Monthly Archives: October 2015

Get Me to the Church on Time: Restoring a Longchamp Billiard

Blog by Anthony Cook

I was browsing through Reddit’s /r/PipeTobacco sub-forum when I saw a post from a member looking for someone who could restore an old, leather-wrapped Longchamp pipe. He wanted it in time for his wedding day, which was a couple of weeks away. I could see in the accompanying photos that the pipe had a chip out of the rim and a bite through on the stem, but otherwise it appeared to be in good condition and both the leather and stitching looked solid. So, I contacted him and offered to take care of it.
The pipe arrived at my door a while later. I was happy to see that there were no hidden “gotchas” and the condition of the pipe was pretty much as it had appeared in the photos.

Here are a few photos of the pipe on arrival:

Notice in the image below that the stem has almost no tooth chatter despite the massive bite through. What’s up with that? Weird. The next image shows some detail photos of the stamping and the rim damage on the pipe. The pipe needed to be cleaned up before I tackled any of the damage. This is my “getting to know you” time with the pipes that I work on. I learn a lot about the pipe as I’m cleaning it and I often discover things that I hadn’t noticed previously.

I used a very lightly damp rag to remove the tar and soot from the rim. It came away easily. You can see some light spots on the rim in the photos above. I had been afraid that they were fills (that would be a nightmare), but they turned out to be… something else. Whatever it was, it came off with the rest of the grime and I could see that the rim was in good condition other than the noted chip.

Then, I cleaned out the interior of the stem and stummel with a few cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, a shank brush and some isopropyl alcohol. The pipe was already pretty clean. So, it didn’t take much work. I then gave the pipe a retort just to be sure and another quick scrub to remove anything that the retort had left behind. To prevent any lingering tobacco ghosts, I stuffed cotton balls into the chamber and used a dropper to drip in alcohol until they were saturated. I then sat the stummel aside overnight to let the cotton balls and alcohol do their job. The image below shows a photo of the bowl just after adding the alcohol, another taken about three hours later, and another at about twelve hours (just before I removed the cotton).

Meanwhile, the stem had been soaking in a bath of Oxyclean and warm water. I removed it from the bath and scrubbed it with cubes cut from a Magic Eraser until all of the yellow-brown oxidation was gone and the stem was restored to a satin-black finish. Using needle files, I cleaned up the edges of the bite through hole to remove any loose material and scored the surrounding surface to prep for the patch. Then, I inserted a wedge of thin cardboard wrapped in clear tape through the slot making sure that it completely covered the bottom of the hole. I applied several thin layers of black CA glue over the hole. I allowed each layer to dry and lightly sanded with 220-grit paper between layers to give the next one a good surface to bite into. The patch was ready to be blended in when it was slightly higher than the surrounding surface. I used needle files to carve a sharp transition at the back of the button and sanded back the patch and much of the tooth chatter with 220-grit paper. I followed that with 320-grit and 400-grit paper to further smooth the surface, and then I lightly sanded the entire stem (carefully avoiding the logo impression) with 600-grit paper.

I wanted to repaint the stem logo to give the pipe a more complete look. So, I used a silver leaf paint pen to paint over the logo and fill the impression with paint. Once it was dry, I carefully sanded the paint from the raised surfaces with 1200-grit paper leaving behind only what was left in the impression. Some of the impression had been worn away until it was nearly level with the surrounding surface. So, I had to try to shape those by hand using a printed photo reference of the logo. I lightly sanded the rest of the stem with 1200-grit paper, and then polished with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit to 12000-grit. Somehow, I forgot to get a shot of the completed stem, but you can see it in the photos of the finished pipe.

The stem was finished. So, it was time to take care of the stummel. I filled the chip in the rim with briar dust and CA glue, let it dry, and then sanded the patch back with 220-grit paper. It’s just about impossible not to sand away some of the surface surrounding a patch. So, there was a very slight depression in the patched area. To even the rim out, I lightly topped the bowl, first with 220-grit, and then with 320-grit paper. To bring the color back and blend the patch, I applied Fiebing’s dark brown dye to the rim with a cotton swab, flamed it, and sanded the rim with 400-grit and 600-grit paper. Then I stained with medium brown and sanded with 1200-grit. I polished the rim with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit through 2400-grit before giving the rim a final buckskin stain, and then polished with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits. Again, I forgot to get photos of any of this. Sometimes, you just get caught up in the work, you know?

