Monthly Archives: January 2015

Kaywoodie 73 Supergrain Restoration

Blog by Al Jones

This Kaywoodie Supergrain belongs to a Brian, a friend of mine in my local pipe club, based located in Frederick, MD. I had some brought some restored Kaywoodies to a previous meeting so he asked if I could could tackle this one. The pipe wasn’t in bad shape. It had light oxidation and teeth chatter on the stem and some scorching on the rim. The pipe is a two-digit shape number, but has a “Drinkless” stamped, 4-hole stinger. I estimate it was made in the early 1950’s as the 4-hole stinger was no longer used after the mid-50’s.

I used some worn, 8000 grade micromesh to remove the scorching from the top of the bowl. The briar was then polished with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.

I polished the stem starting with 800 grit wet paper, moving thru the 1500 and 2000 grades. Next was 8000 and 12000 grade micromesh sheets followed by a polish with White Diamond on the buffer.

Our pipe club meeting is this week, so Brian will get his Supergrain back. An relatively easy restoration on an elegant little pipe.

Rescuing a Scorched GBD New Era 549

5 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

After reading Al’s posts about his GBD pipes, I had to have one. I saw this pipe listed on eBay with a low buy it now price, obviously based on the scorch mark on the front of the bowl. I’m not sure whether it was a sense of overconfidence in my ability or naivety about the extent of the damage, but I bought the pipe. I realized when it arrived that if I couldn’t fix the scorch mark the pipe probably wouldn’t be worth my time. I nearly despaired when normal procedures failed to even lighten the mark. I put the pipe aside several times before finally deciding to take drastic measures and use a hand sander with 150 grit sand paper. I figured at this point there was nothing to lose and I knew I could still maintain the original shape if I was careful. After spending about a half an hour with the sander, I found myself at about an 80% solution. The mark was still too dark, so I took it to the next level of desperation: the rotary tool (that’s the generic name for a dremel that you buy at Harbor Freight Tools) with a sanding attachment.

I do not recommend the use of either a hand sander or the rotary tool except as a last resort. By this point I had accepted the fact that this pipe was beyond hope for a perfect restoration, so I lowered my expectations to a good restoration.

The sanding on the top portion of the bowl changed the contour of the rim, so I used 400 grit sand paper and a piece of glass to top it. Normally I have a set order for restoring a pipe, but dealing with the scorch mark threw it all off. I don’t like to work on a pipe that has a dirty bowl, so I went ahead and reamed it. As you can see from this picture the scorch mark is fairly light. Next I retorted the shank. She was a dirty girl.

I retorted the stem after that, but did it four times. On a dirty pipe you can either spend time with lots of q-tips and fuzzy sticks, or do the retort multiple times. Now that I had the internals of the pipe cleaned, I turned my attention to the removing the oxidation from the stem. This stem was all angles and had some serious oxidation. I’ve felt for a long time that my stem work needed improvement. It’s especially difficult to clean the crease under the button and in the case of this stem the curved area where it meets the diamond portion. I know that when I work with wood I use a sanding block or wrap the sand paper around an object that would fit into the area to be sanded. With that in mind, I “borrowed” a small plastic scraper from the kitchen. You will notice that it has a beveled edge and fits the underside of the button perfectly.

Using the scraper wrapped with 400 grit wet/dry and water, the oxidation was soon gone. I followed with 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads and water. The bowl had a couple of dents so I decided to steam them out. One of my essential tools for this type of work is an old butter knife. I used my heat gun to get the tip of the knife very hot, then applied it to a wet cloth directly over the dents. Here is what it looked like after several applications of steam. The dents still needed some work, so I sanded them smooth with 400 grit sand paper. By this point the finish was completely uneven, with bare wood on the rim and side of the bowl, so I used acetone and 0000 steel wool to remove the remaining finish. I find that if I’m careful with the stampings, that grade of steel wool cleans the wood without damaging the stampings. This is what the pipe looked like after I took the bowl and stem through a progression of micro mesh pads, 1500-12,000. I decided to use a dark walnut stain from Pimo Pipe Supply to help cover the remaining scorch mark. Here is the bowl after the application of stain. I used white diamond buffing compound on the buffing wheel to bring out a shine. Let me digress a bit about buffers. There are three things that a buffer loves, angles, stem inserts, and nice pipes. When spinning at 3450 rpm’s the buffer will catch anything with an angle and fling it at a high rate of speed onto the nearest hard surface. Alternately it will catch any type of stem insert and rip it out of the stem. Finally if you have a nice pipe that you’ve invested time in, the buffer has a tendency to shatter it just as you finish. This pipe had all of those elements, so I decided to try something different; my rotary tool.

I took a felt buffing pad and loaded it with white diamond buffing compound. The results were spectacular. The rotary tool gave me more control, I didn’t have to worry about the stem flying out of my hand, and I was able to achieve a more consistent shine in the areas that are hard to get with a buffer. Not bad when you consider that I paid $19.99 for this thing at Harbor Freight Tools. I finished the bowl on the buffing wheel and here is the final result.

GBD Prehistoric Collector Cavalier

5 Replies

A member of the Brothers of Briar pipe forum contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in restoring a GBD Collector Prehistoric Cavalier shape pipe. I always ask for pictures before committing, so I know what I’m getting into. When I viewed the pictures, and my asnswer was an easy “yes” as the pipe looked to be in very good condition and the shape was very interesting. I had never handled a GBD Cavalier to this point. Typically the GBD Cavalier shapes have the flat, hexagonal screw-off bowl bottom.

As I opened the packaging I was first struck by the polished state of the bowl. The pipe may have been smoked, but I would guess for literally only minutes. The interior of the bowl was a finely polished as any smooth briar pipe. The machine chuck mark are still visible inside the bowl. I cleaned some of the tobacco/smoking marks from interior with a piece of worn micromesh cloth.

Examining the stem, it appeared to be of a very high quality and definitely far better finished than any GBD stem I had ever seen. So, as I turned it over, I wasn’t surprised to see the elusive “Hand Cut” stamp. I have one GBD with this stamp and while it is an excellent stem it is not quite as well finished as this one. The stepped tenon is very nicely funneled and the button end is as good as any artisan pipe I’ve handled or owned.

Unfortunately, examining the briar, there appeared to be a crack at the end of the shank. Using a lighted, magnified jewelers loupe, I was surprised (and relieved) to find that a chunk of the inner area of the shank must have broken off. The chip of briar was fingernail sized and someone had glued it back in place. Fortunately, they did a good job and stem fitment was not compromised. You can see the repair here at the one o-clock position. The owner of the pipe intends to keep it unsmoked but I think it would hold up fine to moderate use. Particularly since the cavalier shape really doesn’t require stem to be removed.

