Blog by Steve Laug

For a long time now I have had an eye out for a Falcon Dual Pipe Reamer. I have bid on several and lost every time in the last seconds to a sniper. This time I avoided the auction and bought it on Facebook from pipesmoker in England. I paid for it and promptly forgot about – things have been so busy around here that I did not think about it again. This afternoon when I got home from work Bob’s package was waiting for me. I cut the tape on the envelope and a small cardboard shipping tube was inside. I turned the top of the tube off and took out the bubble wrapped piece that was inside. I removed the bubble wrap and the reamer was in my hands. The photo below shows the reamer as it was when I removed it from its packaging.I twisted the top or cap on the clear plastic case and looked at the end cap of the reamer. It was really clear and readable. There was the end of a spring poking through the top on the insert of the cap.The cutting blades of the reamer were spring-loaded and as I removed the tool from the plastic cover the blades expanded. The next two photos show the blades expanded to the shape of a Falcon bowl. This was a unique reamer that I had read about but I had never seen up close. Now I had one in hand. I wanted to understand how it worked and get some idea if there were originally instructions that came with the reamer. So I did a bit of hunting on the internet to see if I could find any packaging or leaflets. I was not surprised to find a lot of photos of reamers that came in a variety of colours from cream to black. There were no photos of the battle ship grey one that I had in hand. I did find a few photos of the box the reamer came in. The reamer in the photo differs from mine only in colour. But the box is what intrigued me. On the cover was a picture of the reamer with cutting blades on the lower nose of the tool that fit in the hole in the bottom of the Falcon or Alco bowl. The upper blades angle the same way that the inner walls of the bowl do. With both sets of blades the bowl and airway are reamed simultaneously. The left side reads Falcon Dual Pipe Reamer and under that it says Made Specially For Falcon & Alco Pipes. The lower line reads The Falcon Pipe Group LTD – Commerce Road – Brentford – Middlesex. The end of the box reads Falcon Dual Reamer Made in England. The end of the reamer in the photo below has the same insert as the one I received. It reads Falcon Dual Reamer arced over Patent & Regd. Design Pending Made in England. On another side of the box there are instructions for using the reamer. I know that you can probably read it for yourself but I could not help myself from wanting to include the text here. It reads:

Instructions
To remove surplus carbon from inside your Falcon or Alco pipe, remove the bowl from the stem and place the Dual Reamer in the bowl, turning gently until the base aperture is clear of carbon. The spring-loaded cutting edges of the Reamer will then be in contact with the carbon deposit inside the bowl. Turn gently but firmly until approximately one-sixteenth of an inch of carbon cake remains on the inside of the bowl.Now I not only have a Falcon Dual Pipe Reamer but I have photos of the box with instructions for proper used of the tool. Thanks Bob for this addition to my collection of reamers. It makes a great looking piece in the centre of all of my other reamers.