All that was left to do to get this pipe ready for the wedding day was to spiffy up the leather a bit. I used a hairdryer set to high heat and low flow to heat the leather and raise the dents. I used my fingers to knead and stretch the leather around the deeper ones to help lift them. Then, I used Fiebing’s buckskin dye to restain the scratches and a small tear on the right side of the bowl. The tear itself was then patched with a bit of leather glue. Finally, I used Fiebing’s 4 Way Care to clean and condition the leather wrapping before burnishing the ends of the leather and edging the seams. The pipe work as finished and it was ready to be sent back for the big day. Here are a few photos of the finished pipe:

Thanks for looking and CONGRATULATIONS, NATE!!!

Rejuvenating a Peterson’s System Premier 307

9 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe that is on my desk came to me from a friend on Smokers Forums who wants me to clean and sell them for the support of the forums. It is a nice Peterson’s Premier System Pipe in the 307 shape. It is stamped on the underside of the shank Peterson’s System Premier 307. The silver ferrule is stamped as normal with Petersons of Dublin on one side. Underneath it is stamped Sterling Silver and there are hallmarks that give the date of the pipe. The stamping of the hallmarks was as follows: Hibernia, Lion (denoting that the silver is .925) and the letter “b” which denotes that the pipe was made in 1969. I have included the Peterson’s Hallmark chart below as it is a very helpful tool that I have used repeatedly to date my Peterson pipes. The pipe was dirty and the silver was oxidized enough that the stamping was hard to see. The rim was darkened by in pretty decent shape. The sandblast finish had a lot of grime in the grooves and there was some white paint of dried wax in the grooves. There was a light cake in the bowl that was thicker toward the middle of the bowl than it was at the top or the bottom. The stem had a rough finish from the oxidation and there were some small tooth marks on the top and the bottom edge of the stem near the P lip. The airway on the button was in excellent shape and the crease was still well defined.

I took a close up of the bowl to show the cake that was in the bowl. There was a small nick on one side of the inner edge of the bowl on the right side but it looked like it would clean up very nicely. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to the bare wood. I wanted a good even base so that the new owner could build a solid hard cake evenly in the bowl. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the nick on the right side.

I took the stem out of the shank and removed the Bakelite/wood extension that screws into the tenon on Peterson Premier pipes. The photo below shows the pipe taken apart. I took the next series of photos to show the grime and white wax in the grooves of the sandblast.

I scrubbed the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean out the grooves of the blast. I worked on it until I was able to remove the grit. I followed up with a light scrub of the rim and the grooves with a brass bristle tire brush to finish the cleaning. I rinsed the bowl under running water to remove the soap and the loosened dirt. I dried it off with a soft cloth and then took the next set of photos.

I polished the sterling silver ferrule with a jeweler’s polishing cloth and was able to remove the tarnish. The silver began to shine and the stamping became very clear as I cleaned it.

I rubbed some microcrystalline Conservator’s Wax on to the bowl surface with my fingers and then buffed it with a shoe brush. The result was a warm shine on the bowl. I don’t like to use a buffer on deep blasts as it tends to flatten the blast and wear it down. Hand buffing it with a shoe brush preserves the blast.

I cleaned the interior of the stem and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I was surprised at how clean the shank and the stem were. It took very few cleaners to clean up the interior of the pipe. I soaked the stem in Oxyclean for about 30 minutes and then dried it off and sanded the oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and also a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the loosened oxidation. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh and gave it another coat of oil. In each of these steps I did not let the oil absorb but rather used it to give traction to the micromesh pads. I buffed the stem with Red Tripoli and with White Diamond on the wheel to remove the stubborn oxidation that remained. I finished by sanding the stem with 6000-12000 grit sanding pads. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it absorb into the vulcanite.

I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. I then buffed it with a soft flannel buff and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautiful sandblast system pipe that will make someone a great addition to their rack. If you are interested in this pipe contact me via Facebook of comment on the blog. All proceeds will go toward supporting Smokers Forums.

