Monthly Archives: November 2014

GBD 549 Speciale Standard Restoration

Blog by Al Jones

Last week, one of my fellow GBD enthusiasts contacted me about a Cadogan era (post 1982) GBD 549 that was available via a popular online estate seller. I thought it was priced a little high. I thought he could find a better 549 from the pre-Cadogan era, with the brass stem rondel that might be less expensive. I recalled seeing this one on Ebay, but since I have a 549, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I sent him the Ebay link as an example and didn’t even notice that the auction was ending in an hour or so. He messaged me later, saying he had won the auction for considerably less than the other 549. Looking more closely at the auction pictures, I thought that this was a very nice example. The pipe is a “Speciale Standard” and made in France. The owner has purchased several GBD’s from me in the past and I volunteered to clean this one up for him. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to work on this little gem.

The briar looked outstanding with some nice grain and birdseye. The stem was oxidized, with just a hint of teeth scratches. There was some rim darkening that I hoped could be removed or lessened.

I started on the stem using 600 and then 800 grit wet paper to remove the oxidation. I then moved to 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit paper. I finished with 8000 and 12000 grade micromesh paper. Mounted on the pipe, the stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Red Jewelers rouge.

The rim darkening came off nicely, using a worn piece of 8000 grit micromesh paper. I then lightly buffed the bowl, with White Diamond, while being careful to stay away from the perfect nomenclature. The bowl was then buffed several times with Carnuba wax.

Here is the finished pipe.

Fitting a Maplewood Bowl to fit a Kirsten Pipe Shank

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Blog by Steve Laug

My son-in-law brought his Kirsten with him on the pipe hunt we went on recently and mentioned that the bowl was too small to his liking. We were talking about hunting for a bowl that had a airway drilled in the bottom of the bowl that could be modified to accept the fitting – screw and cap – on a Kirsten bowl. These fittings hold the bowl on the shank. I remembered that I had a Maplewood bowl in my box of pipe parts that could work really well. It had a nipple on the bottom of the bowl. The nipple ended at a rounded cap and then steps up to the bowl. The original bowl can be seen in the photo below. The bowl was clean and unsmoked. There was a varnish finish on the bowl and the wood was quite rough. Around the hip at the base of the bowl there was a rough band around one side of the bowl. The bowl had some really interesting grain on it. Around the top third of the bowl the grain went around the bowl horizontally. Below that there was some vertical grain. The combination was attractive. This bowl would work well once I modified it to fit the pipe. I sawed the nipple off the bottom of the bowl with a hacksaw. I sawed it flat against the bottom of the bowl to make that surface flush. With the nipple removed it was clear that the airway was slightly off centre and would need to be adjusted once I drilled it to open it up to hold the bottom cap from the Kirsten. I measure the diameter and the length of the insert to figure out how much of the bottom of the bowl I would need to remove. I drilled it out with a drill bit the same size as the insert on the Kirsten cap. I used a knife to open the air hole and move it more toward the centre of the bottom of the bowl. I used the Dremel with a sanding drum to shape the bottom of the bowl. I had to remove about ¼ of an inch or more from the bottom of the bowl. I sanded it bring it down and begin to round the edges. The next three photos show the progress of shaping the bowl bottom. The third photo shows the bowl after I also sanded it with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper.

I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches. I fitted the bottom cap to the bowl to see what more I would need to remove for a proper fit between the bowl and the shank. I fit the screw into the bottom cap and used a Philips screwdriver to tighten it in place.

I sanded the bowl more to remove the finish and fine tune the shaping the bottom of the bowl. I wanted the finished bowl to look like a brandy glass shape.

When I had fine tuned the bowl shape and the bottom of the bowl I fit it on a Kirsten shank from one of my pipes. The fit was pretty accurate and the look of the shape worked well with the pipe. I would need to sand the bowl some more, remove the remaining varnish and then stain the bowl once finished. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rim. Though the pipe was unsmoked the rim was roughly finished.

