Daily Archives: March 16, 2014

Kaywoodie Ruf-Tone

An Edwards 7377 Pipe Cleaned & Repaired

I first talked with Morty from Ontario on Pipe Smokers Unlimited online forums (PSU). She had found an old Altesse Briar with an Amber stem and found that I had the same pipe. In fact from what we could find and the responses we got we had the only two around! We exchanged quite a few emails and I did a few repairs and some stems for her. She has caught the refurbishing bug and has posted quite a few pictures of her work on the PSU Pipe Restoration Forum. She has been smoking a pipe off and on most of her adult life. She enjoys buying old estate pipes and cleaning them up and refurbishing them. She says that she has learned much from the blog and from other members on PSU. I have enjoyed seeing her work and have asked her to write-up some of her work and post it on rebornpipes for others to enjoy. Thanks Morty for being willing to do this for us. Enjoy this first post she has provided. I love the lines of this old pipe and the grain. Morty did a great job on restoring it. Without further introduction I give you Morty’s own words regarding this refurb.

I bought this Edward 7377 Long Bent Stem Pipe that was in bad condition and needed quite a bit of TLC.

I first reamed the bowl, did an alcohol and salt treatment. The bowl shank had a crack that was mostly covered by the silver band. I sanded the bowl with 100 grit, 220 grit sandpaper, and used medium and fine grit sanding sponges. I also topped the bowl as it had some slight char and some nicks that the topping easily dealt with.

I continued sanding the bowl with very fine grit sand paper before I dealt with the crack.
The crack in parts went right through, I wiped down the bowl with acetone to remove any remaining dirt and dust. I super glued the crack. allowing some to soak through to the inside.
I left this to set overnight.

I soaked the stem in Oxy Clean overnight as well. The next day I first removed most of the raised oxidation by scrubbing it down with a Magic Eraser, I find this makes the next steps easier and go much more quickly. The Magic Eraser removed most of the oxidation, I wet sanded with 1500 – 2400 grit, dry sanding with 3200 – 12,000 grit micromesh pads. Cleaned the inside of the stem with a test tube brush, and with many soft and bristle pipe cleaners, making sure the button is also spotless. Finally when the pipe cleaners come out spotless I will run a soft pipe cleaner through with Rum 151, this not only sanitizes the stem it can also grab any missed gunk.

I cleaned the silver band with fine steel wool. The next day I worked on the crack that was set now with the super glue. I sanded this down carefully and replaced the now clean silver band. The bowl cleaned up well as did the stem. I decided to use Olive Oil to bring out the grain, but also to darken the bowl a bit. Following Coastie’s (John William’s) method, I applied a small amount, rubbed it in with my hands, removed any excess and let it sit overnight. The next day buffed with a micro fiber cloth, and wow. !!! This had really brought the grain out and left a nice rich color to the bowl. I polished the bowl with Paragon Wax. I am pleased with the results on this very nice old Edwards Pipe.

A Danish Pipe Magazine STOP – articles provided by Jacek A. Rochacki

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In correspondence with Jacek he spoke to me about a magazine that he had in his possession called STOP. It is a Danish Pipe Magazine with what sounded like some exceedingly interesting articles. It is written in Danish and I would love to have some of our Danish readers translate some of the articles that are included in these scans that Jacek sent.

Here is part of the email Jacek sent me with the magazine portions attached. In it he spells out what he included in his scans of the magazine pages.

I acquired this free copy No 31, April 1970, 7th year of existence of the STOP in late summer 1970 in Copenhagen, if I remember correctly in famous Pipe House W. Ø. Larsen, where I was a frequent, and I think welcome visitor during my trips to Denmark. I scanned at the best of my present technical possibilities 9 pictures. First two show front cover and next/following two pages. Then on pages 21 and 22 there is text on Anne Julie. Then at page 24 begins text on once famous Lillehammer pipes – G. Larsen – founded by Gudbrand Larsen in town Lillehammer in Norway. In July 1970 I received as gift of friendship in Uppsala, Sweden, the G.L. Lillehammer Best Make, Topper shape that I have kept up to now. The Lillehammer and Norway story continues on the next pages. At the end, after page 46 I enclose picture/scan of the back cover. If you think that despite Danish language it may be of interest to friends on your blog, then please make choice of what I am sending or publish all these documents. I hope that this email letter with attachments is not “too heavy” and will not block your inbox.

Again, if any of our Danish friends would like to provide a translation of these articles for our non-Danish speaking readers that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Jacek for providing this great magazine.

An Old envelope – empty, but still full of memories – Jacek A Rochacki

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I see, that I have become more and more talkative, maybe it is caused by age, maybe I feel more and more at home with friends… So posting my comment below Steve’s story on the Fairhaven Smoke Shop I mentioned old envelope with address: Mr. Charles Rattray, Tobacco Blender, PERTH, Scotland. Encouraged by kind suggestion by Mark Domingues I am enclosing picture of this envelope.

Browsing on Steve’s blog I found with joy the publication of an old Rattray’s Booklet on Tobacco Blending https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/charles-rattrays-of-perth-catalogue/ So all the more I would like to continue with following story connected with Rattrays.

Rattray’s is known as a manufacturer of pipe tobaccos, which are now manufactured in Germany, but names of blends like Marlin Flake, Old Gowrie, Hal o’the Wynd remain the same. Beside this “tobacco aspect” Rattray is the family name of an old Scottish historical family, and their house is the Craighall Castle by the town of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland. The Craighall Castle like many other castles has a big clock in the castle’s tower. The clock demanded regular maintenance. In “my” time there this service was provided by clock and watch specialist – a watchmaker, whom I happen to know.

During one of my visits to Scotland this watch and clock specialist invited me to join him on his next visit to the castle. We entered the hall and I was surprised to see many photos of soldiers in uniforms with well known to me Polish distinctions and badges from the time of WWII. Soon I learned that the Craighall Castle, like many other locations in Scotland, was at the time of WWII converted to a hospital and convalescent centre for the Polish wounded soldiers. Many men in uniforms shown in photos were smoking short pipes – bulldogs or lovats, which, as I remember from stories, were popular with some military formations. On the wall there was a marble plate with the Polish Eagle, badges of some Polish military formations and words of gratitude to the people of Blairgowrie, Rattray and district, in commemoration of their hospitality.

Then our host – the Right Honorable Rattray appeared who, after complimenting my acquaintance for his clock service, kindly offered us a nice cup of tea. I was so surprised by seeing one more sign of Polish presence in Scotland that I simply forgot to ask our host, if his respectable family had any kind of connection with the well known tobacco brand.

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