Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 03/05/2020 from an antique store in Logan, Utah, USA. This was a wreck of a pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. It was one of those pipes that when I look at I wonder why we picked it up. Only when I look closely can I seen the interesting grain around the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the topside of the shank and reads Bari [over] Dana. On the underside it is stamped Made in Denmark [over] the shape number 20. The dirty smooth finish was not able to hide the beauty of the grain around the bowl and shank. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. There were fills missing on the right side of the bowl near the top and also on the left side at the shank junction. There were some flaws on the underside and on the front of the bowl. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a heavy lava coat. The inner edge was so heavily coated that it to assess its condition. The stem was a black vulcanite oval, saddle stem stamped BARI on the top of the saddle. It had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It had a lot of oxidation and calcification on the first inch of the stem ahead of the button. The stem was in far better condition than the bowl. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work.Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim appeared to be OK under the cake and lava. It really was a dirty pipe but still had some interesting grain and features to the shape. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show some interesting cross grain. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the sides. Jeff took photos of the fills and flaws on the right side of the bowl near the top as well as the nicks and scratches on the left side of the shank.He also took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and reads as noted above. The top of the stem is stamped on the saddle BARI and was once filled in with white paint. It is also in good condition. Before I started working on the pipe I wanted to do a bit of work on the Bari Dana line to gather some information. I started with Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) and was surprised to find that the second photo in the post was a Bari Dana and that it was stamped exactly as the one I am working on. I have included a screen capture of the section and the side bar notes below.Brand founded by Viggo Nielsen in 1950 and sold to Van Eicken Tobaccos in 1978. At this time Age Bogelund managed Bari’s production. The company has been bought in 1993 by Helmer Thomsen. Bari’s second: Don, Proctus

I turned then to Pipedia to see there as anything on the Dana line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). There was nothing specific there. It did have a great short overview of the history of the company. I quote below.

Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding around the turn of 1950/51. Viggo’s sons Kai Nielsen and Jørgen Nielsen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975.

Bari had very successfully adapted the new Danish Design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for it’s own models. When Viggo Nielsen sold Bari in 1978 to Joh. Wilh. von Eicken GmbH in Hamburg Bari counted 33 employees.

From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipeproduction. Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993.

Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand. Thus, no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

So now I knew that I was working on an older one! The pipe was probably made between 1951-1975 when Viggo Nielsen was making pipes. Now it was time to start my work on the pipe.

I was looking forward to looking over the damages on the bowl and shank after Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. I was curious to know what was happening there. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. I examined the flaws and fills on the right side of the bowl at the top edge. Jeff’s scrubbing had lifted some of the nicks and scratches on the surface of the bowl and shank. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove any remaining grime on the surface and inside. The fit of the stem to the shank made it look like an original even though there was not a Stanwell logo on it. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top and the inner edge both looked very good. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the shank top and underside. It is clear and readable as noted above. You can also see the Bari stamp on the top of the saddle stem. I started my work on the pipe by addressing some of the darkening on the rim top and edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inward bevel of the rim top and edge. It looked much better.The next step in the work was to address the fills that were shrunken and the nicks that surrounded the bowl and shank surfaces. I used a clear super glue to fill them in and repair the damaged areas. Once the repairs cured I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start the process of blending them into the surface. I sanded the surface of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the repairs and blend them into the rest of the bowl. I also wanted to make the grain stand out more. The pipe looked so good that I started my work by polishing the smooth rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The pipe began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl.  I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I touched up the BARI stamp with white acrylic fingernail polish. I let it dry and then scraped off the excess and polished the stem with 1000 grit sanding pads. The stamping was faint but I was able to capture it to some degree.I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the Bari Dana Made in Denmark 20 Oval Shank Egg and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Bari Dana 20 Oval Shank Egg – the vulcanite saddle stem and smooth finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces /41 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.