I took the bowl apart and prepared it for staining. I wiped it down with acetone to remove the remaining varnish and dust from the bowl. I used a dark brown aniline stain to colour the bowl. I stained it and flamed it with a lighter. I reapplied and reflamed the bowl several more times until the coverage was even.

I wanted the finish to be light brown in colour with dark grain patterns on the bowl. I wiped it down with alcohol on cotton pads to thin down the finish. I continued to wipe it until the underlying maple showed through and the grain patterns were darkened. I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli and also White Diamond. Once it was finished I sanded it with 1500-3200 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth it out. I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil and rubbed it into the finish. The bowl was complete at this point – I fit it back on the shank and took the next set of photos to show the look I was aiming for.

I took the bowl off the shank and buffed it with White Diamond once more. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff. The dark brown aniline stain had brought out the grain and contrasted nicely with the rest of the bowl. The horizontal and vertical graining makes this a nice looking pipe bowl.

I put the bowl back on the Kirsten shank and took the next set of photos to show the finished bowl and shank. It certainly fit the shank well and the larger bowl should meet my son-in-laws request for a longer smoking bowl for his Kirsten. He is away with my daughter for the weekend but when he returns home I look forward to seeing what he thinks of his new bowl.

Addendum: I was working my way through Ebay UK when I found a pipe that had the same bowl as the one used in this article. It is a tourist pipe from the Smokey Mountains National Park. It looks to be the same pipe bowl and looks identical to the one I used.

Restoring a Wally Frank Natural – Andrew Selking

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Blog by Andrew Selking

I promised Steve that my next restoration would not be another chunky diamond shank pipe, so I decided to do a Wally Frank Natural. Wally Frank was a New York tobacco shop that sourced its pipes from Charatan’s, Sasieni, Weber, and other European pipe makers. This is my second Wally Frank Natural and like the first, it is very well made. The briar is not very exciting and it has a small fill on the bottom, but the pipe is very light weight (1.3 ounces) and the lines are elegant.

When I received the pipe, it looked fairly clean. It had some tar build up on the rim, slight oxidation of the stem, but not chatter and the bowl was well reamed.

I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath and placed the stem in a Oxyclean solution. The only challenge I anticipated with this pipe was the fill on the bottom, but I had a new secret weapon; CA glue accelerator. After soaking, I used a pipe cleaner and the Oxyclean solution to get the worst of the gunk out of the stem. Next I reamed the bowl with my T-net reamer. Everything looked pretty good to that point and I figured this would be an easy clean up. Boy was I wrong! I did a retort on the bowl first. The pipe cleaning brush (available in the baby section at Walmart) came out loaded with gunk. I did the retort four additional times, using the brush after each try, before finally moving on to pipe cleaners. Then I used a pile of q-tips. The only thing I can think is the previous owner smoked a goopy aromatic and didn’t use pipe cleaners afterwards. Next up, retort the stem. The stem was just as nasty as the shank, and I repeated the process four times. After numerous pipe cleaners, it finally came clean. My next challenge was the fill on the bottom of the bowl. I have an old shank (a past victim of the buffing wheel) that I use for briar dust. I use a file to grind off the dust. I put a drop of super glue on the bottom of the cottage cheese container and applied it to the fill area with the tip of the paper clip. I then packed the briar dust on top and sprayed it with the accelerator.

I’m going to work on refining that technique, it was a little messier than I like and the resulting lump of briar dust took more sanding than would have been necessary if had made the fill only as much as was needed.

Next I turned my attention to the stem. I did the usual progression of 400 grit wet/dry with water, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh with water. I then used a progression of 1500-12000 grit micro mesh on both the bowl and stem. Although the pipe had a natural finish on it, I decided to darken it slightly to help cover the fill. To do this I used Kiwi Parade Gloss brown shoe polish.

