Daily Archives: July 24, 2022

Restemming and Restoring a Heavily Smoked Meerschaum Bacchus Figural

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my table was a filthy meerschaum carved figural. Jeff believes that we got this meerschaum on 07/30/2019 from an online auction in Oceanside, New York, USA. It had some golden brown patina developed under the thick dark grime and tar on the face and leaf had of the figural. It also cover the rim top and the grapes on the shank. There was a thick cake in the bowl and a heavy build up of lava on the rim top. It really was a mess. The carving on the figural was very well done as were the leaves and grapes that made up the headdress. The stem was a replacement I believe as it was a soft acrylic that did not fit very well. Someone had fit the stem with a push tenon but the shank was threaded so it was a poor and sloppy fit. It was dirty and the airway was almost clogged with tars and oils. The surface of the button on the end had been chewed through and there were holes on both sides. Long and short of it the stem would need to be replaced yet again. Here are some photos Jeff took of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. It has a lot of potential and a lot of promise. Time and work will tell!He took photos of the bowl to clearly show the facial features of this well carved meerschaum. The features are really well done and the details are quite remarkable. The pipe should clean up really well and look quite amazing. It is certainly worth restemming. He took photos of the bowl from the side to show the carving details on the leave and grapes along the side of the bowl and shank. Even those details are quite well done. Jeff took a photo of the heel of the bowl. It was flat and the bowl sat as a sitter with the stem removed. It also has some scratches and nicks in the surface and debris in the carved swirls of the beard.The rim top and bowl were filthy. There was a thick cake on the walls of the bowl and a heavy overflow of lava on the rim top and top of the headdress. It was black, heavy and quite thick. The replacement stem was a disaster as well with major holes in the top and underside of the stem at the button and on the button itself. The photos of the stem show the odd placement of a push tenon in the stem end even though the shank is threaded. You can also see the split in the top side and the chewed end of the button and hole I the underside. Jeff did a remarkable job on the cleanup of this pipe. He reamed the bowl carefully with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the surface and crevices of the carved figural with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and leave behind the patina. He rinsed the bowl with warm water and dried it off with a clean cotton towel. He cleaned the internals of the bowl and shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to clean out the built up tars and oils that were present there. We through away the stem as it was very unusable. When the pipe arrived here it looked amazing and the features and the patina in the meerschaum is beautiful. I took photos of it when I brought it to the table this morning. I would need to restem it but it would be worth it. I started my work on the pipe by working on the darkening and damage on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and clean it. The finished edges looked much better.I went through my can of stems and found several that looked like they would work. I settled on gold/amber fancy turned acrylic stem that had a bone tenon in place. It would look great but had a few tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on the button edge and surface of the stem on both sides with clear CA glue. I set it aside to let the repairs cure. Once they had cured I reshaped the button edges and top with a small file. I smooth it out further and reshaped it with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final rubdown with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to cure. I set the stem aside and polished the meerschaum with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I worked some Clapham Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish into the meerschaum carving on the bowl. It is a combination of Mineral Oil, Beeswax and Carnauba Wax that works very well on waxing a bowl. I buffed it briskly with a cotton cloth to raise a shine and the bowl looks very good. Once again I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the nicely patinaed Bent Bacchus Meerschaum back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Clapham’s Beeswax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the patina colouring the meerschaum on the smooth and the grooves of the carving. Added to that the polished golden acrylic fancy saddle stem worked to give the pipe just the right touch. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ x 2 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 86 grams/3.03 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Ceramic and Meerschaum Pipes Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I remind us all of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Where did I get this Ben Wade Danish Hand Model 200 Freehand?

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I no longer remember where or when we purchased this pipe. It is a large attractive Freehand that has all the signs of being a Ben Wade. Sure enough it is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Ben Wade [over] Danish [over] Hand Model [over] 200 [over] Made in Denmark. The stamping was clear and readable. Even though the finish was dull and lifeless it showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. The finish is filthy with grime and oils ground into the smooth briar of the bowl and shank sides. The bowl had a thick cake that overflowed in heavy lava onto the plateau rim top filling in the grooves and valleys of the finish. The plateau shank end was also dirty with dust and debris in the grooves and valleys of the shank. The vulcanite stem was oxidized, dirty and had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and the lava on the plateau finish of the rim top. There is dust and debris stuck to the walls of the bowl clearly visible in the photos. I also took photos of the top and underside of the stem to show the chatter and tooth marks. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe. It is proportionally pleasing and quite an eye catching pipe.I knew that the Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to flesh out the knowledge of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement. I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

