Monthly Archives: August 2015

Breathing New Life into a La Fond’s Vintage, Algerian Briar Reject Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

This old pipe came to me in a lot that was a gift from a friend and it was in very rough shape. The bowl covered in varnish and the rim had been used to hammer nails. There was not one smooth surface on the rim of the pipe. The outer edge of the bowl was very rough particular on the backside with chunks of briar missing. There were several fills on the bowl – on both sides that were missing and there were large deep scratches on the bottom of the bowl.

I have included a close-up photo of the rim to show the extent of the damage. I also took some close-up photos of the stamping to give an idea of what that looks like. The shank is stamped on the right side with the words MADE IN FRANCE. On the left side it is stamped with a double line of XXXX’s. I interpret that as the stamping that a pipe company uses to declare a pipe a REJECT. Some of the English companies actually stamp the pipe reject while others X out the stamping. In this case I was able to read through the X’s and see that underneath it was stamped La Fond’s Vintage on the first line and below that it read Algerian Briar. There is not a shape number on the shank.

I looked in Who Made That Pipe to see if I could find any information on the brand. The book listed that the brand was unknown but was English made. I looked on pipephil’s site, Pipes: Logos and Markings and found the listing below http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l1.html. The left side of the shank on the pipe I am working on is stamped identically to the one in the photo. The right side of mine says Made in France instead of Made in England. There is also no shape number on the one I have. I think that an educated guess can be made regarding the company behind this brand of pipe. Looking at the shape of the pipe and the shape number on the pipe in the photo it looks to me that the brand may well have been a sub brand of GBD. Certainly the 9436 shape number matches the same shape number that GBD stamped on that shape pipe.

As I have been doing lately, I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. I wanted to see if there was any significant damage to the inside walls of the bowl considering the damage everywhere else. After reaming I would need to sand the inside of the bowl as the cake was both crumbly in some places and hard and pitted in others.

The rim damage made it necessary to top the bowl to remove as much of it as possible. I used the topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to do the work. I removed as much of the top of the rim as possible without changing the overall appearance of the pipe. I was able to remove the majority of the damage. There were still some missing chunks of briar on the back side of the bowl near the top edge that I would need to address in a different manner. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat that covered the bowl and shank. Fortunately it came off quite easily. At least they did not coat the bowl with urethane or some other modern plastic coat. I worked on the damaged areas and the missing fills to make sure that I was able to get the grit and grime out of the holes.

I picked out any pieces of debris in the divots and wiped it down one final time. I filled the holes with briar dust and then dripped clear super glue on top of the briar dust. I added more briar dust and more glue until I had the surfaces built up and repaired.

I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the patches into the surrounding briar. It took a bit of sanding to smooth things out and leave the patches only in the holes that needed to be repaired and not on the surface of the bowl. Once the surface was smooth I sanded the areas with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches.

I sanded the inside of the bowl and then scrubbed out the bowl, shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed until the shank was clean. I used the stain pens to blend in the sanded areas with the colour of the rest of the bowl. I used it on the rim and the repairs around the bowl. I blended light brown and dark brown stain pens to get the colour to match. I sanded the bowl and rim with a fine grit sanding block to feather in the stained areas.

After sanding I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil and buffed it into the briar.

I would need to wax and polish the bowl once I had finished with the stem but it was done for the time being. I turned to the stem and sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the ripples in the vulcanite on the top and bottom of the stem from the button toward the bowl for about 1 ½ inches. It was obvious and ugly in my opinion. I finished smoothing out the stem surface and then sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches.

There was some oxidation on the stem that needed some more work so I repeated the process until the oxidation was removed. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil I finished sanding with the micromesh pads dry sanding with 6000-12000 grit. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buffing pad and then took it back to the work table and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. Dave Gossett wrote about doing that several blogs ago and I have been doing it ever since. It seems to add depth to the shine that a buffer alone does not give. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I took the photos outside in the waning light of the day. I really like the look of the pipe in the grass. The green sets off the colours of the briar and the black of the stem. This old timer is ready for a long life ahead of service to whoever takes it home to their rotation. Thanks for looking.

Rejuvenating and Repairing a Whitehall Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

This old Whitehall pipe came to me from the antique shop in Victor, Idaho, a small town on the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On a recent trip to Idaho my brother and his family and my daughters and I visited Jackson Hole. On the way home, we stopped in Victor to stretch our legs and wander a bit. I went into the antique shop and struck up a conversation with the owner. Eventually a tin of five pipes and some parts came out from under the counter. I bought all of them. They traveled back to Vancouver with me and will one day all be refurbished.