A West German Mystery: Refurbishing a Merkur 2000 720

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Blog by Anthony Cook

A friend from the Pipe Smoker Unlimited forums recently picked up a volcano-shaped Merkur 2000 pipe as a birthday gift to himself (we all know that those are the best gifts). He was drawn to the shape and the bit of nice grain that he could make out beneath the grime and dark stain. He mentioned in a comment that it was going to need a little cleaning up. So, I offered to take care of that for him and he accepted.

I gave the pipe a good look over when the pipe arrived some time later. I was immediately impressed by how light it was for its size. It appeared to be in good, clean condition too. The stem had barely any tooth chatter, but it had some reddish oxidation that almost matched the stummel stain and there were strange bands of raised vulcanite in some areas. My best guess is that something had lain across the stem for a very long time to cause the warping. The stummel appeared to have a few scratches, including one on the rim that was the most pronounced, but they were small and looked shallow. So, I was confident that they could be easily removed.

Here’s the pipe as it was on arrival: In the photo below, I don’t know what that is in the chamber. It’s best not to think about it too much.

The actual manufacturer of this pipe is a bit of a mystery to me. It’s stamped “MERKUR 2000” along the left shank, “REAL BRIAR” along the right, “WEST-GERMANY” and “720” along the bottom, and there is a slanted “H” logo on the stem. Pipephil has a listing for a Blackwood pipe with a matching stem logo and “2000” in the same location and typeface. It’s my guess that neither Merkur nor Blackwood is a manufacturer brand name, but rather they are either model names or shop-branded names. Whatever the case may be, the “WEST-GERMANY” stamping is a clear indication of the country of origin and that the pipe was made sometime before the 1990 German reunification.

Here are a few detail photos of the stamping in question and also the Blackwoods pipe from pipephil:

When I asked my friend what he wanted done with the pipe, he said that he would like me to lighten the color a bit and make the grain “pop.” So, to begin, I wiped the stummel down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the grime and lift some of the old stain. I think a good, internal cleaning is the foundation of any estate pipe work. So, I scrubbed out the stem and stummel with a few pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, and a shank brush. Next, I set up the retort for some deep cleaning (kind of like steam cleaning the carpet). I flushed the stem and shank 10-12 times with the boiling alcohol, let the pipe rest for about 10 minutes, and the flushed it 10-12 times again with fresh alcohol. After the second retort the alcohol in the vial was almost as clear as when it was fresh (the debris seen in the photo is bits of carbon build-up on the outside of vial from the candle flame). So, I gave the pipe a final scrub to remove anything left behind from the retort. The stem was dropped into a bath of Oxyclean and warm water for about an hour, and then I removed the softened oxidation by scrubbing with cubes cut from a Magic Eraser pad. I sanded down the tooth chatter and warped bands on the stem with a progression of 220, 320, and 400-grit paper and the entire stem was lightly sanded with 600-grit paper to get rid of the pitting and smooth the surface.

I already knew that I couldn’t completely restore the stem logo; the upper-right portion of the “H” was almost entirely worn away. I thought that it would look better with something there though. So, I painted over the logo with a grout pen, let the paint dry, and then very carefully sanded away the excess with 1200-grit paper to reveal the partially restored logo. Then, I sanded the rest of the stem with 1200-grit and polished with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads to wrap up the stem work. The scratch on the rim didn’t seem too deep. I thought that I would be able to remove it with just a light topping. It didn’t take much sanding with 220-grit before I noticed that the “scratch” was widening and realized that it wasn’t a scratch at all, but a small pit. I thought that it might still be shallow enough that I could sand it out, but when the pit was still there after a bit more sanding I decided to cut my losses and patch it with a briar dust and CA glue patch. Then, I topped the bowl with 320-grit to even everything out.

Unfortunately, that pit wasn’t the last one that I encountered while working on this pipe. At least two more revealed themselves along the rim and a few more on the rest of the stummel. Now, before I tell you about how I did the rest of the stummel I have to issue an apology. I failed to take any more photos before finishing up the pipe. I’ll lay the blame on the previously mentioned pits that kept cropping up, which caused me to backtrack at almost every stage and redo sections of the work. However, I’m sure that you can follow along with no problems. I won’t detail any of the pits, since they were all addressed in the same way as the one above.

In order to honor the request to make the grain “pop,” I heated the stummel with a heat gun to open the grain and applied a dark brown stain thinned to one part stain to three parts isopropyl alcohol. After flaming the stain to set it into the grain, I hand-buffed with a soft rag to remove the excess, and then sanded the stummel with 400-grit. This removed most of the light scratches as well as much of the surface stain, which gave the grain some nice contrast.