The stem looked so clean, I didn’t bother to take any before pictures. However there was a fair amount of oxidation that needed to be removed. I started with 800 grit wet paper, moved thru the 1500 and 2000 grades. Then it was finished with the 8000 and 12000 grades of micromesh. The stem was then buffed with white diamond and a final polish with red jewelers rouge. Care had to be taken around the “Hand Cut” stamp

Below is the finished pipe.

Refreshing an Older Heritage Antique #13 Dublin Pipe

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The Heritage brand was on I had no familiarity with until Andrew wrote up this blog for us https://rebornpipes.com/2014/12/23/refurbishing-a-heritage-heirloom/ He gave background, history, line information and the classic brochure from the company. I want to give a brief summary of what he found in the next two short paragraphs to set the stage for the one that I found once he highlighted the brand for me.

Heritage pipes were Kaywoodie’s answer to Dunhill. According to one of their brochures, Heritage pipes were made from “briar burls seasoned and cured for up to 8 months,” with only “one briar bowl in over 300 selected to bear the Heritage name.” “Heritage stems are custom fitted with the finest hand finished Para Rubber stems. Mouthpieces are wafer thin and concave.”

The Heritage line began in the early 1960’s, with the trademark issued in 1964. The line was started at the request of Stephen Ogdon, (who worked for Kaywoodie in 1962). Mr. Ogdon had previous experience working for Dunhill, either running the New York store or working for Dunhill North America. Mr. Ogden was made President of Heritage Pipes, Inc., Kaywoodie Tobacco Co.,Inc. and Kaywoodie Products Inc. as well as a Vice President of S.M. Frank & Co. Heritage Pipes were produced from 1964 until 1970 (Source Kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org).

I found one online on Ebay that was stamped Heritage Antique 13. I scanned the brochure that Andrew provided and found this regarding the Antique Line: The Heritage Antique line is characterized by “Rustic Grain stands out in rugged relief.” “This pipe is so bold-looking, yet so light and smooth-smoking. A special sandblasting process exposes a greater surface area on the bowl, giving a cooler, more satisfying smoke. Centuries-old Heritage Antique is strikingly masculine in appearance.”The number 13 is the shape number for the Dublin shape. It can be seen in the first coloumn second pipe down on the left side of the brochure page below. The seller of the pipe I picked up on EBay included some basic information on the pipe. The said the stamping was Heritage Antique with a 13 on the bottom of the shank. The stem has an inlaid double white diamond on the left side. It is out of a Kansas City estate. It measures:
5-1/2 inches Long
1-3/4 Inches High Bowl
1-1/4 inches Bowl Width
3/4 inch of a Bowl Bore
3 inch long stem

The next eight photos were included with the EBay advert and give a pretty good idea of the type of blast on the briar as well as a good picture of the state of the stem. The pictures show the colour of the pipe in a more red hue than it actually appeared when it arrived. In reality the stain is a brown tone similar to that of the Dunhill Shell Briar.

When the pipe arrived in Canada I was very pleased when I opened the box. The briar was in good but dirty condition and it appeared that the finish was in great shape under the grime and tars. The blast was amazing and craggy – very much like that on my older Shell Briars. The rim had some buildup on it that was flaking off but the bowl was in round and there was no damage to the edges of the rim.

The stem was thin and quite clean. It was oxidized and had some waxy substance on the top side. There were two tooth marks – almost pin prick marks, on the underside of the stem visible in the first photo below. The second photo shows the waxy buildup on the surface of the stem and the oxidation.

The rim of the pipe, shown in the photo below had a thick buildup of tars that were flaking off the surface of the rim. I picked at it with a dental pick and could see that the sandblast surface was undamaged underneath. The bowl was in need of a reaming to smooth out the uneven cake on the sides and bottom of the bowl. The stem was frozen in the shank so a short time in the freezer and the stem was easily removed from the shank. The step down tenon was in great shape and showed no damage and the tenon itself was not tarry. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Reamer beginning with the first cutting head and finishing with the size 2 cutting head. I reamed it back to bare wood to restart the cake build up.

I picked the flaky buildup on the rim with a dental pick and the scrubbed it with a soft bristle brass tire brush to remove all the grit and take it back to the surface of the rim. I have used this method over years as the bristles remove the tars without damaging the sandblasted surface. Once I had the surface brushed clean with the wire brush I scrubbed the entire bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get the grime out of the crevices of the blast and remove the oils from the previous owners hands. Once I had scrubbed it I put my thumb in the bowl and rinsed it off with cool water and dried with a cotton cloth. I put the stem back in place and set up the retort. I filled the test tube half full of 99% isopropyl alcohol and heated the alcohol over a tea candle. The alcohol boiled through the pipe and cleaned out the tars and oils in the stem and shank. The alcohol also rinsed the inside of the bowl which was plugged with a cotton ball.

With the inside of the pipe cleaned and the exterior of the briar scrubbed it was time to address the oxidation and the marks on the stem. I put a plastic washer between the stem and shank so that I could sand the stem right up to the shank without worrying about rounding the shoulders of the stem. I sanded it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the waxy buildup on the stem (turns out it was a varnish) and also loosen the surface oxidation. I followed that by sanding with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratching and oxidation.

Once the stem was sanded, I wiped it down with a cotton pad and alcohol in preparation for repairing the two tooth marks. I filled these with black super glue and set aside the stem to let the glue cure. When the glue had dried I sanded the two spots with 220 grit sandpaper and the two sanding sponges to smooth out the patches and blend them into the vulcanite. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads and also at the end of the sanding process.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I rubbed two coats of Halcyon II Wax on the sandblast of the bowl and then gave the pipe and stem a light buff with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The next photos give a clear picture of the finished pipe.

I end with three close-up photos of the bowl to give a good idea of the quality of the sandblast on this piece of briar. It is a stunning pipe with a blast that rivals that found on the Dunhill Shells that are in my collection. I intend to fire up this old pipe and enjoy its trust for many years to come.

A Bit of Cosmetic Surgery in Restoring a Moistless Sandblast Billiard

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

When I saw this pipe come up on eBay I was struck by the combination of the colours and textures. The yellow Lucite stem and the dark reddish black sandblast went well together. The slight bend in the stem looked perfect. I had not heard of the brand before but decided to bid on it anyway. The first seven photos are from the seller and give different views of the pipe and the stem. In several of the profile photos there appeared to be a lip or ledge near the shank bowl junction. It was a curious thing that I would check when it arrived.

The stem also made me wonder about the material it was made of. It has the rounded end button that often appears on orific button stems but there no photos of the end of the stem so it would also be clear once I received it. The stem appeared to be in great shape other than some internal staining.