I started my work on the pipe reaming the thick cake out of the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using all four reaming heads. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I sanded until the walls of the bowl were smooth and clear. It was getting cleaner but the plateau and rim top still have a lot of lava on the top that needs to be cleaned off. I worked on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove as much of the lava buildup there. I was able to remove some of it and loosen it so that when I scrubbed it it would look better. I worked on the smooth inner edge with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked to remove as much of the darkening and tars as I could possible with the sandpaper. I loosened the debris with the sandpaper so that when I scrubbed it with the soap it would look better.Now it was time to let the Murphy’s Oil Soap do its magic. I scrubbed the bowl and shank with undiluted soap and a tooth brush and rinsed it off with running water. I worked on the plateau rim top and smooth briar to clean up the dust and debris in the finish. While the rim top looked better it still needed some more work to remove the darkening on the top and edges of the bowl. I touched up the black in the valleys of the plateau on the top and the end of the shank with a Black Sharpie Pen. It matched the existing black in the crevices/valleys. When finished it definitely looked good.I lightly sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining darkening and it looked very good. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was quite dirty inside the shank and airway in the stem. It came out very clean and looks very good. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. The briar really took on a rich shine with the polishing. With the bowl and shank clean there was still a strong ghost of aromatics wafting from the clean bowl. I decided to deghost it with cotton bolls and isopropyl alcohol. I stuffed the bowl with the cotton bolls and used an ear syringe to fill it with alcohol. I twisted a cotton boll and made a wick to insert in the shank. In the morning when I checked it the cotton was brown in the bowl and the wick in the shank is dark with oils. The alcohol had done its job. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to clean, revive and preserve the wood. It really brings the grain alive once again. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The grain really pops at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed it with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the oxidation as much as possible. It took a bit of elbow grease but it was significantly cleaner when I was finished. I sanded the tooth marks and chatter out around the button with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with some Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down a final time with Obsidian Oil. The stem looked very good. As always I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the Ben Wade Hand Model 400 Made in Denmark Freehand back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the smooth portions and the variety of colour in the rustication. Added to that the polished vulcanite fancy saddle stem was a beautiful touch. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1inch. The weight of the pipe is 65 grams/2.26 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. I remind us all of the fact that we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Reviving a Lovely Stanwell Liverpool

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is beautiful Danish pipe from Stanwell. I acquired it locally from the estate of an old boy who kept a lovely collection of pipes. The shape of this pipe is a Liverpool – a member of the Canadian pipe family. For some reason, the Liverpool is far less common than the Canadian. Both types have a shank length 1½ to 2 times the height of the bowl. The difference between the two is as follows: the Canadian has an oval-shaped shank whereas the Liverpool has a round-shaped shank. This Stanwell Liverpool is so charming that I was tempted to keep for myself, but, as a life-long Manchester United fan, I cannot have anything named Liverpool in my home! As I mentioned, this is a Stanwell de Luxe 298 Liverpool. It has beautiful briar from the bowl all the way down the long shank to a short-but-elegant stem. The left side of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] de Luxe. The right side of the shank reads Fine Briar [over] 298. Finally, the stem’s left side also has the trademark S of the Stanwell company. Of course, 298 refers to the model number and I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes, here on Reborn Pipes. There was no 298 on this list. Hmm. Well, I did find some images from an old Stanwell catalogue (rather vaguely dated as 1960-70). The image below does not mention a shape “298”, but it does show a “98” which looks very similar to the pipe I have. I am assuming that there is a connection.I know from information at Pipephil that the pipe I have is certainly more than 50 years old – and this corresponds to the catalogue above. My pipe has both the “Regd. No.” and the S logo without a crown. This screen capture explains that clearly.Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.

Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, though not too beat up. There were some small scratches and a couple of bite marks, as well as some oxidation and calcification on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel was blackened and a bit burnt – that would need to be addressed. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. In addition, there was a strange colour to the wood that just wasn’t right. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. There was enough calcification on the stem that I decided to take a blade and gently scrape it off. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this out. Then, I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It wasn’t too dirty and only required a few pipe cleaners.I then wiped down the stem with SoftScrub cleaner to remove some surface oxidation. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. As the name suggests, this liquid removes oxidation, but, more than anything, it helps draw oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. This allows me to clean the oxidation off in a couple of ways: both by applying a mild abrasive cleaner to the surface, then by sanding the stem. The next day, I used SoftScrub again with some cotton rounds and, as you can see, more revolting colour came off the stem.The bite marks on and around the button had to be dealt with, so I whipped out my black cyanoacrylate adhesive to fill those in and let them fully cure. After curing, I used some nail polish to restore the letter S on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.For sanding the adhesive, I used 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. Then I used a set of nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) which gradually erased the ravages of time and brought out the stem’s lovely black lustre. For the last five pads, I also lightly coated the stem with Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each scrubbing. At last, I set the finished stem aside. Off to work on the stummel! The bowl needed a bit of reaming, so I used the PipNet Reamer to scrape off the built-up cake and I followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. Generally, I prefer to sand the chamber down to bare briar. When restoring, it is important to ensure that there is no damage to the briar in the bowl, under the cake. Fortunately, there were no hidden flaws to the briar on this pipe. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was a bit of filth inside this stummel and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the rim of the pipe. With the lava on the rim removed, I could see that the burn marks remained (see the photo below).In order to remove the remaining burns, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. I enhanced this further by running the same sandpaper along the inside edge of the rim and creating a very subtle (and beautiful) chamfer. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe. This is always a tricky business – I want to find the balance between removing old burns and maintaining as much of the pipe as possible. But I believe that the photos at the end of this blog show that I got the balance right.

As I mentioned earlier, there were some remnants of an oxblood-like stain on the wood. I’m not sure if this was the original colour of the pipe or if it was added later, but – regardless – it didn’t look good at all. I hoped (and expected) that sanding would help this problem. I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to make it lovely and smooth. However, not all of the colour was gone, so I removed it with 99% isopropyl alcohol and other stuff I had on hand. It looked so much better with that colour gone.

At this point, I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 10 or 15 minutes. I brushed it with a horsehair brush and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The BARB does wonderful things to the wood, and I really like the natural colour of the briar. Finally, it was off for a trip to the bench polisher. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were the perfect complement to the briar. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful. This pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. I thoroughly enjoyed bringing this Stanwell de Luxe 298 Liverpool back to life and I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “Danish” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Stanwell are as follows: length 6 in. (152 mm); height 2 in. (50 mm); bowl diameter 1⅛ in. (29 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (33 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.