Daily Archives: March 17, 2021

Repairing a Trio of His Dad’s Pipes for a fellow here in Vancouver – Part 3

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a call from a fellow pipeman, Keith here in Vancouver who had been referred to me by City Cigar, a local pipe and cigar shop in the city. He was a soft spoken gentleman who had a request for me. In January  this year his Dad died and he had three of his Dad’s pipes that he wanted restored in memory of his Dad. He also was a pipe smoker so he fully intended to enjoy them for a long time as he smoked them in his Dad’s honour. I told him to send me some photos of the pipes so I would know what I was dealing with.

I received the email below from Keith that included the photos of the pipes that he wanted me to work on. He even went to the trouble of marking the trouble with each of the pipes that needed work.

Hi Steve,

Glad your call back today, my name is Keith, I got your contact from City Cigar. My dad has three pipes include two Dr Plumb DINKY and one not sure brand. My dad passed this year January and I looking for fix those pipes which had broken and cracked, understand they are not expensive pipes but for me is priceless memory…

…Have a wonderful day!

Best regards

Keith

I called him as soon as I received the photos and talked over what I saw when I looked them over. We struck a deal and he dropped them off to me late on Friday afternoon and I started to work on them a bit over the weekend. All three pipes needed varying degrees of work on them. Two were Dr. Plumb Dinky Bent Billiards and one was a Real Briar Dublin. I decided to work on them in the order of the photos that he sent me. I completed the restoration of the first one and posted the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/03/16/repairing-a-trio-of-his-dads-pipes-for-a-fellow-here-in-vancouver-part-one/). I finished the second Dr. Plumb Dinky Bent Billiard as well (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/03/17/repairing-a-trio-of-his-dads-pipes-for-a-fellow-here-in-vancouver-part-two/). Give them a read.

The third of them is Real Briar Straight Billiard. It was in rough shape with burn damage on the rim top and inner edge as well as many fills that were damaged around the bowl. There was a crack in the shank on the top side. The rim top was damaged on both the front side and there was a thick cake in the bowl. In the first two photos show what the pipe looks like as a whole. You can see the damage on the outer edge of the rim on both as well as the damage at the stem shank junction. The third photo Keith included show the damage to the rim top – he identifies it as ring damage. The crack in the top of the shank is also visible in the photo. I took pictures of the pipe when Keith dropped it off before I started my clean up work. The rim top was darkened and damaged with burn and charring on the front left rim top and inner edge. It appeared to also have been lit with a torch lighter. There were chips around the outer edge of the bowl and shrunken fills in the finish. You can also see the crack in the topside of the shank at the end of the shank. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the condition of the bowl and the rim. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl as noted above and shown in the photo below. The cracked shank is also visible. I also took photos of the stem to show the general condition as noted above.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank – it was clear and readable (though double stamped) and read REAL BRIAR.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. There is something quite winsome about this pipe though it was a little bigger than the two Dr. Plumb Dinky Bent Billiards.  I took a photo of the crack and damaged shank. It was missing a piece of briar and was a significant issue. The stem had been held in place with a build up of wax or white glue around the tenon. Fortunately it had dried before being put on the shank.I decided to address the cracked shank first. Interestingly it turned back on itself so it was not going further up the shank. The missing chip was the other side of the crack. That made this quite simple. I squeezed the shank together and pressed some briar dust into the crack. While holding it I dribbled some CA glue in the crack and held it until the glue cured. I filled in the spots on the shank again with CA and more briar dust until they were smooth. I put a small bead of glue around the shank end and pressed the band I had chosen for the shank onto it. It was a snug fit and the glue would guarantee the fit to the shank. That was the end of the crack. I topped the bowl on a topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to remove the damage to the rim top and minimize the damage to the inner and outer edges.I paused and took photos of the banded shank to give an idea of that it looked like repaired and banded. I finished topping the bowl and gave the inner edge a bevel to minimize the damage on the front inner edge. The pipe was beginning to look very good.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife. I took the cake back to bare briar and the bowl looked to be in good condition under the cake.I filled in the badly damaged fills around the bowl with clear CA glue and then sanded them smooth to blend them into the surface of the briar. I sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads to remove the shiny varnish coat and then restained the bowl with a light brown stain. I applied the stain then flamed it to set in the briar. I repeated the process until the coverage was acceptable. I set the bowl aside for an hour and let the stain coat cure.Once the stain had cured I wiped it down with a cotton pad and alcohol to make it more transparent. There was not a lot of grain around the bowl but I really wanted to give the bowl a sense of depth. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad with a damp cloth. As the finish becomes more transparent I like what I see. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Earlier, when I was working on the first Dinky pipe I had taken the stem out of the Briarville Pipe Stem Deoxidizer Bath and dried it off with a cotton pad. It looked better. I scrubbed the softened oxidation with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleaner and removed the remaining oxidation. I cleaned out the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners and it was surprisingly clean. I went back and did the same with the shank and it also was relatively clean other than the debris from when I reamed the bowl.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. With the bowl and the stem finished I put the third pipe – a Real Briar Straight Dublin, back together and buffed it on the wheel using Blue Diamond to give it a shine. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It really is a great looking pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are – Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of this small pipe is .88 ounces /25 grams. This third pipe from the estate is a small Real Briar Dublin that will be another great reminder for Keith of his Dad’s pipe smoking and one that he can enjoy for a long time. With the completion of the last of the pipes I am sure he will want to pick them up soon. Once he does he will be excited to load them with a memorable tobacco and slip back into the memories of his Dad. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Repairing a Trio of His Dad’s Pipes for a fellow here in Vancouver – Part Two