I did some research on the brand and found that there was a patent taken out for a Moistless Pipe in 1935 by a S. Guida. The pipe I purchased is stamped Moistless over Italian Briar. The patent is from the US Patent Office and the pipe I have is American made in my opinion. When it arrived I took it apart to see if the insides reflect the drawings from the Patent diagrams. They did not. The tenon on this one is a metal tenon but there are no any of the other parts of the insert shown. The shank is quite open and deeply drilled so it well could have had the apparatus inside. The inside of the tenon looks like it could have had an insert as it is tapered into a cone shape guiding the smoke into the airway. The inside of the pipe was clean and the bowl lightly smoked with no cake build up. I ran some pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol through the shank and stem. They came out remarkably clean.

When I examined the bowl there was a ridge that ran around ½ of the bowl just above the shank bowl junction. It was like a shelf and felt uncomfortable in the hand. The blast had taken some material but left a very distinct shelf and a ridge along the topside of the shank. In my mind it was an unattractive interruption in an otherwise classic shape. It would need to go to bring the most out of the shape of this pipe. The next seven photos show the bowl from a variety of angles to highlight the issue I am speaking of regarding the shelf. It is these issues that the impending plastic/cosmetic surgery will deal with.

It almost took more time to decide to remove the shelf and clean up the shape of the bowl and the shank than it did to do the work. I wanted a cleaner junction for the shank and bowl as well. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess material. The next three photos show the bowl after surgery – the cosmetic surgery/face lift had begun. The patient did not squeal too much even though there was no anesthesia. Within a matter of five minutes the foundational work was finished and what remained was hand work.

I don’t have a sandblaster so I decided to start with a basic rustication pattern and then work it with carving knives and sandpaper to give the rustication a more blasted look. I used the rustication tool that Chris made for me and it did a great job turning the smooth sanded surfaces into a more patterned look.

I then used a carving knife to give swirls and movement to the rustication and try to blend it into the surface of the sandblast. I used the dark brown stain pen to highlight the high spots on the rustication to enable me to better determine the pattern I was working on.

When I had finished the matching of the pattern as best I could I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the briar.

I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to smooth out the rough spots and specifically used a sanding block to flatten the rustication more. Then I stained the bowl with an oxblood aniline stain and flamed it. I set the bowl aside to dry. Overall I am happy with the rustication and the match to the sandblast of the bowl.

When the stain was set and dry I took the pipe to the buffer and gave it a light buff with White Diamond. I also buffed the stem lightly with it to give it a shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Halcyon II wax and then buffed the bowl with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

I have included the next two close-up photos of the bowl to show the finished rustication after the two coats of stain and the buffing and polishing have been finished. I really like the finished shape and look of the bowl and the bothersome shelf is gone. The junction of the bowl and shank is much cleaner with a sharper angle. The pipe now fits the classic shape that it approximated previous to the plastic surgery! The patient survived the procedure and looks to be thriving in its post operative glory. Oh, and the stem had an orific opening in the button and it was in excellent shape only needed a quick polish.

Restoring pleasant lines on a damaged stem – home grown hack job repaired

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I have wanted to focus a blog on reshaping a damaged stem for a while now but did not have either the stem or examples I needed to document the process. The Everton pipe I restored recently provided the example and it was a matter of documenting the process in a broad way that was applicable to whatever stem you may have that needed to be reworked. So while the photos may be the same as those used in that blog on the Everton the documentation regarding the stem reshaping and restoration is a newly written blog.

If a stem is too thick to your liking please don’t afflict the kind of horror on it that this older BC pipe experienced at the hands of a previous owner. Obviously the stem felt too thick to his liking and he took matters into his own hands. Hey, what’s to lose? It is just a matter of cutting back the thickness to the degree it meets the expectations right? Wrong! In many, many ways that is just wrong. It is far more than just hacking off material to get the “right” thickness. The taper needs to be adjusted, the flow and lines of the pipe stem need to be considered in the process. Trying to keep the surface smooth and not rippled are just some of the challenges. Well, this individual figured that cosmetics, flow and appearance made no difference whatsoever as long at the thing felt better. In my mind the cosmetics are not mere accoutrements to the functionality they actually facilitate the functionality. A smooth surface in the mouth feels better and is far more sanitary that the rough ridged and hacked surface visible below. The stem “surgeon/hacker” had inflicted far more damage to the underside of the stem that he had to the topside. But both bore marks of his inordinate attention. The top of the stem had a flattened appearance that ruined the crowned look of the old vulcanite stem. It had deep gouges and marks from files and knives but the “hacker” had partially smoothed these out. Against the button there were some deep marks. It was a sheer miracle that the hard rubber was high quality and did not oxidize over time. To address this kind of issue with a stem looking at repair you are left with two options – repair or reshape. To repair would involve filling the surface grooves with black superglue or epoxy and vulcanite dust. To reshape would involve more work in changing the profile of the stem to remove the damage, to retaper the stem and flow to make the transitions smooth. The choice of method really is affected by the thickness of the stem material. Would there be enough meat to the stem to allow for reshaping and reinventing the stem without compromising the strength and integrity of the stem?

Because of the thickness of this stem I decided to reshape it rather than repair it. Even the deepest gouges could be removed and the look and flow of the stem adjusted to look very close to the original. The adjustments would also make the thickness in the mouth better. I started the process with 180 grit sandpaper. Some would think that grit was overkill but the overall damage to the stem surfaces demanded this drastic grit to cut deeply enough to remove the damage. I sanded it enough to remove the surface cuts on the top and bottom sides. In the photos below of the underside and topside of the stem the deep gouges remain and are visible. You can see the angularity and randomness of the cuts that had been made. Add to that the lighter cuts that are gone with the initial sanding and you have some idea of the ugliness of this hack job.

I continued to sand with the 180 grit sandpaper until the majority of the gouges were smoothed out. There were still several that would require more work with a higher grit of sandpaper. I moved on to sanding the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I moved up this amount because there was still significant damage to remove but also because that incremental step up in grits really minimizes the scratches left behind by the 180 grit paper. The next two photos show the change after sanding with the 220 grit paper. The grooves on the underside have all disappeared save one deep gouge that will soon disappear. The ones on the topside are all gone and the surface is once again curved, tapered and smooth.

I worked on the groove on the underside of the stem with the 220 grit paper until it was gone. I also worked on the tapered edges of the stem to remove the cuts and gouges along the edges and smooth out the taper. The two photos below show the transition from the groove being gone and the edges being rough to a smooth flowing underside of the stem – gouge-less and well tapered.

