Blog by Greg Wolford
I picked up this Danish Sovereign off eBay for my son as a gift. I have one in a different shape and he has admired it since I got it. I knew that he had been wanting a Danish pipe and when I was this one it looked to be right up his style-alley.
This pipe came described as in “mint condition” from an eBay seller. It was a Father’s Day gift for my son, his first Father’s Day pipe actually; he took up the pipe only about 8 months ago. The photos the seller provided were not good and none of the problems were shown/disclosed; I could see some oxidation but didn’t expect the chatter and dents.
The seller shipped it not as expediently as I had hoped so the pipe didn’t arrive in time for Father’s Day; it came yesterday. I spent the evening getting it cleaned up for him, not doing anything to alter the originality of the pipe, which is what he wanted. If he decides he wants me to, I may end up sanding it down and re-staining it, filling the dents as needed, to make it much more like new. But that’ll be his call since it’s his gift.
I thought I would try something, actually a few things, different for this project: I used a few new things/processes, yes, but mainly the difference is I took video as I went instead of photos and will show the steps/progress in the video rather than writing it all out. This is something I have been wanting to try and so, now I have! Since it is the first time doing a resto-video I’m sure there will be things that could’ve been done better. And hopefully with time and practice, if this idea seems to “fly”, they will in the next projects.

Greg, the band is a standard nickel band available from places like Pipemakers Emporium. The stamping means nothing. It gives the impressions of hallmarks but is not. I have a tray full of the exact bands. It is an aftermarket band.
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Steve, thank you SO much for that info; I’ve driven myself nuts trying to figure it out!
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No problem. I did the same thing when I first came across it.
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Nice job Greg. I like the video. I shoot training videos for work, which is a lot harder than it looks, so good job on that as well. I hope your son enjoys his Fathers Day pipe, what a thoughtful gift.
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Thank you, Al. Yes, the video does add a different level of challenges but I hope it is worth it and plan to do more. Greg (my son) hasn’t got to actually see the cleaned up pipe in person yet but was happy with the dirty version and pretty excited with the photos.
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