After applying the shoe polish I used a heat gun to briefly heat it up then buffed it out with a shoe brush. Here is the results after using the brush. I had an uneventful trip to the buffing wheel, and here is the end result.

Here is a close up of the fill.

I hope you enjoyed this write up. If you happen to stumble across a Wally Frank Natural, I would encourage you to buy it. They are a good value for the money.

Refurbishing a Barely Smoked Smooth White Turkish Meerschaum Dublin – Robert M. Boughton

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

“If it ain’tbroke, don’t fix it.”
—Thomas Bertram Lance (1931-2013), Director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Jimmy Carter Administration

INTRODUCTION
Every now and then, a pipe comes my way that is in such good condition that I can only call what I have to do to clean it up a refurbish job as opposed to a real restoration, and for the most part I do not even bother with a blog. This is one of those rare but pleasant occasions with the exception that the smooth white hand-carved Turkish meerschaum in question is so elegant I just have to share it.

REFURBISH
Almost all this simple looking Dublin needed was a simple bath with purified water and a little work on the rim and chamber.

Starting with super fine steel wool on the rim, I encountered more difficulty than usual removing the thick char that seemed to have something else mixed in with it, but nothing worth griping about. As I worked through the char-grime, I saw more coloration emerge – along with a chip. I even considered letting it be, but thinking better, added some elbow grease and focus to the steel wool. I removed enough of the chip and crack to be satisfied. Then I buffed the rim with 1500 micromesh followed by 3200 and moved on to the chamber. Not about to assault it with the reamer that has been necessary for every meerschaum I have fully restored, I used 150-grit paper first and then 500 to smooth it out.

With all of the dirty work finished, I gave it the light bath it needed.

CONCLUSION
Of course, I ran a couple of bristly cleaners soaked in pipe freshener through the shank and around the chamber and one more through the stem, but that was all it took to clean this near-pristine pipe. Even the stem didn’t need any sanding or work of any kind.

And so, for once I cannot complain of a pipe abused. God bless the merry gentleman who owned and enjoyed this beauty, albeit for a short time.

Giving New Life to a Briar Squire Bent Pot – Andrew Selking

1 Reply

Blog by Andrew Selking

This is the second article by Andrew that I have the pleasure of posting on the blog. It is about a well restored Briar Squire bent Pot. Andrew does some beautiful work and it is a pleasure to read and see the results of his work. Thanks Andrew.

I did not get as many pipes completed as I planned this past weekend, my honey-do list was longer than anticipated. However, I could not resist finding the time to fix up a Briar Squire bent pot with a diamond shank. According to Pipephil.eu, the Briar Squire was a brick and mortar tobacco and pipe shop located in Crystal Lake, IL from 1977 to 1983. I assume they had their pipes made by an outside pipe maker. Whoever made this pipe did a nice job. There were no fills in it and judging by all the angles on the stem that was hand cut as well.

The previous owner kept the bowl very clean, but the stem had some tooth marks and calcification on the end. I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath and went to work on the stem with the 400 grit wet/dry with water. As you can see in this picture, there is still some faint oxidation left. I readdressed the oxidation with the 400 grit until it was gone. I find that it helps to dry the stem when you think you’ve reached the point where the oxidation is removed. I then proceeded to use the micro mesh, 1500-2400 grit, with water. Next I turned my attention to the bowl. The rim had some tar build up, which I tried to remove with distilled water. The water helped, but there was an area of stubborn tar that just wouldn’t come off. Since I didn’t want to remove all of the finish, I used 1500 grit micro mesh to top the bowl. I used 1500-2400 grit micro mesh without water on the bowl, then 3200-12000 grit micro mesh on the bowl and the stem. The last few levels really do a nice job of polishing both wood and vulcanite.

Next it was time to apply the wax/stain. For red/brown colored pipes I use Kiwi Brown. As I mentioned in my previous post, it is very easy to work with and gives a good base shine before the final polish on the buffing wheel.