With the rough shaping done it was time to fine tune the reshaping. In the next step of the process I use a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the flow and lines of the stem. I cut the sanding sponges into 1 inch squares to allow me to work closely against the button and follow the curve of the stem. These sanding sponges remove the scratching left behind by the 220 grit paper and move the stem a step closer to polishing. While I only show one photo of this step it is probably one that I spent the most time on. It is important to work the surface to remove as much scratching as possible before polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads. The initial reshaping took about 45-60 minutes. This sanding took 60-80 minutes to complete. It is easy to remove damage but hard to not create more damage in the process of its removal. With reshaping completed and the surface scratches minimized with the sanding sponges it was time to move to the polishing phase of the process. For this I use micromesh sanding pads. I wet sand with 1500-2400 grit pads. This involves a small bowl of water near at hand when I am sanding with the pad. I used to dip the pad in the water and then sand with the wet pad. Now I dip the stem itself into the water and sand the wet stem. I shifted the method as I found that with repeated dipping the pads began to fall apart and separate from the foam core centre. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil before moving to the dry sanding step of the polishing. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads. Each successive grit of pad really heightens the polish and shine on the vulcanite. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after using the 4000 grit pad. I then sanded it with the final four pads and finished with a final coat of the oil.

Once it had been absorbed and the stem was dry I buffed the stem with White Diamond. In the bright light of the flash several scratches are still visible from the sanding process on the underside of the stem. I buffed this section with red Tripoli and then back to White Diamond to further erase these scratches. The final photos of the stem show a stem whose taper has been reshaped, whose lines and flow restored and whose stem has been given a finished look. It took patient sanding and reshaping to move the stem from its original corrugated shape to this final polished look but in my mind it was definitely worth the effort. It is also clear that the proper choice or reshaping had been made.

If you should decide to reshape a stem why not aim for doing even better work in shaping and polishing the stem. Never leave a stem in the condition this one was in when I received it. While it was terrible I have seen worse and in the back of mind are residual memories of having inflicted terror to a lesser degree on several of my early restemming jobs. Work hard to reshape a stem to a place where it looks like it was made that way at the factory.

Cleaning an Older Savinelli Duca Carlo Straight Billiard and Paying It Forward

Leave a reply

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

“As you know, Shibumi has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real. Shibumi is understanding, rather than knowledge. Eloquent silence. In demeanor, it is modesty without pudency. In art, where the spirit of shibumi takes the form of sabi, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. In philosophy, where shibumi emerges as wabi, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming.”
― Trevanian (Rodney William Whitaker, 1931-2005), U.S. film scholar and writer, in “Shibumi,” 1979

INTRODUCTION
Although Trevanian, in the well-turned quote above from one of his diverse novels (in this case a spy story), is far less sesquipedalian yet just as articulate as the late great jack of all trades, William F. Buckley Jr., I admit I had to resort to my Oxford English Dictionary to look up pudency. To save anyone reading this the trouble, if he might be inclined to do as I did, I will say the word is defined as susceptibility to the feeling of shame, or bashfulness. I made it through that stage long ago. The passage as a whole is apt to the understated grace, style, artistry and charm, combined with simplicity and humbleness, of this lovely Savinelli Duca Carlo Straight Billiard,relative to higher end Savinelli beauties and their prices.

The circumstances surrounding my chance and fleeting but thoroughly pleasant encounter with the alluring implement for fine tobacco enjoyment are also appropriate for this preface. Had I not sought refuge at my local tobacconist in a fluky and serendipitous urge the other day, I might never have met Al, a 25-year-old student who is pursuing both a master’s degree in his field of study and new pipe experiences. And, of course, I would not be writing this account of my rewarding experience cleaning the Duca Carlo. When Al introduced himself to me by his full first name, Alfred, and moved with spontaneous purpose from where he was sitting to the cushioned chair next to mine, I had been distracted, in deep concentration, working on something on my laptop. In most cases when someone can see I’m working, and still tries to engage me in conversation, I become a bit piqued. But something was different about Al. So outgoing and affable was his personality that I really can’t even remember now what had been so important to me the moment before his appearance beside me.

Al spotted the rather large, black bag on the floor by my side, which was made for carrying tools but is now my run case. In case I ever need to run to my tobacconist, to get away from the mounting pressures that consume the rest of my life, I always have my run case with its selection of pipes and jars of tobaccos du jour. It should come as no surprise that I also keep a stock of provisions within the many pockets of the run case, from an extra Bic in the event my regular pipe lighter runs out of butane to a cheap pipe nail against the times when I misplace my three-in-one tool; pipe cleaners; balsa, 6mm and 9mm filters, for the most part to have on hand for others who like to use them; sandpaper and micromesh for refurbishing on the go; a small digital caliper, and a 120-inch cloth tape measure, should I ever run into the Titanic of pipes and need to determine its exact specs. Basically, everything the OCD pipe enjoyer and restorer might want without notice. Sometimes my fellow tobacco enthusiasts poke fun at me– more often than not the cigar smokers – seeing me coming through the door with my run case and laptop in either hand like a circle and crosshair marking me as a target. Being a good former Boy Scout, I always say be prepared.

At any rate, Al somehow got the idea that I was serious about pipes, and being new to the attendant rituals, he enquired what was in the bag.As I am rather free with my tobaccos, I began taking out the jars, looking for something appropriate for a newcomer. Mostly that day I found stronger, more advanced blends such as McClelland’s Top Hat and C&D Bayou Morning (with a whopping 28% Perique content), but I also had C&D Joie de Vivre and Rattray’s High Society. Al’s sharp eyes noticed the Joie de Vivre plug, and he was intrigued. Thinking he might be up to that excellent, smooth and unusual English blend, I said so and suggested he give it a try.

Well, the next thing I knew, poor Al was puffing away and suddenly looked a bit peaked. When he told me he had opted for a bowl of the Bayou Morning, I wasn’t surprised. As his composure returned, he brought up the subject of my pipes and ended up asking me if his was “very good.” He said a college friend had given it to him, knowing he wanted to quit cigarettes. Glancing at it in his hands, I said it looked Italian, and that a good pipe was anything that made its owner enjoy the tobacco. I added that if he took care of it, the pipe would last him a lifetime. Seeing the briar had faint nomenclature of some sort, I wanted to take a closer look, and perhaps sensing this, he held it out to me.

Squinting, I made out the words Duca Carlo on the shank and exclaimed something that some might consider inappropriate for this space. Understandably alarmed, Al asked if anything were wrong. I told him it was a Savinelli, and it was apparent the name meant nothing to him. I proceeded to explain a little about the well-known Italian maker and the quality of its pipes, noting that although his Duca Carlo was not one of the high-end varieties, it was a fine pipe indeed. That was when the magical moment happened. Al said he was thinking of having it professionally cleaned.

Hmm, I thought. Chuck was gone for the day, and I supposed I had a spare half-hour that night, so I offered my services to the young newcomer. Surprised, he asked how much it would cost, and I told him I would be happy to do it for free. While I have always been reluctant to charge people for anything I enjoy doing, I suppose there were several subconscious reasons behind my impulsive offer: Al is a young student working hard to assure a secure future, similar to another young pipe-smoking friend of mine who is now studying physics at Purdue, and for whom I bought two packs of my own tobacco mix – Sneaky Rabbit, sold by my tobacconist as a house blend – since he was enjoying it so much he was almost out both times during a recent visit to his hometown for the holidays; I remember how tight my finances were in my own college days; I had a sudden desire to pay forward the many similar favors my friend and mentor, Chuck Richards, and others in my piping community have done for me, and least of all, it was just good sense for the growing business Al knew I was in. Al still tried to resist, but there was no way I was going to take his money for a simple cleaning.

