angels, stars, Christmas slogans. The place smelled very inviting with a mulled cider and fresh baking scent throughout the shop. The garlands of fir and pine – artificial but nice nonetheless – added to the festive spirit. Christmas carols and songs were playing in the background and we easily slipped into the nostalgia of Christmas past, present and future. We wandered around the shop picking up and looking at small and large pieces – crèches, shepherds, wise men, and Santa Claus. It had all the trinkets and adornments that decorate homes during the Christmas season. It was an interesting place to spend some time.

My wife turned toward the tree ornaments while I went off on my own to look at some of the carvings. In the centre of the shop I came across a display of carved and cast Santas that were different from the run of the mill Santas that are on the market today. This display was full of carved Santas smoking a pipe! I could not believe it and commented to the shop keeper that it was a pleasure to see the Santa Claus of my youth with his pipe and not in the new and politically correct pipeless posture. She laughed and said that the works were highly collectible (the prices on them would agree, though I see that on the website they are considerably cheaper). The figures are carved by Jim, then artisans produce clay molds, cast the figures in Polyresin and then they are hand painted and finished by artists using folk art techniques developed by Jim Shore. The attention to detail and ensures that the figures look and feel like real wood and have a quality that is unique to each piece. Here is his website with more information on his work http://www.jimshore.com/content/

I took a few pictures with my iphone so that I could keep a memory of what I saw. Below are the two figures that I really liked. To give you an idea of the size of these figures I have included the measurements. They are 10.25 inches tall, by 5.5 inches wide, by 6.5 inches long. By no means small, these figurines each have a personality that is unique and timeless. It is great to know that in this day and age there are some who still maintain the old memories and images of our folk story figures. There is nothing like seeing the merry twinkle in the eye of Santa and a puff of his pipe to remind you of the days of your youth and memories of seasons of family and friends.

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Refurbished Sir Wilkens Danish Made

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I had this old Danish shaped pipe in my box for refurbishing for some time. I had never heard of the brand but I liked the shape of this particular pipe. It is delicate looking and yet feels comfortable in the hand and mouth. The grain is not remarkable but it is good. It is stamped made in Denmark and I would call it an acorn shape. I always like to do a bit of detective work on the brands I come across and have done a fair bit of research on the web to find out any information. Nothing was found on the web. The stem is a modified saddle bit, pinched at the sides from the top and bottom views but generally tapered to the saddle. It is a slightly bent stem. The bowl was dirty and caked with what smelled like an aromatic tobacco – very vanilla smelling. The stem had a coating of some kind of sticky substance – like scotch tape that had been applied with a price tag. The finish was dirty and the grain appeared smudged beneath the finish. The rim was tarred but not scorched. This was going to be an easy clean up.

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I reamed and cleaned the bowl to remove the thick cake. I also filled the bowl with cotton bolls and isopropyl alcohol and let it sit over night to leach out the tars and oils. In the morning I wiped down the outside with alcohol to remove a bit of the darkened finish and grime. I then buffed it and polished it with White Diamond to bring back the shine. I cleaned the stem with isopropyl alcohol to remove the sticky residue on it and then cleaned the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. I buffed away the slight oxidation. I then took the pipe to my buffer and gave it a final buff with White Diamond and then multiple coats of carnauba wax.

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Any help on identifying the maker of this pipe would be appreciated. You can post responses here. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

GBD 9438 Tapestry – Stem Repair

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Al Jones

Well, I fell prey to yet another GBD 9438 in Tapestry finish on Ebay. Yes, another chair leg stem, my fourth this year. However, this time I made a somewhat foolish offer on this particular pipe using my Ebay Android phone app. Using the phone, I completely missed that the seller stated a piece was missing from the stem and the large detailed photograph of the damaged area.

When the pipe arrived, the briar looked in great shape but the damage loomed large. In the ad, the seller offers that he could do the repair for an additional $15. I was skeptical, but curious as to how he might accomplish this feat. The seller replied that Walker Briarworks did his repair work. I did contacted Dave Wolfe at Walker and was not surprised to learn a $15 repair was not an option. Unfortunately, neither was getting a new stem made and transferring the brass rondell. Dave told me that vulcanite stock in that diameter (22 mm) was no longer available.

So, it appeared the repair was left to my own hands. I considered trying to patch it with Superglue, but as you can see, the missing piece was quite large. I didn’t think it could be done nor be durable enough.

I decided the best way to repair the pipe was to cut off the broken button and reshape a new one. I made the cut with a hobby saw and there was no turning back.

Using a small, flat blade needle file, I made a cut on both sides of the stem for the crease. Than, using a heavier metal file I carefully carved out a new button. I went back to the flat needle file to remove some of the heavier file marks. I used both files to shape the button into a “football” shape. additional flat, tapered shape needle files were used to open up the stem hole.

Using some 600 grit wet paper, I sanded out the file marks from the stem. Next the stem was polished with increasingly finer grades of wet sand paper, advancing from 800>1000>1500 and 2000 grit papers. I then polished the stem on the buffer with some Tripoli rouge. I used the final two grades of micro-mesh (8000 and 12000) to bring up the shine. The last steps were to buff the stem with White Diamond rouge followed with a final polish using automotive plastic polish.

The bowl was soaked with Everclear and sea salt and the shank cleaned with alcohol and bristle pipe cleaners. I buffed the bowl with Tripoli, White Diamond and then several coats of carnuba wax. The briar was also polished by hand with Paragon wax.

The finished pipe came looks great and should offer many more years of service.

