Daily Archives: July 6, 2016

A Beautifully Grained Jobey Designer Cauldron Lay Under Thick Varnish

Blog by Steve Laug

When I was visiting in Idaho my brother Jeff pulled out this Jobey box and handed it to me to look at. I had no idea what to expect once I opened the box. I have cleaned up a lot of Jobey pipes over the years and have really liked the rusticated Jobey Stromboli pipes with their colourful stems and deep rough surfaces. I have seen others that were pretty but nothing spectacular. I turned the box over in my hands to see if there were any hints on the outside what was hidden under the lid but there was nothing – just the classic red box with the Jobey Pipe logo on the lid.I opened the box to have a look and was surprised. What was inside was actually a really nice looking pipe at first glance. It was stamped on the left side of the shank Jobey over DESIGNER and on the right side of the shank D80 over HANDMADE. The stem was Lucite with a variety of brown tones that ran at an angle across the stem. The finish looked funny to me in that for a handmade pipe it was rough textured. I expected it to be silky smooth but it was rough to the touch and there were brush marks all over the surface. It looked to me like someone had brushed on a thick coat of varnish to give the pipe a perma-shine. The box also had the red pipe sleeve and a Jobey Polishing Cloth in the lid.Inside the polishing cloth package there was also a cloth for treating the stem. Both were Jobey specialty products. The Jobey sock is slightly worn.I took the leaflet out of the top of the box to have a look and it was a fun read. It reads: “The Jobey Pipe Guarantee, Limited Warranty. Should any Jobey pipe burn out within 90 days of normal usage, a new bowl will be furnished by us without charge. Shanks and mouthpieces are not guaranteed, but may be repaired for a moderate charge. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which may vary from state to state. Return the burned out bowl with a request for bowl replacement to: – Hollco International Repair Department, 37 Warren St., New York, NY 10007.”

The other side reads: “This Pipe has the “Jobey Link” U.S. Pat.No. 3537462. The unique “Jobey Link” is the first big breakthrough in high quality pipe mounting. There is no metal. Easy to repair – just ask your dealer for an economical replacement “Jobey Link” it keeps your pipe permanently mounted without loosening up. The “Jobey Link” is precision threaded into the briar, but is still adjustable within the stem so that it always lines up straight. If the “Jobey Link” becomes difficult to unscrew use a coin in the convenient unscrewing slot (X). The “Jobey Link” comes in 4 sizes, small, medium short, medium long and large.”I took some photos of the pipe to show how the varnish coat had muddied the finish and hid the grain as well as hopefully captured some of the brush strokes. Under the varnish on the rim on the back inner edge of the bowl there was also some tar that had been painted over. I took some close-up photos of the rim and the stamping on the shank. In those photos you can clearly see the tar on the rim, the clear stamping on the shank and the brush strokes of the varnish on the pipe. I was hopeful that the shiny coat on the bowl was not urethane but merely varnish. The muddiness of the finish and the way it felt in the hand made me hopeful. I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads and was amazed at how easily it came off. I was really happy that I was not dealing with a plastic coat. I scrubbed it repeatedly until the grain clearly showed. The bowl was still rough under the varnish so I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I scrubbed the internals of the mortise and airway in the shank to clean out any build up in the threads and airway. I used cotton swabs and alcohol and found that it was really quite clean. I remove the Jobey Link from the end of the stem and cleaned out the airway in the link and the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol.I threaded the Jobey Link into the end of the shank and set it then pushed the stem in place on the other end of the link.I reamed the bowl back to bare briar with the Savinelli Pipe Knife.I wet sanded the Lucite stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and wiped it down with a cotton pad. I sanded 3200-4000 and wiped it down again. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads to finish polishing it. I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil and then buffed it and the stem with Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Personally I have never seen a Jobey quite like this one. The carver who did the work captured the lay of the grain extremely well with it flowing up the shank. The new oil and wax finish really went well with the brown striated Lucite stem. Thanks for looking.

A Stellar Find – A GBD Prestige 1451 Oval Shank Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I was looking through the box of pipes I brought home from my brother’s when I visited recently and came across a beautiful example of a GBD Prestige pipe. It is stamped GBD in the oval and Prestige below that on the top of the shank. It sports an oxidized silver band stamped Sterling in an arch across the top. It has some stunning grain and is an oval shank. On the bottom side of the shank it is stamped 1451 which according to the GBD shape charts is an oval shank Canadian. This one however does not look like a Canadian to me. It is a nice looking billiard. The stem is clear Perspex and was in decent shape. It has the brass GBD roundel on top of the stem. I took some close-up photos of the pipe. The first shows the stamping on top of the shank. It is very legible and sharp. The second shows the build up on the rim and the cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the rim are sharp and show no damage.The Perspex stem is actually surprisingly clean. Often the airway and slot on these older stems is stained a deep brown from the tobacco smoke and it is a bear to get out. This one however had minimal staining and most of that is in the slot on the end of the button and on the tenon itself. There was also some light tooth chatter on the top and bottom of the stem at the button.I was hoping that the build up on the rim could be scrubbed off so that is where I started. I used cotton pads and saliva and was able to remove most of the tars and lava. I used 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to clean it up further. Other than some slight darkening of the beveled rim it came out clean.I polished the silver band with some silver polish and a jeweler’s polishing cloth and was able to remove all of the tarnish without scratching or damaging the band.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. It was slightly bigger than the second cutting head so I used the Savinelli Pipe Knife to remove the remainder of the cake. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper.I scrubbed out the airway and mortise in the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until all of the tars and oils were gone. Fortunately this pipe was well cared for and it did not take too many cleaners before they came out clean.The stem was another story. Never use alcohol on Perspex stems as it causes them to craze and crack. I scrubbed out the airway and slot with pipe cleaners dipped in Soft Scrub cleanser until the airway was once again clear. The slot took a little more work. When the pipe was made the slot work was rough and sloppy so the dark stains filled in grooves and scratches internally that no amount of scrubbing would remove. I used a round, oval and a flat oval needle file to clean up the roughness of the slot and remove the stains from those spots. I rinsed the inside of the stem with cool water to remove the scrubbing compound. The stem came out reasonably well in my opinion. There were a few brown stains that I was not able to remove but they are minimal. They will show up in the final photos of the pipe.I wet sanded the tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides of the stem at the button using 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. I sanded with those until the tooth chatter was gone. I was fortunate that none of the tooth marks were very deep. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and finished by wiping the stem down with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While there are some small brown stains in the button area it is clean. I think you will agree that it is a stunning example of a GBD Prestige. The grain and the stem work really well together and the factory installed silver band sets off the pipe with a touch of class. Thanks for looking.