Having a similar but apparently newer Duca Carlo of my own, I showed him the picture of it stored in my laptop. Al told me what he really wanted was to see the stem (which was in excellent shape but a dull, faded gray with a thin shiny streak by the shank) sparkle all over. He said he had no idea if it would be possible. I could do that, I assured him, and return it to him the next day.

So that was how the adventure began. Still a little wary, however, when he handed the pipe over to my care as we left, Al said with the sincerest note of entreaty in his voice, “Please don’t break my pipe.” I knew exactly where he was coming from.

REFURBISH
I knew from the beginning there was no way I would just buff the stem and clean and sanitize the pipe. After all, if Al were a paying customer of my business he would get the Basic Cleaning, which includes light refurbishing. All I could see the pipe needed was a little rim burn removal, touch-ups on slight scratches on the stem and bowl and a careful ream of the chamber to remove the small amount of excess cake buildup while leaving the optimal amount intact. The college friend who gave Al this pipe certainly took good care of it and knew what it was, but never said a thing of it his buddy. I liked that.

Wishing to work with as much efficiency and economy of movement as possible, and having observed the minor burns and other blemishes on the rim, I chose 220 sandpaper to start. The choice of paper worked just right in removing the blackness but of course required smoothing. First I used superfine steel wool, which returned a soft sheen and coloration to the nice grain, and followed that with micromesh, buffing upward from 1500 to 2400 to 3200 to 4000.The resulting rim glimmered in its natural pale shade.I also removed the black circle around the shank opening with the steel wool. To clear out the unneeded cake in the chamber, I used my smallest reamer, the 17mm, which was loose but close enough to gain a purchase on the walls. Several turns removed the majority of the cake, and followed by a little work with a small piece of 150-grit paper, the work there was done except for cleaning out with a swab of cotton cloth squares soaked in Everclear.

Believing the stem to be black Lucite, and also because of the thorough stripping of cake the procedure would cause, I opted against retorting. Instead I ran a single bristled pipe cleaner dipped in freshener through the stem, back and forth a few times, followed with a dry cleaner so as not to leave any possible unnecessary initial aftertaste.

The shank I cleaned as well as I could, which ended up being quite well, with a wire-handled bristle brush that I ran through the narrow passage about ten times, dipping in a small container of Everclear between each run.

Next up were the only three halfway serious scars I found on the Duca Carlo, shown below before I gave the briar a bath with purified water. The scuffs on the right and lower left sides came off fast with micromesh using 1500, 2400 and 3200. The higher and deeper scratch on the middle left side of the bowl needed more surgical, localized work with 220-grit paper followed by the same micromesh progression. I then needed to re-stain the small higher spot on the left side using my Feibings dark brown leather dye.

After flaming it with my Bic and letting it cool for a few minutes while I re-stained the rim (for which, again on impulse, I decided to do with some Lincoln medium brown dye I had on hand, to show off the nice grain there), I used 3600 micromesh to buff the side where the blemish had been until it appeared never to have existed. By then it was time to do the same to the rim, which, as I intended, was the wood’s natural lighter color but, to me at least, gave the pipe a cool two-tone effect.

While I used 3200 micromesh over the whole of the remaining bowl and shank to be sure it was all smooth and ready to put to the wheels, I was seriously eyeballing the new two-tone, almost sick with dread at the thought that Al would be disappointed by my summary decision to alter his pipe without even a consultation. But I let my gut ruling stand, if only with the knowledge that I could reverse it in a jiffy should Al indeed show even a hint of unhappiness.

No kidding, I heard a faint drum roll when the moment came to address Al’s primary concern: the stem. As I noted several times already, this Duca Carlo was in great shape when it was entrusted to my care, and the stem, with the slightest of scratches just below the bit on both sides, was the least of the exceptions despite its almost complete lack of luster. Once more I remembered the advice of others wiser than I to use the least necessary force to correct a problem – advice I took to heart – and began with 1500 micromesh.

Tackling the miniscule scratches first, of course, I saw them vanish with the slightest of pressure before I continued over the rest of the stem to make it even and gave it a thorough rubbing with a soft cotton rag. Then I did the same with 2400, wiped it again, and finished at last with 3600. The prepped stem was looking good, and my heart began to beat harder, knowing I had to take the two precious parts to my single-speed wheels, where only God knew what might happen.

This project had become a labor of love to me, even greater than most of the much more difficult jobs I had performed without disaster before. And so I took a moment to collect my wits and think good thoughts.The phone rang. Dang! There went my happy thoughts.

I didn’t recognize the 575 Area Code and almost did not answer, as is my habit with unknown or Toll Free numbers because of the near certainty that they are spam or scam or other callers I wish would stop phoning me. But something convinced me to go for it. At first the voice on the other end failed to register, but then I realized it was – that’s right – Al. I gave him my card the night before but had no way to call him. There was a slight tone of anxiety in his voice when he asked how his pipe was doing. Relieved to hear his voice and understanding his concern more than he could have known, I almost laughed but choked it down. Feeling my own nerves settling, I told him I was just putting the final touches on the Duca Carlo and could meet him at the tobacconist between 3 and 3:30. At the end of our conversation, I realized I was calm again and good to go.

Proceeding from the living room, where I like to do most of my work in more comfort, to my workroom, with the pipe, stem, cotton rag and camera in my hands, I set everything down on my desk and turned to the small bench with my two buffing wheels. I threw the switch on the one with red Tripoli and without another thought to distract me picked up the smooth gray stem and held it in both hands with confident firmness (but not like a mother choking her child as she’s about to watch the poor kid go off to summer camp or college or wherever) and did what I knew how to do. The first step done, I wiped the stem down, removing the streaks, and flicked on the second wheel that had the white Tripoli. Ditto. Two-thirds of the way home with the stem, and seeing each buff give it a higher shine, I returned to the first wheel where I…yes, I finished it on the White Diamond pad, without a single incident or even slip through the whole process!

Stoked for the next part, I set aside the stem and went straight through the steps again with the bowl and shank, except that I used white Tripoli followed by White Diamond and ended with carnauba.

