by Steve Laug

It was a sunny fall day in Boise when Dick Egelston walked past Thayne’s carved cigar store Indian and into the House of Robertson pipe shop. Like Thayne, he had pipe in his mouth and smoke curling out behind his head and greeted his friend Thayne. They knew each other for a long time as both of them were involved in the business community of Boise, Idaho and both belonged to several of the same organizations. Over the years they had become friends. Dick picked up his tobaccos and more than a few pipes from House of Robertson’s. He commented more than once that he was personal keeping Thayne’s business afloat with is purchases. Today, Thayne greeted him with a surprise. He had carved Dick a pipe. It was a square shank bent Billiard with some great grain around the bowl and a few swirls of rustication and some plateau on the heel on the right side. What made this one particularly special was Thayne or Jon, his son had etched Dick’s name on the right side of the shank. I think Dick must have been delighted with this pipe made for him by his friend. I know I would have been. To have both a pipe carved by Thayne and one that had his name etched on would have been a double delight.

Just to set the record straight the story above is from my imagination but I don’t think it is far off from the facts. To the left are a photo of a young Thayne Robertson with a pipe in his mouth and an older Dick Egleston. I know that Dick Egleston was part of the Shriner’s organization in Boise and I know Thayne was a Mason and was well aware of the work of the Shriners (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/31/house-of-robertson-pipes-boise-pipe-carver-thayne-robertson/). From what I can find both were Masons. I know that both were in business in the Boise area and that both smoked a pipe. The day of the pipe’s delivery to Dick is purely my imagination. When we purchased the pipe, I thought it would be interesting to do some research on Dick’s name. I found an obituary for him dated October 12, 2020. It stated that he died at the age of 97. The obituary links him and the family to the Boise and the surrounding area (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/idahostatesman/name/richard-egelston-obituary?id=7848148). My assumption is that the pipe I am working on belonged to this very same Dick Egelston. Of course, I cannot prove that it did, but I think it is a fair guess. How the pipe went from Boise and the estate of Dick to the seller in Baton Rouge, Louisiana I don’t think will ever be clear. We contacted the seller and he does not remember who he purchased it from. But really, you can make up your own story of the travels of this name pipe that bears the name of both the maker and the recipient. It is a fun process to enter into and one that always adds colour to any pipe I work on. Now let’s look at the pipe itself.

It is a Bent Billiard that has a square shank and saddle stem. It is smooth with some rustications on the front and sides. It also seems to have a bit of plateau on the right side of the heel of the bowl and Thayne used plateau area to inform the rustications. The name House of Robertson is hand-etched with an engraving tool on the left side of the shank and the name Dick Egelston is etched on the right side. The bowl is thickly caked with some lava overflow on the rim top. The outer and inner edges of the rim have some nicks from the pipe being knocked out against a hard surface. The pipe was dirty but underneath all of the grime it appears to be in excellent condition. It is definitely an interesting pipe that has a story connected to the names. It should clean up very well. The fit of the stem to the shank was good. The vulcanite saddle stem was oxidized and calcified. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started the cleanup.Jeff took photos show the condition of the bowl and the stem. The photos of the bowl and rim show the cake in the bowl and the lava overflowing onto the rim top. The rustication on the top of the bowl and the inner and outer edge of the rim are pretty well covered in lava. It was hard to know what the inner edge and top really looked like until we cleaned it. The silver cosmetic band was heavily oxidized and almost black. The taper stem was oxidized, calcified and had a lot of tooth marks and chatter both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the condition of the finish but more importantly the grain under the grime. The combination of rustication patches, plateau and smooth finishes give the bowl a unique look. The next photos show the etched or engraved with a name of House of Robertson on the left side of the shank and the name, Dick Egelston on the right side of shank. Some people find these personalized pipes a bit of a pain but to me it always creates a lot of speculation about the man (in this case anyway) who bought the pipe. I am including the information that I found when I received my first of the House of Robertson Pipes. I found a link on Pipedia that gave me the only information I could find on the brand. I include that in total as it is interesting to read.

“House of Robertson” was in business for many years, but alas, closed their doors in 1999. They were located in Boise, Idaho. They are noted for making rather large and interesting pipes. Thayne Robertson was a Master Mason, AF & AM, and started the shop about 1947 and his son Jon started working there in 1970 when he finished college, along with Thayne’s daughter. Thayne and his son started making the big pipes at that time, and made them together until 1987 when Thayne passed away. Jon kept the store and his sister moved on to other things. The House of Robertson appears to have closed around 1999 (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Robertson).

Since then I have worked on a lot of House of Robertson pipes and have been able to track down more information. I am including a link to a Catalogue that I picked up on eBay. Click on the link and have a look at this interesting book of information on the brand and the pipe maker himself (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/12/11/a-house-of-robertson-catalogue-filled-with-great-examples-of-thayne-robertsons-work/).

I am also including a biography of Thayne Robertson that I found on Facebook from a fellow in Boise, Idaho. It is an interesting glimpse into the mind of the pipe maker. Make sure to take time to read it (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/31/house-of-robertson-pipes-boise-pipe-carver-thayne-robertson/).

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. When it gets to Vancouver it my turn to contribute to its restoration. Jeff did a great job cleaning the pipe on the inside and outside. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remnants with the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, shank brushes, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the dust in the rusticated spots on the bowl and shank as well as the smooth portions. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. Once the dust and debris were removed the finish was dull but appeared to be in excellent condition. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it under warm water to remove the deoxidizer gel solution. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. There is some darkening and nicks on the top and inner edge of the rim. The stem tooth marks and chatter are visible. The ones on the topside of the stem are worse than those on the underside.I took a photo of the engraving on the underside of the shank. It is clear and reads as noted above. I also took the stem off the pipe and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is a beauty. I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the darkening on the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better when finished. I worked over the rim top with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth and polish the damaged areas and blend them into the surface of the briar. Once I finished it looked much better and the colour of the rim matched the rest of the bowl very well. I polished the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. The bowl and rim took on a beautiful shine. I would not need to stain the rim top as the match was very good. I worked Before & After Restoration Balm deep into the finish to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I rubbed it into the briar with my fingers and a shoe brush to work it into the finish then set it aside to dry for 10-15 minutes. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. The rim top is looking much better. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The rustication on the bowl stands out with interesting lines moving across the sides of the bowl and the heel. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the vulcanite surface with the flame of a lighter – constantly moving the flame over the tooth marks and was able to lift many of them. I filled in those that remained with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I flattened the repairs with needle files. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the surface. I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished out the scratch marks left behind by the sandpaper. The stem looked very good.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside. I put the House of Robertson Bent Billiard with a square shank and saddle stem back together and worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the stem. I buffed the bowl and stem to raise the gloss on the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. Dick Egelton’s finished the House of Robertson Bent Billiard is shown in the photos below. The medium brown stains on the rusticated spots, plateau and smooth finishl works well with the rich black of the vulcanite stem. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ½ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ inches. The weight of the pipe is 42 grams/1.45 ounces. This is an interesting piece of briar with a great back story. I really like how the briar and the vulcanite work well together. This one will soon be on the rebornpipes store, in the American Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding a House of Robertson to your collection this may well be the one for you. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration process.