After applying the shoe polish, I used the heat gun to melt the wax and buffed it out with a brush. As you can see. Finally it was off to the buffing wheel. Here are the results. Thanks for looking.

Rediscovering a Colibri Electro-Quartz Lighter

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Blog by Steve Laug

Several years ago on one of my pipe hunts I came across this unused, still in the box Colibri Electro-Quartz lighter. It was in a junk shop and I picked it up for around $20. I figured it was a bit of as steal so I grabbed it and brought it home. Somehow in one of the cleanups the girls in my household did on my study and desk top the lighter was put away and I totally forgot about it. I had not given it a thought or even filled it or tried it out. This week I was looking for a pipe I had put in my desk and though I did not find the pipe I did find the lighter and took it out and had a look at it.It has a brushed steel finish on both sides and the edges are polished stainless. The flame comes out on the side of the lighter and is a soft torch flame. It can easily be adjusted to not damage the bowl of a pipe. There is no wheel that is struck to light the flame, rather the bar shown on the right side of the photo above is slid downward and the flame ignites. The top 2/3 of the slide is grooved so that it is easy to move downward. There is not a flint in the lighter and no spark wheel. Sliding the bar downward ignites the butane.

I filled it with Colibri Butane and pulled the slide down to see if I could get a flame. There was a slight hissing that came from the filling tube on the bottom of the lighter so I used a small tipped screwdriver to adjust that valve. I was able to get a very small flame from the lighter but it did not extend far enough away from the lighter to light a pipe. I had no idea how to adjust the flame as there were not any instructions left in the box with the lighter. I went online and found the Colibri site. There I found a PDF of the instructions for a wide variety of their lighters. Sure enough the instructions included a guide for operating and adjusting the lighter I had found. I have included both the link to the PDF file and the two page document itself below http://us.colibri.com/media/wysiwyg/Warranty/Colibri-Lighter-Instructions.pdf . While none of the drawings are the lighter I have the adjustments are nonetheless present in the photos.

Using the manual I adjusted the flame on the lighter to extend it further from the lighter and enable me to use it in lighting my pipe. I adjust the fill tube so that it did not stick open and allow the butane to escape. The lighter includes a tamper in the bottom that can be extended to tamp down the tobacco. It is a very light weight piece that is thin enough to fit in my pocket or my pipe case with no trouble. The ease with which it can be lit makes it a pleasure to use.

I am looking forward to giving this “new” lighter a try to see how it works and if it is one that I will use or if it is one that will be sold off to finance a new one.

Cleaning Up a Brigham One Dot Acorn 778

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Blog by Steve Laug

One of the last pipes I picked up on my recent Alberta trip and the last pipe in my current pile of pipes to refurbish is a little Brigham Canada Acorn or Strawberry shaped rusticated pipe. The shape of the pipe is what caught my attention. And when I had it in hand the size was also a relevant feature. It is a very light weight pipe (don’t have a scale) and it is diminutive in size. The dimensions are: length – 5.5 inches, height – 1.5 inches, bore – .75 inches. The bowl is conical in shape ending well below the entry of the airway into the back wall. Overall the pipe was in decent shape and would be fairly easy to clean up. The finish was dirty and the bowl had a thin cake in it. The stem was oxidized and the inside of the shank was dirty. The stem was oxidized and had one tooth mark on the top surface near the button. On the underside of the stem near the button was a lot of tooth chatter. The stamping on the underside of the shank in a smooth area reads 778 which is the shape and that is followed by Made in Canada and then Brigham in script.

The next two photos show the tooth marks and tooth chatter on the stem. The tooth dent on the top of the stem near the button was quite deep and would need to be raised with heat and then probably repaired with superglue.