This Savinelli required one very last task, which is always a pleasure when I have the opportunity to do it. I always seem to forget one thing when I walk to my workroom ready to polish a pipe, and this time it was the white wax marker to fill in the outline of the crown on the stem. I retrieved it from my run case.Taking what I considered a well-needed rest in the office chair before my desk, I took the stem firmly in hand and, with my magnifying glasses on, scraped the little exposed end of wax first left to right across the crown, then turned the stem vertically and applied another layer top to bottom and finally added a third layer diagonally. Brushing aside a little of the considerable resulting excess wax, I pressed my thumb down across the whole blotch and waited for the heat of my skin to make the wax settle into the tiny grooves. After about a minute I lifted my thumb and used the cotton cloth gently around the edges and still more lightly over the area of the crown, which emerged visible with all of its points.

I attached the completed stem and briar and gave the fine pipe that was whole again a final wipe with the rag and millimeter by millimeter scrutiny with my glasses. It passed muster, despite my ever-growing attention to detail.

CONCLUSION
The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, and due to unforeseen circumstances I was a half-hour late to the tobacconist. Spotting Al sitting in the back of the shop almost as soon as I was through the door, I know he saw me, also, but pretended not to, playing it cool. I even had to say hello first as he stared at something, and when he looked up at me the forced smile told me he was sure I had broken his pipe. All of the good seats were taken by those dratted cigar smokers, except for Al sitting in his in misery that was clear to my keenly empathetic eyes.

And thus it became my extreme pleasure to walk to his side and set down my run case and laptop. Before I stood straight again, I retrieved a dark blue Savinelli box inside of which was a light brown Savinelli cloth bag containing the refurbished Duca Carlo. Al’s eyes lit on the box in my hand. Yes, indeed, that had his attention. I could not, even to save my life, lose the grin on my face as I handed it to him and watched his real smile appear in what must have been extraordinary relief.

Then to watch Al open the box slowly, like a Christmas present, only to find the bag inside that he took out with care and reached inside the open end to pull his pipe out by the stem – well, the obvious shocked surprise as he saw the glistening, dark black stem emerge first, followed by the lustrous refurbished pipe, and the initial reaction of total speechless wonder, told me everything.

“Wow,” was his first word. He went on to expand on that dazed thought, but this seems like a good place to wrap it up.

Bringing an Everton Big-Boy 1025 Rhodesian back from the brink

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I saw the Everton Big-Boy pipe on a website and the shape hooked me. In the photos the bowl seemed squat and wide and the shank was thick. The bend in the stem appeared similar to an earlier Sina pipe that I picked up; in fact the entire shape was similar. I searched and could find nothing on the brand. There was nothing in any of the books that I usually check out and nothing on the various websites that I use when researching a brand. The brand was a mystery to me and that made me want the pipe even more. I could find Everton Tobacco which is a Danish pipe tobacco. I could find the Everton Football Club (Everton is a District of Liverpool) but no Everton tobacco pipes. I figured that when it arrived I might be able to see why the seller had labeled it an English made pipe. When the pipe arrived I checked the stamping and it was stamped Everton over Big-Boy on the left side of the shank. On the right side of the shank it was stamped 1025. The shape in hand is not as wide and squat at the above photo led me to believe it would be. It is actually very close to a GBD 9438 though I had never seen a GBD stamped with this number. This sent me on a hunt for potential English makers that had a similarly shaped Rhodesian. I looked through many of the Comoy’s charts and again could not find any reference to the number. On a lark I just typed in the shape number in a Google search and immediately had a hit for a 1025 shaped pipe made by the French pipe making company, Butz Choquin (BC). I opened the link from Google to find that it was indeed the pipe I was looking for. BC still makes the 1025 shape in several of their lines. The stamping is slightly different in terms of the name on the left side of the shank. All of them have the BC name and the Line underneath. The right side has the 1025 stamp and also a Made in France. I have included the next two photos from Tobacco Pipes.com. The first is the Bistro line 1025 Rhodesian, while it has the thick shank the stem shape is slightly thinner that the one I have. The second one is from the Manoir line. It has the same thick stubby stem as the one I have. From this exploration I can see that the pipe is an older BC pipe. I have no idea what the Everton stamping is – though it may well be a Liverpool tobacconist.

As I examined the pipe upon taking it out of the box I was troubled by the state of the pipe. There were no noted issues with the pipe either on his site or in email exchanges regarding billing and shipping. The trouble was that there were many issues with the pipe. All together they add up to a question mark for me regarding this pipe. The bowl was over reamed and out of round. There appears to be a sandpit in the inner edge of the bowl toward the front. There is a small crack on the underside of the bowl (the heel) directly below the over reaming. The top of the shank near the stem has a large pit that appears to have small spider web cracks that radiate from it. They are not deep but they are present. The stem is a mess. Evidently the previous owner found the stem to thick to his liking and had performed a butcher job trying to remedy that. It had been hacked with a knife blade on the underside from about mid stem to the button leaving the surface corrugated looking with a lot of file and knife marks. The top of the stem had also been hacked and filed in an attempt to thin it down. It is wavy and rippled. I think that most of the damages to the stem can be fixed as the stem is beefy and I should be able to smooth them out. In terms of the over reaming and the crack – time will tell what I can do with it. Needless to say I was disappointed when I opened the package from the seller.

From first appearance the pipe does not appear all that deficient. It seems like it is in pretty good nick. You can see the similarity in shape to the GBD 9438 Rhodesian in the photos below.

It is only when the pipe is viewed more closely that the problems become obvious. The first photo below shows the crack in the bottom of the bowl and the dents and scratches around that crack. The next photo shows the underside of the stem. The underside had been carved with a knife and with files and left maimed and decimated. The gouges were deep and crossed each other leaving a corrugated surface. The next photo shows the topside of the stem. It had much the same issues as the underside but was nearly as drastic. It had grooves, scratches and flattening. There were ripples in the surface of the vulcanite that left it marked. The filing had left grooves and damage and had been done at angles that destroyed the flow of the stem. The bowl was out of round and the rim had damage to the inner front edge of the bowl. There was a pit in the edge that had opened up. There was burn damage to the bowl edge and rim top. I started working on the stem to smooth out the ridges and corrugations on the top and underside. I used 180 grit sandpaper to begin the process and reduce the ridges. The next series of photos show the stem after this initial sanding.

I continued to sand with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the scratches and smooth out the surface. I followed that by sanding with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the progress in the shaping of the stem. The top side worked quite well. The underside still had one horizontal groove that would take more work but the overall look was getting better.

I continued to sand the underside with the 220 grit sandpaper to remove the groove and reshape the edges of the stem. Once I had the stem shaped and smoothed out I sanded the bottom of the bowl to clean up the glue and bumps on the bottom of the bowl. I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface. Once I had removed the glue I could see that the damaged area, the crack had been repaired with epoxy mixed with briar dust. I was glad to see that the crack had been repaired and that the repair while rough, nonetheless was solid and had stopped the crack. The round area in the center of the crack made me wonder if there was potential burnout that had been cleaned out and repaired. Examining the bowl interior I could not see evidence of a burnout though it was severely over reamed.