This Dublin shaped pipe is stamped Whitehall on the left side of the shank – though the stamping is faint. On the right side it is stamped Imported Briar (also faint). It has a flat bottom and sits well on that. The finish was very worn but was a rich oxblood colour under the grime. The bowl sides have some great cross grain. There were some small fills near the top of the bowl on the left side. The rim was damaged on the outer edge and very caked from the bowl over the rim top. The inner edge of the rim was still round and did not show signs of damage under the thick cake. The stem appeared to be a poor fit but as I looked at it I realized that it was upside down. The flattened bottom of the bowl had not been continued on the stem so it sat wrong.

I took some close-up photos of the rim and sides of the bowl. The rim photo shows the tarry buildup and the side photos show the stamping.

I generally ream the bowl when I start a clean up to remove the cake so I can examine the pipe thoroughly to check for inside wall damage and potential issues. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. While I was at it I scrubbed the rim with alcohol and cotton pads to remove some of the tars. I had to use a sharp blade to gently scrape away the thick coat of tars while I was scrubbing. The photo below shows the initial cleanup of the rim and newly reamed bowl. I sanded the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to further remove the tars and to minimize the outer edge damage. There was a burn mark on the front left of the rim that I was able to reduce but not remove altogether. I scrubbed out the shank and the bowl with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I wiped down the exterior with alcohol and cotton pads to remove the finish and to clean it up. In doing so I found that there was a small shallow crack/flaw toward the bottom of the bowl on the left side. In the photo below the dental pick is at the close end of the crack and the dark spot is the far end. I picked out the crack with the dental pick, drilled two small holes – one on each end of the crack to stop it from going further. Interestingly this crack followed the pattern of the grain on the side of the bowl. Once I had it cleaned out I wiped it down with alcohol a final time. I pressed briar dust into the crack, dripped super glue into it and then pressed more briar dust on top of the glue. The photo below shows the repaired crack. Fortunately the crack was not deep and did not affect the interior of the bowl. It did not go all the way through and appeared to be more of a flaw in the briar than damage. I sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess patch and blend it into the surface of the briar. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches in the briar and feather out the surface. I sanded the entire bowl and rim with the same sanding sponges and sandpapers. I aligned the stem and sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rough surface and then flatten the bottom to match the bottom of the shank.

I wiped down the bowl with alcohol and then stained it with an oxblood alcohol based stain. I put the stain on heavy around the sanded areas on the shank and the bowl repair. I also darkened those areas with a dark brown stain pen following the pattern of the grain. I lightly buffed the pipe by hand and took the pictures below to show how the newly stained pipe looked at this point.

I darkened the rim with the stain pen and gave it another top coat of the oxblood stain. I flamed it and buffed it lightly. With the bowl finished I worked on the stem. I wet sanded it 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I continued by dry sanding it with 3200-4000 grit pads, rubbed it down again with oil and then finished by dry sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and then buffed it with a clean flannel buff. I brought it back to the work table and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. It looks better than it did when I started, in my opinion. The rich oxblood colour helps to hide the repair and the burn mark on the rim. It should be a great smoking pipe if the amount of cake buildup that was there when I started is any indication. It should continue to provide great service to whoever ends up with it in their pipe rotation. Thanks for looking.

Birth Year Dunhill 1961 Shape 120 Shell

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I don’t have many Dunhill shapes on my “Holy Grail” list. However the Shape 120, Bent Billiard was placed on their last year. I would love to own a shape LC, but they are rare, frighteningly expense and in many cases damaged due to the thin shank design. The Shape 120, while not as graceful, is the next best thing and much more available and affordable. While I wasn’t actively seeking a birth year Dunhill, this 1961 Shell pipe came up on Ebay and I was fortunate to win the auction. My 54th birthday is in a few days, so the timing was good. This was a Shell model with tapered stem and in terrific condition. The Group 4 size, at 50 grams was also perfect for my tastes.

The Dunhill LC shape, from the Loring Dunhill pipe pages.

The pipe was in excellent shape, requiring only removal of the slight cake and I did the alcohol and sea salt soak. The stem fitment is excellent but someone rounded the edges slightly. There were a few teeth abrasions on the bottom side which were removed with 2000 grit wet paper, micromesh and then buffed lightly with White Diamond rouge followed by plastic polish.

Below is the finished pipe, which my wife has stashed away for several days until my actual birthday arrives.