I heated the stummel again before applying a medium brown stain thinned the same as before. I flamed and hand-buffed again before lightly sanding with 600-grit and 1200-grit papers. I also began polishing with Micro-Mesh 1800-grit to 2400-grit.

Next, I applied a light brown stain, flamed, hand-buffed, and reattached the stem to give the stummel a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. I don’t buff the stem with Tripoli, but it’s good to have it in place to prevent the buffer from rounding the shoulders of the stem and shank faces. I use a rubber tourniquet tightly wrapped around the end of the stem to protect it from the wheel.

I polished the stummel with 3200-grit through 4000-grit paper before giving it one final stain of British tan thinned by eye until it was just weak wash. Then, I polished with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits before buffing the entire pipe with White Diamond and applying several coats of carnauba wax to finish up the pipe.

The final results are pictured below.

I think the pipe will now be a proud addition to my friend’s collection and I’m sure that it will serve him well for many more birthdays to come. Thanks for looking.

Cleaning up a Briar Bird Bent Poker or Cherrywood

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

A friend of mine here in Vancouver dropped off a bag of pipe goodies for me while I was in Europe. When I got home and opened the bag there were four jars of tobacco, a Peterson ceramic three pipe stand, a two pipe travel bag, some pipe cleaners and three pipes – a pipe that I had sold him, a Briar Bird Bent Poker or Cherrywood with a blue/gold acrylic stem, a Poker with a broken tenon stuck in the shank. I decided to clean up the easy pipe – The Briar Bird Poker. I emailed the giver to express my thanks at his generosity and ask him some questions about the two pokers. He answered that the broken stem pipe was a pipe made by Brian Doren. He also told me that the Briar Bird pipe by J. Cochey was one of his early works.

At first glance it looked like it would clean up easily and I could add it to the rotation quickly. It had a rusticated finish that was too my liking, a wedding ring style band and a blue and gold stem. The bend was good in the stem and the pipe felt good in the hand. The button seemed like a good size. The slot was open and the airway clear. The inner dimension of the bowl was smaller than I normally use but it would work. The finish was dirty and the rim had some light build up in the rustication. The bowl would need to be reamed back to keep it from becoming even smaller in diameter than it was.

When I removed the stem to have a look at the drilling and the fit against the shank the band fell off in my hands. It had been glued to a thin smooth band on the end of the shank and extended beyond the end of the shank. I acted as a tube that the stem sat in. Examining the stem I saw that the maker had also stepped down the end of the stem to accommodate the band as well. In essence the band sat suspended over the stem with a small fit on the shank. I cleaned up the shank end and reglued the band on the shank. Before I glued it I debated whether to properly seat it on the shank – removing some of the shank briar and seating the band further back. I decided against that. When I put the stem in place on the shank without the band, the tenon was too long to allow the stem to seat against the end of the shank. I could drill the mortise slightly deeper, shorten the tenon or just reglue and leave things alone. I obviously chose to just glue it and leave it alone. The slot in this stem was drilled beautifully and the oval opening flared back to the airway properly. The draw on the pipe was excellent. I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare walls. With the narrow bowl I would keep this pipe very clean and develop the thinnest of cakes so as not to constrict the bowl.

With the bowl cleaned the rim needed some attention. There was some oil and tar built up in the rustication. I used a brass bristle white wall tire brush to clean out the rustication. Once I had it cleaned out I rubbed the bowl down with some Halcyon II wax and then buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. With a rough rusticated pipe like this I don’t buff it on the buffer as I want to keep the sharp edges of the rustication as they are without smoothing them out. I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they came out clean. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and polished the band with a jeweler’s cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready for its inaugural bowl since coming to my rack. If you are interested in seeing some of the newer work of Briar Bird Pipes I have included a link to the website. http://www.briarbirdpipes.com

Country Squire Radio Interview: Steve Laug of rebornpipes

1 Reply

They entitled the episode: rebirth: a chat with Steve Laug of rebornpipes

Just before I left for work in Europe late in September I was interviewed by Country Squire Radio for their podcast. I have included a link at the end of this post so you can listen to it should you choose to do so. It was an interesting time to chat with the hosts on things related to refurbishing and life.