I topped the bowl to remove the sandpit in the surface and smooth out some of the out of round shape of the bowl. The rim was damage so a light topping would take care of the problems. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner rim of the bowl. I cleaned the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.

On the top of the shank there was a sandpit at the shank/stem junction that had spidering cracks around it. I sanded it smooth and refilled it with super glue and briar dust. I sanded the junction with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the flow of the stem and shank.

I sanded the stem and shank with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and wiped the bowl and stem down with a cotton pad. I wiped the bowl down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the finish from the bowl and prepare it for staining.

I sanded the bowl and stem with a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the finish and remove the wear and tear that had come with the bowl.

I mixed a small batch of plaster of Paris to repair the over reamed bowl. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the shank and then pressed the plaster into the bowl bottom under and around the pipe cleaner. I raised the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the airway.

I sanded the inner edge of the rim some more to bevel it inward and try to work in more into round. I finished that shaping and then prepped the bowl to restain. I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it. I restained and reflamed it until I had an even coverage on the bowl. I wiped the newly stained bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to lighten the bowl and make it more transparent. I wanted the grain to show through once the bowl was polished.

I sanded the stem with my usual pattern of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. Once the final rub had dried I buffed the stem with White Diamond.

The newly shaped stem is shown in the next two photos. The shine and polish came out well and the reshape of the stem took care of the ridges and cuts on the surface. The sanding had taken care of the issues with the stem.

After I put the stem on the pipe I buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. Once I shed this chest cold I intend to christen this one with a bowl of Black Parrot. I am looking forward to giving this old timer a re-entry into pipedom.

Trash to Treasure – Restoring a KBB Yello-Bole Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Aaron Henson

Last evening I received an email from Aaron to which he attached this writeup on his restemming of an older KBB Yello-Bole. It is great to have the various readers of the blog submit articles to the blog to share with others. The dream of rebornpipes when I started it was just that – to provide a platform where those of us engaged in refurbishing tobacco pipes could share our methods, successes and failures. This community would provide ongoing education for anyone who wanted to try their hand at restoring estate pipes. With that background here is Aaron’s restoration and the explanation of his process. Welcome to rebornpipes Aaron.

By way of introduction, let me begin by saying that I am relatively new to pipe restoration. This write up details my third restoration and I thought I would submit it for two reasons; 1) I have gotten so much help from the regulars posting here at rebornpipes and from forums elsewhere I felt that I would like to share my experience for others to glean from, and 2) although it is not very different from some of the other restorations that Steve has catalog for us here, some of my tools and techniques may be a little different. I also hope to get some feedback on ways to improve my process.

I was at local second-hand shop with my family around Thanksgiving and was looking for pipes when my son found a stemless KBB Yello-Bole stummel. After looking it over for cracks in the bowl and stem I realized that the briar was in relatively good condition. I noted a few chips on the edge of the rim and some blackening of the rim but no fills and not much cake in the bowl. The stem was clearly stamped with the KBB logo in a clover leaf just to the left of:

I did not know much about the Yello-Bole brand but I thought I should be able to find a stem easily enough (aren’t they somewhat universal in size?). Besides, with a $4 price tag I figured I would not be out anything if it didn’t work out.

I jumped on my computer as soon as I got home and found some interesting history on the Yello-Bole brand. I won’t go into it here because Steve has done a nice job summarizing it in one of his posts: Narrowing Down a Date for Kaufman Brothers & Bondy’s KBB and KB&B Pipes. From the data available I had to guess that this pipe was form the late 1950’s or 60’s.

After reading up on the history of the pipe I began looking online for a new stem. I quickly learned that not all pipe stems are created equal, nor are they interchangeable. For a while, I considered sending the stummel to someone to have a stem made but that kind of defeated the whole spirit of restoring the pipe myself.

It took a while to find a stem that I thought would look right on the pipe. I settled on a stem from Vermont Freehand (ebay vt_freehand), a 2½” tapered stem – No. 547. I ordered 3 of them, figuring that I would need at least one for practice.

While I waited for the stems to arrive I began working on the stummel. There was not a lot of cake in the bowl so I started there – low hanging fruit. Now, I don’t own a reamer, but I have found that a ½” dowel wrapped with 60 grit sandpaper answers very well. What cake there was came out cleanly.

Besides the chip there was some charring on the rim. The chip was not very deep so I thought I would take care of both issues by taking the top of the bowl down to clean briar. Using 120 grit sand paper mounted on a flat surface, I carefully worked the bowl in a circular motion trying to keep it level. I didn’t want to take off too much of the top so I gave the outside lip of the bowl a slight chamfer to remove the bottom part of the chip. I then gave the stummel a soak in a 91% isopropyl alcohol bath. This was for the dual purpose of removing the existing finish and loosening the crud in the shank. I removed the stummel after about 24 hours and wiped off the existing stain. I then cleaned the shank with a bristled brush, bristled cleaners and cotton swabs. I wanted to make sure the mortise was thoroughly cleaned before I began to size the tenon on the new stem. When the stems arrived, I realized that I probably could have been a little more attentive to the size I purchased. I was going to have to remove a lot of material to get the tenon to fit the mortise as well as flushing the stem to the shank. The best way to shape a stem is on a lathe, but not having a lathe I turned to my drill press. I found that a bamboo skewer fit very snugly into the air hole of the stem. Leaving about 1 inch of the skewer protruding out of the air hole, I chucked the stem into my drill press. I started out a little timidly, removing material with 120 grit sand paper but the vulcanite is so soft that it gums up the paper very quickly. I switched to 60 grit and still was not seeing much progress. I tried a metal file next and when that did not answer I rummaged around the tool box and found a rasp. A bit aggressive I admit, and I would not recommend it unless you are removing a lot of material, and I was.

The drill press method worked great but was not without its problems. Pressing too hard with the file or rasp would cause the stem to slip on the skewer. The stem would then have to be reseated before I could resume. The other problem happened about half way through the rough shaping; the skewer broke off flush with the end of the tenon. I admit I panicked a little when I could not get a hold of the skewer with my needle nose pliers. But using a small drill bit I was able to carefully drill out the wedged skewer.

Back on track I, stopped often to check the fit. As I neared the correct size I switched back to the file then to the sand paper again. I finished the tenon with 320 grit sand paper. I thought fitting the tenon to the mortise was going to be the hard part but shaping the stem to get that perfect flush fit with the shank turned out to be the big challenge. You can see in the picture above that I have a ways to go to get the taper from the shank to the button. I have also started to get a bit of a wave about a quarter of the way from the tenon.

To fix this I stapled a piece of 240 grit paper to a 3” sanding block and went to town. The sanding block kept the contact surface flat and helped to eliminate the wave. It took about an hour of work stopping often for fit checks. In the end I was rewarded with nice taper. Somehow I had rounded over the shoulder of the stem ever so slightly. This formed a little groove at the stem/shank connection. It was not terrible and I felt could live with it for now.