Refurb on the London Made

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I finished up the refurb on a London Made billiard. It is a big pipe 7 1/2 inches long. This one was by far the worst one in the lot of three large pipes that I had in my box to refurbish. The rim was in very rough shape with burn marks on the right hand side and dents and scuffs from banging out the dottle. The bowl was heavily caked and the stem and shank were virtually plugged with tars.

I reamed the bowl and cleaned the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and a shank brush and isopropyl alcohol. Then I gave the bowl an alcohol bath over night. The next morning I took it out of the bath, dried it off with a soft cloth. Once it was dry I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads (1500-6000 grit) until it was smooth. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and some isopropyl to clean off the sanding dust and any remaining oils from my hands. I restained it with an oxblood aniline stain thinned with isopropyl alcohol.

I went to work on the stem after that. The stem was in bad shape. There was a very deep cut mark on the top of the stem about a 1/4 inch from the button. There was also a bite through hole on the underside of the stem. I cleaned and sanded the stem until it was black once again. I left the area around the button, on top and bottom, a bit rough and then filled the cut on the top with krazy glue. I greased and inserted a pipe cleaner in the slot and then filled the hole with krazy glue. Once the glue was completely dry I sanded the two fills I made with sand paper – 400, 600 grit, and then micromesh sanding pads from 1800-6000 grit. (I have read of concern by different folks on how the super/krazy glue can melt or cause damage on vulcanite. I have now been using this process for several years and never had a problem. I have used it on both vulcanite and Lucite. In the past weeks I have also used it on a nylon stem without any probems.)

I took the pipe to my buffer and finished the refurbishing with a buff of White Diamond to polish the finish on the bowl and the stem. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine.

Here are the pics of the finished pipe (once again I forgot to take pictures of the pipe before I worked on it). Thanks for looking. ImageImageImageImageImage

All the King’s horses, and all the King’s Men… A Petersen adventure — Gan Barber

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When I bid on this pipe, I hoped that the damage was just a matter of some superficial checking. Whether it was from a defect in the briar or poor smoking technique, I assumed that with a little work, this Petersen Sherlock Holmes could be restored to its former glory once again.

As it appeared on EBay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve repaired a variety of bowls damaged by overheating or hidden fissures that cracked when smoked, but this particular pipe proved much more challenging. The front lip was compressed from hammering out spent dottle, so it was obvious that this pipe had seen its fair share of abuse. I placed the bowl in an alcohol bath for several hours to clean out the fissures and soften the heavy cake. I thought that once I reamed it out and wire brushed the cracks, I would have a better idea of the repairs needed.

Unfortunately, the only thing holding this pipe together wasthe cake, and as soon as I started to ream it……….

A combination of the bowl walls being left thin due to the heavy rustication, and the previous owner’s penchant for smoking tobacco as if it were lava (must have loved the taste of burning wood), had caused the briar to burn through in several places.

The charring was significant, but the pieces were sound, and the fractures well defined, so I decided to see what could be done with such a hopeless mess……..

Back into the alcohol bath went all the pieces to further clean the broken edges and soften what remained of the cake. I left them to soak overnight and then gave them each a thorough scrubbing, scraping and wire brushing to prepare them for re-assembly. In the meantime, I cleaned up the stem with an Oxy-Clean soak and some scrubbing with #0000 Steel wool.

Using JB Kwik as a bonding agent, I began by fitting the two lower pieces back onto the stummel. I worked in pairs to assure proper alignment. Once the epoxy has set, there is no way to make adjustments to the fit, so by working in layers I had a better chance to get it right.

Before the epoxy hardened, I did some work with a toothpick on the exterior of the bowl to remove and blend the squeeze out. Once the epoxy had completely cured, I used a dremel with a small sanding drum to grind down the excess and smooth the joints on the inside of the bowl. Using the same process, I re-fitted the top two pieces.

After the initial bonding and detail work on the epoxy, the pipe still had a long way to go.

There was a sizeable hole on the left side where the briar was very thin and had been destroyed by fire. After some more work with the dremel to clean up the inside the bowl, I used the JB Kwik to build up the weakened areas, letting it flow through and fill the hole. I then added more JB Kwik to the areas on the outside of the bowl that revealed any cracks, low areas, or fissures.

Once the epoxy had fully cured, I used the Dremel to smooth the inside of the bowl, and then applied two coats of pipe mud. Made from cigar ash, this mud filled all the imperfections and created a strong protective covering over the epoxy patches. Though JB Kwik is highly resistant to heat, and rated as non-toxic, it seemed prudent to keep it well covered until a good cake can be re-established in the bowl.

I used a small rusticating tool, made from a Phillips head screwdriver, to blend in the patches on the bowl exterior, then finished preparing the briar for staining with a vigorous scrub using a brass wire brush.

To blend in the patches and color the bowl, I chose Feibings Cordovan dye and applied it liberally with the applicator. I used a torch lighter to burn off the alcohol really set the stain. I then gave it a buff with red Tripoli, to see how well it all blended and to clean up the stem.  Granted, the Cordovan dye is much darker and deeper than the original coloring, but it was my only option in order to hide all the body work required to make this Petersen look like a pipe again.

I haven’t finished working on the stem or waxed the bowl yet. I think I’ll wait until the pipe mud has hardened and see how it smokes before investing any more time into this project. The bowl feels substanial and solid, so I’m not worried about structural failings. Being that it’s no longer a 100% briar pipe, I’m curious to see how well it performs……..

Thanks for looking.

-Gan