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a call from a fellow pipeman, Keith here in Vancouver who had been referred to me by City Cigar, a local pipe and cigar shop in the city. He was a soft spoken gentleman who had a request for me. In January  this year his Dad died and he had three of his Dad’s pipes that he wanted restored in memory of his Dad. He also was a pipe smoker so he fully intended to enjoy them for a long time as he smoked them in his Dad’s honour. I told him to send me some photos of the pipes so I would know what I was dealing with.

I received the email below from Keith that included the photos of the pipes that he wanted me to work on. He even went to the trouble of marking the trouble with each of the pipes that needed work.

Hi Steve,

Glad your call back today, my name is Keith, I got your contact from City Cigar. My dad has three pipes include two Dr Plumb DINKY and one not sure brand. My dad passed this year January and I looking for fix those pipes which had broken and cracked, understand they are not expensive pipes but for me is priceless memory…

…Have a wonderful day!

Best regards

Keith

I called him as soon as I received the photos and talked over what I saw when I looked them over. We struck a deal and he dropped them off to me late on Friday afternoon and I started to work on them a bit over the weekend. All three pipes needed varying degrees of work on them. Two were Dr. Plumb Dinky Bent Billiards and one was a Real Briar Dublin. I decided to work on them in the order of the photos that he sent me. I completed the restoration of the first one and posted the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/03/16/repairing-a-trio-of-his-dads-pipes-for-a-fellow-here-in-vancouver-part-one/). Give it a read.

The second Dr. Plum Dinky Bent Billiard was in better shape than the first one. There were no cracks in the bowl or shank. The issues on this pipe were caused when Keith smoked it and lit it with a cigar torch lighter. The rim top was damaged on both the right and the left sides and there was a thick cake in the bowl. In the first two photos show what the pipe looks like as a whole. On the second you can see some darkening on the right side of the outer edge of the rim. It is identical in make and shape to the previous repair. The third photo Keith included show the damage to the rim top – he identifies it as ring damage. I took pictures of the pipe when Keith dropped it off before I started my clean up work. It was much dirtier than the first pipe. The bowl had a thick cake in it and the rim top was damaged on both the right and left top and inner edges. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the condition of the bowl and the rim. You can see the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl as noted above and shown in the photo below by the red arrows. I also took photos of the stem to show the general condition as noted above. There is also a deep tooth marks on both the top and the underside of the stem near the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank – it read the same as the first of the trio that I worked on – Dr. Plumb [over] Dinky and was clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. There is something quite winsome about this tiny pipe.I have included some information on the Dr. Plumb brand and the history in the previous blog on the first Dinky pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/03/16/repairing-a-trio-of-his-dads-pipes-for-a-fellow-here-in-vancouver-part-one/). Give the blog a read if you are curious about the background.

Now it was time to work on this pipe. It was more used and dirty than the previous pipe and had different issues that I would need to address. I reamed the bowl with a PipeNet pipe reamer to remove the thick cake. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. It came out looking significantly better.I cleaned the rim top with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. I rebuilt the inner edge of the bowl and the rim top using clear CA glue and briar dust. I layered it on a layer of glue, a layer of dust and repeated the process until it was even with the rest of the rim top. I used a brass bristle brush while it was still curing to match the rustication on the rest of the rim top and edge. I am happy with the way it turned out. I stained the finished rim top with a Maple stain pen to match the colour on the bowl sides. The CA and briar dust dries darker so the rim top looks darker than the over all bowl in the photos but it is not as dark as it appears. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. As I looked at these photos it dawned on me at this point that I had not cleaned the shank. I had been so busy working on the rim edge and top that I had not stopped to clean out the bowl and shank. I scrubbed it with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It was quite dirty so I am glad I remembered. I wiped out the bowl with alcohol and cotton pads to remove the briar dust from the repair.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I removed it from the deoxidizer bath and it did not really look much better. It had the same heavy oxidation as the previous stem. I scrubbed it down with Soft Scrub and a cotton pad. I found that the oxidation was significantly softer and came off quite easily.I scrubbed out the airway in the pipe with alcohol and pipe cleaners until it was clean. It was a well used pipe. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth dents in the vulcanite. I was able to lift the majority of them and I filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them in the rest of the stem surface. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. With the bowl and the stem finished I put the second tiny GBD Made Dr. Plumb Dinky Bent Billiard back together and buffed it on the wheel using Blue Diamond to give it a shine. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It really is a great looking pipe. The dimensions of the pipe are – Length: 4 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of this small pipe is .85 ounces /24 grams. This second small Dr. Plumb Dinky is another great reminder for Keith of his Dad’s Pipe smoking and one that he can enjoy for a long time. Once I finish the last of the pipes I am sure he will be excited to load them with a memorable tobacco and slip back into the memories of his Dad. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.