The aluminum Brigham tenon system was in great shape and showed no wear or tear on it. In the past I have taken apart these older Brigham pipes with the aluminum tenon and found it pitted and sometimes even eaten away. The filter surprised me in that when I pulled it out it was actually quite clean. The bowl was very clean and the rim was also clean. I cleaned out the aluminum tenon and the mortise area with isopropyl alcohol (99%) and cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I ran them through the shank and stem until they came out clean.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper, medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then cleaned the surface with alcohol on a cotton pad. I scratched out the surface with a dental pick to remove any loose vulcanite or grit on the surface. I put several drops of clear superglue in the tooth dent and let it dry until it was hard.

Once it hardened and cured for about an hour I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I wanted the surface to be smooth and the super glue bump to be smoothed into the surface. I also sanded it with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches in the surface.

I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. In between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it soak into the vulcanite. I had to repeat the process several times to remove the oxidation near the shank. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax.

I set the stem aside and scrubbed the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I used a soft bristle tooth brush to scrub it and then rinsed it off with running water. I kept a thumb in the bowl to keep the water from getting into the inside of the pipe. I dried it off with a cotton towel.

I rubbed down the bowl with Halcyon II wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine and even out the wax. I put the maple filter back in the tenon and then put the stem on the bowl. I buffed the bowl lightly with carnauba wax and then with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is cleaned and ready to smoke. I love the older Brigham pipes like this one and find that they smoke very well. They deliver a cool dry smoke and the Brigham filter system works well to cool the smoke and not hamper the draw or the flavour. Sometime later this week I will load a bowl of Virginia and enjoy the first smoke in this old timer.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Super Grain 40 Lovat

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

My son-in-law and I went pipe hunting a few weeks ago and this was one of the finds that day. I picked it up in an antique shop in Bellingham, Washington. I think I paid $15 for it. The stem was slightly overturned and would need to be fixed. The stem was clean of bite marks or tooth chatter. The stinger was intact and was a three-hole one so the pipe was newer rather than older. The finish was not ruined. The rim was caked with tars and oils. The buildup was only back side and went to the left side of the rim. The briar had quite a few fills on the sides and back of the bowl. The stamping on the left side was clean and easily read – Kaywoodie over Super Grain over Imported Briar. On the right side of the shank was stamped the shape number 40. The inside of the bowl had a light cake that was soft and crumbling. It would need to be reamed back to the bare wood in order to build a hard carbon cake. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and used the smallest cutting head first and then the second cutting head to finish the job. I removed the stem from the shank so that I could heat the stinger apparatus with a lighter. The black buildup of tars and oils on the stinger was hardened and not easily removed. Once I heated the stinger with the lighter I was able to wipe down the surface with a cotton pad and alcohol. I heated the stinger until the glue in the stem softened and then screwed the stem back into the shank and turned it until the stem lined up with the bowl. I cleaned the inside of the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The shank behind the metal insert was very dirty. I used the cotton swabs to clear out that area. I scrubbed it out until it was clean. I also cleaned out the airway in the stem the same way until it was clean. I scrubbed the top of the bowl with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to remove the buildup. It was thick so it took quite a bit of scrubbing. To finish removing it I used 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad and water. I was able to get the rim clean and then used a staining pen to touch up the rim. The lightest colour staining pen matched the finish of the bowl perfectly. I gave the bowl and rim a quick buff with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine. I was fortunate that the stem was not damaged with bite marks or tooth chatter. I use micromesh sanding pads to clean up the stem. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads until the finish of the stem was smooth. I buffed it with White Diamond to finish the process and then gave it a coat of carnauba. I put the stem back on the shank and then buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond a final time. I gave the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. I touched up the fills with the stain pen and then buffed the pipe bowl with White Diamond yet again. The results were acceptable. I gave the pipe several more coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown in the next series of photos. It is ready to be loaded and smoked – clean and waiting for the next pipe man who will carry the trust to the next generation of pipe smokers.