I have included their description and disclaimer in the two photos below:

Click on this link to listen to the interview.
http://www.podasterynetwork.com/2015/09/09/rebirth-a-chat-with-steve-laug-of-reborn-pipes/

Evidently there is a YouTube version of this but I cannot locate it.

Restoring a Savinelli Hercules Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe came to me as a fund raising donation for Smokers Forums. The donor wanted this and other pipes he sent cleaned up and restored then sold for the support of Smokers Forums. This pipe is a large Hercules Billiard made by Savinelli. It is stamped Hercules on the left side of the shank and on the right it read 111EX over Italy. This big pipe had some stunning grain. It would clean up very well. The finish is dull and dirty with grime but the briar is in excellent condition with no dents or flaws. There was a thick and uneven cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava on the rim was also heavy. In my experience the thick lava on the rim generally protected the rim from damage. The inner bevel on the rim and the edge was also undamaged. The stem was oxidized. The stamping on the stem shows well in the photo below but it was actually very light and faint. It would be virtually impossible to save it once it soaked and was cleaned up. It was almost like a decal applied to the stem rather than stamping.

I reamed the bowl back to bare wood to remove the crumbling and uneven cake with a PipNet reamer. I started with the smallest cutting head and worked my way up to the diameter of the bowl.

I worked on the buildup on the rim with 0000 steel wool. Working it around the rim I was able to remove all of the tar and lava without damaging the finish. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the wax buildup. I believe these pipes had an oil finish originally and were not stained. The grime came off easily and the grain just popped!

I cleaned out the interior of the bowl and the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out spotless. I also folded each pipe cleaner and swabbed out the inside of the bowl to remove the dust and particles left behind by the reaming.

I gave the stem a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the oxidation. I worked carefully around the stamping to see if I could preserve it. So far so good on that point.

I worked on the stem with micromesh sanding pads to remove the rest of the oxidation and to polish the stem. The first 1500 grit micromesh literally obliterated the stamping. That kind of thing bugs me but I can’t go back and change it. The decal/stamping was gone. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave the stem a final coat of oil and let the oil dry before taking it to the buffer.

I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil and rubbed it in. I let it absorb over night. In the morning I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond and then gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect. I buffed it with a clean flannel buffing pad to raise the shine then finished by hand buffing with a microfibre cloth. The only flaw in the process was the removal of the stamp/decal on the stem. For that I apologize. Otherwise the pipe is a stunning piece of craftsmanship. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think this pipe will be a great smoker for whoever decides to add it to their rack.

First in Flight: Refurbishing and Restemming a Falcon #4

6 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

I had never smoked a metal pipe before, but I was curious. I liked the idea of interchangeable bowls, especially when dealing with stronger and “ghostlier” blends (I’m looking at you, Lakelands). So, when this Falcon #4 showed up on eBay I put in a low bid that luckily turned out to be the winning one. I knew from the seller’s photos that the pipe was going to need a bit of work to get it into shape, but I was still in for a few surprises.

When it arrived, I could see that the aluminum frame was in good shape. There were several small dents and scratches, but nothing that would affect the smoking qualities of the pipe. The nylon stem (or, “bit” in Falconese), however, must have really suited someone’s taste because had been chewed so badly that it was crushed and the airway was almost completely closed. The larger, pot-shaped bowl was in fair condition with some tar build-up and a few scratches on the rim, but the smaller Dublin/apple-shaped bowl was charred and almost beaten to death around the rim. Luckily, the threads on both bowls were still in good shape and they would screw tightly to the frame.

Here are a few photos of the pipe as it was when it arrived:

The first order of business was to remove the stem, since there was no way that it would work in its condition. Thankfully, Al (upshallfan) offered to send me another one that was in better shape. Removing a Falcon stem is easier said than done though. They’re intended to be a permanent part of the pipe.