I finished the stem with 600, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 grit sand paper. Then set it aside to buff with the stummel once it was complete. I stained the stummel using one part Fiebing’s light brown diluted with 2 parts isopropyl alcohol. I applied two coats, flaming each coat. Once dry, I wiped it down with a clean cloth and attached with stem. I set my drill press up with an inexpensive Sears buffing system and started with the white buffing compound. I found on previous projects that gearing down the drill speed to 1200 rpms was important to maintain control of the pipe and not overheat the pipe. I finished with two coats of carnauba wax and buff with a soft cloth.

I needed a tooth pick to remove some of the wax from the sand blasted areas. And that little groove between the stem and shank collected some wax too. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this restoration. I am looking forward to smoking my first bowl in it.

Looking back, I am glad that I tried shaping my own stem. It was not without its challenges but the result was very rewarding. I now have two spare stems in my tool box, so I will be keeping an eye out for another stemless billiard.

Refurbishing The Guildhall London Pipe 409 Bulldog for Country Squire Radio Host Beau York

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I really like the grain and look of this bulldog. It is made by Comoy’s London and bears the stamping is The Guildhall over London Pipe on the left side of the shank. On the right side is the circular Com stamp Made In London in a circle with the In centered in the circle. Underneath the circle it reads England and to the right of that is the shape stamp 409. The grain on this pipe is a mixed bag but is nonetheless beautiful. There is cross grain, swirls and birdseye that pops on the right side of the bowl. I was listening to the live show when Beau and Jon David talked about this pipe. They showed the condition of it and made some comment about needing to give it some attention as it was looking rough (my recollection). I tweeted them that I would gladly take it on as a project if he sent it my way. Beau packed it up and sent it my way. It arrived early this week after the New Year weekend. When I took it out of the packing envelopes and unwrapped it this is what I found. The stem was badly oxidized but did not have any deep bite marks. There was the normal tooth chatter around the button on the top and bottom sides of the stem. There was a distinct line from the button up ½ inch toward the shank that looked like the stem at one time in its life had sported a rubber softie bit over the vulcanite. The finish was worn and spotty and there were some serious issues with dents and marks in the briar. The rim was very rough with a lot of dings and damage to the top surface. Some of the damage went down the cap on the left side of the bowl. The top of the bowl looked as if it had been dropped on asphalt or concrete. There were parallel marks and dings on the left side low on the bowl and on the point at the bottom of the bowl.

I took the next three close-up photos of the dings on the bowl and rim to show the extent of the damage. Both the inner and outer edge of the rim had damage that made this rim a prime candidate for topping.

Andrew, Anthony and others use a piece of glass for their flat smooth surface for topping a bowl. I use a hard piece of finished oak that is part of my work top. I put a piece of 220 grit sandpaper on the board and anchor it in place. Then I turn the bowl clockwise in a circle across the sandpaper to remove the damaged portions. I check frequently to make sure that I remove just the damage and not too much briar. I also make sure that the rim is flat against the board so that I do not change the angles and profile of the rim top and cap.

Once I had the top flattened with the 220 grit sandpaper I worked it over with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to remove any of the scratches left behind in the topping of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the spotty finish.

I steamed the dents and marks on the bowl using a wet cloth and the blade of a butter knife that I heated on the flame of our gas range. I put the wet cloth over the dents and touched it with the hot knife blade. The stem generated lifts the dents from the briar. Doing this I was able to remove many of the dents on the sides of the bowl and on the back edge of the cap and rim.

Some of the dents were going to take more drastic measures to try to raise and some of them would need to be filled with a mix of briar and clear superglue to smooth out the surface of the briar. I decided to work on the stem for a break in the process. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation and remove what appeared to be ripples in the vulcanite stem. The more oxidation I removed the more these ripples became apparent. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge made by 3M. I pick it up in 8×10 sheets and cut it into working squares to sand stems and bowls. I used a plastic washer that I made to sit between the shank and stem to protect the shoulders of the stem from being rounded in the sanding process.

The next photo shows the remaining dents in the bottom of the bowl. It was almost like a road rash left behind by a drop on concrete. Many of the lighter more shallow dents were raised with the steam but these were more stubborn. I decided to soak the dented portion of the bowl in water. I was careful to not get water in the shank or the bowl. I used a small shallow dish filled with about an inch of water and angled the dented bottom and side of the bowl in to the water. I have found in other refinishing work that water will swell dents in the wood and lift them to the surface. While I knew that some of these dents would not move much, I was certain I could raise them all significantly using this method.

While the bowl soaked in the water I turned my attention to the stem. I find these old Comoy’s stems with the three silver bars inset in them a pain to deal with. Sanding or polishing around them causes the metal to ghost on the surface of the vulcanite. It has to be quickly wiped down with a soft towel to remove it before it penetrates the vulcanite surface. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads again rubbing down the stem with the oil between each group of three pads. I have found that sanding a freshly oiled stem gives teeth to the micromesh and it gives a deeper shine in the process.

The bowl sat in the water for the entire time I worked on the stem (probably 1 ½ hours). Once I finished the stem with the micromesh I heated the knife and used it and the wet cloth to once again steam the dents. I was able to significantly lift the majority of them this way. The photos below show the pipe after the steaming. The rim dents are all gone. The majority of the ones on the side and bottom are either gone or significantly shallower. The steam on the briar brought out some nice reds in the grain of the briar. I used a soft cloth with a few drops of olive oil to wipe down the bowl and shank after the steaming.

I decided to address the remaining dents with briar dust and clear super glue fills. I sanded the surface of the bowl around the dents. I wiped it down with alcohol on a cotton pad to clean the surface of dust. I packed briar dust into the dents and put a drop of super glue on each repaired area.

I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper, medium and fine grit sanding sponges to blend the repairs into the briar and to remove the excess glue and briar dust. The next two photos show the bowl after I had sanded the repairs smooth. They appear as dark spots on the bowl but they are smooth to touch. The dents are all gone at this point in the process.

I sanded the bowl with 2400-3600 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratches and prepare the bowl for staining. I wiped it down a final time with alcohol on a cotton pad. I decided to stain it with an aniline based walnut stain. Before staining it I used a dark brown stain pen to go over the areas that were repaired. Once they were covered I applied a coat of the aniline stain and flamed it. Once it was dry to touch I buffed the bowl with White Diamond to polish and even out the stain. The next series of four photos show the bowl before polishing. It is smooth in the hand. All dents have been removed or repaired.

I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed it with White Diamond to raise the shine. I then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad as the final touch. The finished pipe is shown below. There is still some remaining oxidation around the three bars on the left side of the stem but it has been minimized.