Cleaning up a Peterson 312 System Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The Peterson I picked up on my trip was in great shape externally. The seller at the antique mall had cleaned up the outside of the pipe and polished the stem and bowl. The pipe was clean and shiny. The stamping was very clear on the ferrule and shank. The ferrule was stamped K&P Peterson’s and had three faux hallmarks as usual on the nickel ferrule of Peterson pipes. The shank was stamped on the left side with an arched Peterson’s over System and over Standard. On the right side of the shank the shape number has been stamped over with Made in the Republic of Ireland. The shape number is present under the over stamp and I can read the first two numbers clearly – 31_, but the third number is covered with other letters so it is not readable. I wanted to figure out the number stamping that lay hidden under the Made in the Republic of Ireland stamping. I went to the Peterson site and looked for the shape charts. I was able to identify the shape as a 312. Here is the link to the shape http://www.peterson.ie/p/5291/312-standard as well as a picture of the shape 312. I also found this shape chart of Peterson System pipes on Pinterest and included the link to it here: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/464996730250913354/ I was particularly interested in noting the size variation between the 312 and the 314. While the shapes are very similar the 314 is significantly smaller than the 312. The bowl had been wiped clean and had no cake inside. The rim was dirty and darkened with a thin buildup of carbon and oils. The inside rim was clean and the bowl was in round. There were no serious nicks in the bowl edges. The nickel band was polished and undented. The stem was lightly oxidized and had a light tint of brown. There were no tooth marks or bite marks on the stem. The pipe was in good shape and would be one of my easier clean ups. The inside of the shank and sump had a lot of tars built up inside. The airway was also dirty. The seller had used silver polish on the ferrule and there was a white buildup on the inside edges of the shank. The next photo below shows the underside of the bowl and stem. Both the finish and the stem were in great shape with no visible dents or damage. The tenon was wide open like it had been made for a filter. It could hold a paper Medico style filter. I have never seen a filter version of the system pipe. I am wondering if the stem is a replacement or possibly it was drilled out to open it up to receive the paper filter. Obviously the internals had not been cleaned. There was a buildup of hard carbon on the tenon end and on the inside of the tenon. It was hard and would not easily be removed. I cleaned up the stem and the sump with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. I used a lot of pipe cleaners and cotton swabs before it was clean. I softened the carbon buildup on the tenon with alcohol and then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and scraped it away with a small blade to remove the hardened carbon. The bowl and shank had a heavy aromatic tobacco smell so I stuffed them both with cotton balls and used an ear syringe to put alcohol in both the bowl and shank. I set the bowl upright in an ice-cube tray and let it sit while the alcohol and cotton wicked out the oils and tars and sweetened the pipe. By doing this the pipe would be reset and could be smoked with any tobacco without picking up residual tastes. While the bowl sat soaking I worked on the stem to remove the oxidation. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. Then I gave it several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine with a soft flannel buffing pad. After the bowl had been sitting for 4 hours I took the photo below and then pulled out the cotton balls. The alcohol had evaporated and left behind a brown/amber residue on the cotton balls. Once the cotton was out I ran a folded pipe cleaner through the bowl and the sump area of the shank. It came out clean. I ran a straight cleaner through the airway into the bowl. It also picked up a slight bit of residue from the soak but it was clean after a few swabs. Best of all the smell of the aromatic tobacco was gone and what was left was a clean new pipe smell. When the shank was dry I put the newly polished stem back in the shank. I gave the pipe a quick buff with some carnauba and polished it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has some slight rim darkening from the previous owner but otherwise it is like new. The bowl and shank are fresh and ready to be loaded with a bowl of fine Virginias or some Virginia/Perique. I have some aged 5100 sitting in a jar here ready to smoke and also a small jar of some blending Perique so I may have to mix a small batch just for the inaugural smoke on this pipe…The briar is beautiful and the refurbished pipe came out very nice. I am looking forward to having a bowl very soon – just have to let the bowl dry out and air for a couple of days before I load it up and smoke it. In the meantime I will just look it over and enjoy the beauty of the pipe.