I turned to the forums in the hope of finding someone who had done it before and had developed a reliable removal method. I received several suggestions and tried them all with no luck. In desperation, I decided to try to heat the stem in boiling water. I knew from past experience that nylon would blister and burn all too easily when exposed to high heat, but I thought that this method might heat the stem slowly and gently enough to avoid that risk. Surprisingly, it worked like a charm! After about 20 minutes of submerging the stem in boiling water, not only was I able to remove the stem, but the aluminum smoke tube came out as well. That would make cleaning and polishing the frame much easier. After soaking the frame in alcohol for about 30 minutes, I cleaned out the interior. Without a doubt, this was the easiest cleanup job that I have ever done on a pipe. That’s not to say that it wasn’t dirty. This was obviously a well smoked pipe, but the grime came away easily from the nonporous aluminum. It took only three pipe cleaners (two for the airway and another folded one to scrub the cup) and an old toothbrush (for the threads) to completely clean the frame. The bowls were next on my to-do list. I reamed them both back to bare wood so that I could see what I was dealing with, and then I placed them in a jar of isopropyl alcohol to soften the build up on the rim and strip the finish. An hour or so later, I removed them and used a soft cloth to scrub away the remaining finish and grime.

I set up my topping surface to sand out the scratches on the rim of the larger bowl and level the uneven rim of the smaller one. I lightly topped the larger bowl first with 220-grit paper, and then with 320-grit until the scratches were gone. I started to top the smaller on the smaller one, but the condition of the rim was so bad that chunks of it began to fall out as I worked. I could see that was going to be a losing battle and decided that if I couldn’t beat ‘em, I’d join ‘em.

I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to bevel the inner rim of the smaller bowl back as far as the deepest gouge. I was only doing some rough shaping at that point to create the general depth and angle of the bevel. Then, I used 220-grit and 320-grit paper to clean things up and further refine the shape. After that, I lightly sanded the surface of both bowls with 220-grit and 320-grit paper to remove most of the scratches and dings. Once the heavy lifting was complete on the bowl cosmetics, I turned my attention back to the stem. The stem that Al had sent me was in much better shape than the original, but it was still badly chewed. It also wouldn’t pass a cleaner, which seems to be an issue with Falcon pipes in general. They make thinner cleaners specifically for Falcons, but I don’t like the idea of having to buy something else just to overcome a design flaw. So, I decided to try an experiment to see if I couldn’t open up the airway and remove much of the chatter all in one shot.

I had noticed earlier that the boiling water had not only loosened the original stem, but it also appeared to raise the dents to some degree. It wasn’t enough to save it, but I found it surprising all the same since I’d had no luck lifting dents in nylon with heat previously. I thought I’d try it again with the replacement stem. I rigged up a simple suspension mechanism with some string, a hex nut, and a wooden spoon, and then put the stem into a pot of boiling water. After nearly about 40 minutes of being submerged, there was some slight improvement but not enough to make much difference. So, I called an end to the experiment and decided that the method wasn’t worth the effort. I have a suspicion that there was some harm done to the stem with this method however, and I’ll talk more on that later. The constriction in the airway extended about ¼” behind the button. So, I decided to drill the airway out from the slot end. The airway was so tight that I had to start cutting through with a 3/64” bit and work my way up to a 3/32” bit. I tested the draw and it was good, and then I tested with a cleaner and it would pass, but it still needed a bit of force to get through the tight area. The stem wouldn’t take a larger bit, however, and I had to be satisfied with what I had. I finished up the work on the airway by cleaning up the slot and giving it a slight funnel with some sandpaper, needle files, and sanding needles.

In the photo below, you can see one of the drill bits chucked into a Dremel, but I never actually used the motor. That would likely have been a disaster. Instead, I used the Dremel to stabilize the bit while I turned the stem over it. The mechanics of the stem had been addressed and it was time to start working on the cosmetics. I used a course, flat needle file to score the surface of the stem, applied black CA glue to the indentations, and sanded it back with 220-grit paper once it was dry. Then, I began to rebuild the button. I wrapped clear tape around the area behind the button to create a sharp edge and applied more CA to the button to build up the surface. I used 220-grit paper to sand the CA back and start shaping the button after it had completely dried. When the shape was vaguely buttonish, I began to clean the edges and remove more chatter from the stem, first with 320-grit, and then with 400-grit paper. I lightly sanded the entire surface of the stem with 600-grit and 1200-grit paper to smooth it out and remove the seams and molding artifacts from the sides. Then, I polished the stem with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit through 12000-grit and used a drop of mineral oil to lubricate the stem between every three grits.

Remember when I mentioned something about the heat of the boiling water doing harm to the stem? This is where that comes into play. I had noticed that the stem felt different under the paper as I was sanding it. The higher the grit, the more noticeable it became. The surface felt normal to the touch, but it kind of grabbed at the sandpaper and pads and gave some resistance as they slid across, almost like it was gummy. It was unlike any nylon stem that I had ever worked with before and I believe that submerging it in boiling water changed the surface in some way. I’m just making a guess, of course, but in the end I wasn’t able to achieve the level of glossy shine that I had with previous nylon stems and I doubt that I’ll be trying the boiling method again. You can see the finished stem in the photo below. The stem was out of the way. So, it was time to get back to the bowls and start wrapping this pipe up. I wanted each bowl to have a slightly different color. So, I used a heat gun to heat the briar and open the grain, and then applied a 3:1 mix of isopropyl alcohol and Fiebing’s dark brown dye to the larger bowl and the same ratio with mahogany dye to the smaller bowl. After hand buffing with a soft cloth and sanding the surface of both bowls with 400-grit and 600-grit paper to remove most of the dye except for what was in the grain, I gave the larger bowl a medium brown stain and the smaller one an oxblood stain using the same ratio of stain to thinner as before. Then, I hand buffed again and sanded each bowl with 1200-grit and gave them both a light Tripoli buff. Both bowls received one final stain; buckskin for the larger one and British tan for the smaller. They were hand buffed again to remove the excess stain, and then polished with Micro-Mesh pads 3200-grit to 12000-grit.

Before reassembling the pipe, I polished the frame with Semichrome polish and buffed the stem and bowls with White Diamond compound on the buffer. I put everything back together (it went easily) and applied several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. Finally, I applied a bowl coating to both bowls to give them some protection until they could build a little cake. You can see the completed pipe in the photos below.

And here are a couple of shots of the other bowl… I’m still not happy with the stem on this one and I’m sure that I’ll be replacing it sometime in the future when there aren’t other pipes that need attention. For now, though, it serves its purpose well. I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical of the metal pipe concept, but this pipe smokes wonderfully and I can see many more Falcon bowls and a few more metal pipes in my future. Thanks for checking it out!

Cleaning up my Budapest Pipe Find – A Parker of London Earl 576 Bent Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

On my recent trip to Budapest I visited several of the pipe shops that I found when I was there five years ago. The experience was sad in that much has changed and the pipe and tobacco selection has greatly diminished. I was in the Gallwitz Shop and looked at their estate pipes. I turned several over in my hands before leaving and not buying any. I walked about a block before I got to thinking that this would probably be the last time I was in that shop and if the downward turn of pipeshops in Budapest continued it might not last. I turned around and went back to the shop and purchased a small bent Dublin that is stamped on the left side of the shank, Parker of London. On the right it is stamped Earl and on the underside it bears the shape number 576. I have included a photo I took on my phone of the pipe and some of my other finds that day. The pipe was in decent shape. It had quite a few fills on the right side of the bowl and a long narrow fill on the underside of the shank that had shrunk and left a groove. The rim had a lot of grooves and damage that had been waxed over. The bowl was out of round but was clean. The inside of the shank and stem were still pretty dirty. The original stem was loose but relatively clean with no tooth marks and the faint diamond P logo on the top of the saddle. There was some minor oxidation in the crease at the button and the surface of the stem had some scratches that had not polished out. On the underside of the stem there were some bits of metal that were in the mix of the rubber stem. I know that in the war years the rubber used for stems was recycled so I am thinking that this one may come from that era. When I got home from Budapest I took the following photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when I began.

I also took a few close-up photos of the rim and the stamping on the shank. To me there is a quiet elegance to this shape. You can see the rim damage and the inner edge damage in the first photo below.

I worked on the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to even out the inner edge and minimize the out of round look. I gave it a slight bevel to get rid of the damage. In doing so I did not particularly care that I scratched the surface of the rim because I planned on topping it lightly to remove the damage.

I topped the bowl on a topping board to remove the deep scratches and damaged areas on the surface of the rim.

I sanded the rim with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I then sanded it with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads to polish the rim. I then stained it with the staining pens – starting with the lightest colour and gradually working my way up to the darkest colour. I worked to blend it into the same colour as the bowl and shank. The long worm shaped fill on the bottom of the bowl needed to be refilled. I decided to use clear super glue and no briar dust as the groove was not very deep. I filled it and let it dry. I sanded the repair with micromesh sanding pads until it blended into the surface of the briar. It is smooth to the touch now and is better blended into the surface of the briar.