Restoring a Diamond Shank Bent – Andrew Selking

9 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

I have been following Andrew’s refurbishing work on Pipe Smoker Unlimited Forum for quite some time now and decided it was time to ask him if he would be willing to write some of his work up with photos for the blog. I sent him a message and he responded that he was glad to do so. I am happy to be able to present him to the readers here. He has been doing some great work in restoring pipes and has some great adaptations and innovations in terms of tools and equipment used to restore pipes. Besides he also takes amazing photos compared to me! Thanks Andrew for being willing to write for us here. So without further words from me I turn it over to Andrew.

It was a great honor when Steve asked me to write up a restoration for his blog. This pipe came in a lot of three. It’s a very chunky, diamond shank pipe marked Made in London England. It has a couple large fills near the end of the shank, one on the bottom of the bowl, and one on the rim. It also has an amazing feel in your hand and some very pretty cross grain. I decided to do this one for myself.

The first thing I do with all of my pipes is soak the bowl in isopropyl alcohol, usually for at least 24 hours. This serves multiple purpose; loosens the gunk inside the pipe (especially in the shank), makes the cake easier to remove, and usually takes of the exterior finish and softens any fills. Here is the bowl taking a bath.While the bowl marinated, I soaked the stem in a solution of hot water and Oxyclean. After sitting for several hours, I rinsed the stem under running water, this removes some of the oxidation. Next I took a pipe cleaner and used the Oxyclean solution to remove the built up tar and tobacco from inside the stem. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. In the case of this pipe, the alcohol was not enough to remove all of the finish. When this happens, I use 0000 steel wool soaked in acetone. The steel wool is fine enough that it doesn’t damage the stampings on the shank, but aggressive enough to make short work of any remaining finish.Next I turned my attention to the bowl. I use a Castleford reamer (available on eBay for around $20.00) to remove the cake.I usually go down to the wood. I’ve found it’s better to use a reamer that is slightly smaller than the inside of the bowl to prevent damage to the wood.

Next I worked on the shank. I have some small brushes that I bought in the baby section at Walmart (normal people use them to clean baby bottles, but I find they work great for the shank of a pipe). Although the brush gets most of the gunk out, I use a retort to really clean the inside of the shank and the stem. I started using this method when I couldn’t fit the end of the rubber tube over the wide button on a pipe. The tenon was a perfect fit and the tube also fits perfectly into the shank. This saves a lot of time and pipe cleaners. After doing the retort, I run one pipe cleaner through the stem and a pipe cleaner and q-tip through the shank and it’s done. Now that the inside of the pipe is clean, it’s time to start working on the outside. For the stem, I used 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper with water. This gets the majority of the oxidation out, the wet sand paper also makes it easier to get the underside of the button. Next I used micro-mesh pads (1500-2400 grit) with water. I wiped the stem dry and turned my attention to the bowl. I used a progression of micromesh pads, 1500-12000 grit. I also used the same progression on the stem. Now the pipe was ready for stain. This next part might be kind of controversial (I have never seen this method anywhere else). I use shoe polish for stain. Now before you dismiss this as crazy talk, consider this. It is very simple. I apply the polish, heat it with a heat gun, and buff it out with a shoe brush. I also protect the finish with carnauba wax and have never had any issues with the polish melting or coming off in my hand. Polish applied. After melting with the heat gun and buffing with a shoe brush. It is also very simple to even out the stain.Next up the heart breaker (also known as the buffing wheel). This little gem makes the difference between a really nice application of carnauba wax and an average looking pipe. It will also grab what you’re working on and fling it to the four winds and shatter the pipe you’ve just spent the last few hours working on. Hold what you’re working on with both hands, place as much padding as you can under and behind the buffer, and work on the stem and bowl separately. Sorry about the quality of the picture. I didn’t lose the pipe to the buffer and here’s the results. I anticipate that this pipe will pass on to my kids, or be part of the estate sale. I can’t wait to smoke it.