I rubbed down the bowl and shank with a light coat of olive oil and then buffed it with a microfibre cloth to raise a bit of a shine.

I worked on the oxidation on the stem in the crease with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads. I scraped the groove in the crease with a dental pick and then sanded it until it was smooth. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads, reoiled it and then finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and then let it sit until the oil had been absorbed into the vulcanite.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff to raise the shine. I took it back to the work table and buffed it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. It is cleaned and ready to use. It should give many years of good service now that it is clean. Every time I pick it up I will think of the Gallwitz shop and the changes that it went through from the first time I visited until this past time. The sad changes will go through my mind for a long time.

Internal Injuries – Repairing an Over-Reamed Bowl and Opening the Airway on a Yello-Bole Duo-Lined

Finally with Al’s help I picked up a PETERSON’S KAPRUF 9BC

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Blog by Steve Laug

The other day Al Jones sent me a quick message about a pipe that he knew I was looking for. It was a pipe shape that I have been looking for since Mark Irwin wrote up his blog on the Peterson 9B shape. Al had found one from a Russian seller that was stamped PETERSON’S KAPRUF 9BC over LONDON MADE ENGLAND on the underside of the shank. The seller described it as follows on the EBay sale: Used pipe, smoked. Chamber reamed slightly, moderate heat crackling. Refurbished top of the bowl. Air passage opening is well centered and bottomed in the chamber. P-lip stem is clean and buffed, faint occasional oxidation, light traces of removed toothmarks. Markings on the pipe are buffed but visible: “PETERSON’S “KAPRUF” LONDON MADE ENGLAND 9BC” on the bottom of the shank. Stem has no markings or logos. It had a nice sandblast finish. The only deviation from online photos of the sandblast version of the pipe that I had seen was the smooth rim on the bowl. The seller’s comment above in bold – “Refurbished top of the bowl” makes me wonder if he had not topped the bowl in his clean up of the pipe. I am not certain if he had topped the bowl or not but if he had done so, he had done it very well. The light stain on the rim matched the light portions on the pipe as a whole at the shank and on the high points in the blast.

Included in the description was information that in the past I seemed to ignore and had paid for by the surprise of a larger or smaller than expected pipe. This time I read it and it fit my general expectations and current collecting habits.
Dimensions (approximate):
Length 4-15/16″ (125 mm)
Height 1-7/8″ (47 mm)
Bowl depth 1-3/8″ (35 mm)
Bowl width (top) 1-5/8″ (33 mm)
Chamber opening 3/4″ (19 mm)
Weight 2.05 oz (58 grams)

The pipe arrived while I was traveling and Al had included some generous samples of tobaccos to try out in this “new to me” pipe. It came clean and ready to smoke. The condition of the pipe is superb. The finish is in excellent shape. The blast is rugged and the stain contrasts highlight the depth of the cragginess. The rim and the smooth bottom of the shank match well in terms of colour of the stain. The stampings were faint, caused either by the age of the pipe and the years of buffing that had occurred. It also could have been over buffed by the seller, but I am inclined to think otherwise due to the care with which he worked over the rest of the pipe. The stem is in great shape with no tooth marks and a deep gloss other than the slight oxidation of the stem where it meets the shank. There is no P stamp on the stem but I am pretty sure that the stem is the original. The internals are spotless and the bowl has a slight smell of tobacco. The fit of the stem to the shank is impeccable with no gap. The bend in the stem is perfect – with age it had neither straightened nor become over bent. It was precisely as had been advertized. I can’t tell you how surprised I was to find that it matched the description. Too often these days I purchase an estate pipe that has been “refurbished” only to find that the pipe was filthy on the inside.

I took a few pictures of the pipe with the stem removed to illustrate the condition of the pipe. I literally had nothing to do in terms of cleaning up the pipe. I would need to work on the oxidation on stem but other than that it was flawless.

Since the only thing that remained for me to do on this beautiful pipe was the oxidation on the stem I decided to tackle it immediately. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the oxidation. I then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil.

I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax to seal and protect it. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. The oxidation is far better. The pipe looks good to my eye. The blast is stellar. Now all that remains is to fire this one up with one of the blends Al sent.