Daily Archives: November 22, 2024

Refreshing a Nording F Danmark Corkscrew Freehand

by Steve Laug

It was time to work on another of the pipes that Jeff and I purchased. We bought some pipes from a contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/16/2023. There were some nice pipes in the assortment from a variety of ranges. The next pipe on my worktable comes from that collection. This one is a straight, corkscrew shank Freehand with a plateau rim top and shank end. It had a diamond saddle vulcanite stem. The rim top is plateau and is stained black and the rest is stained with rich red and black stain. The shape follows the grain of the block of briar very well. The twisted shank with fins is lovely. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank on one of the fins with an F [over] DANMARK [over] NORDING. There is no other stamping on the pipe. The stem does not have the expected Nording N anywhere on the sides or top. The pipe was very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and some debris and lava overflowing on to the plateau rim top. The plateau on the shank end was also dirty. The finish appeared to be in good condition. The stem was lightly oxidized and had some light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. He took a photo of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava in the surface of the plateau. The bowl is dirty but it must have been a great smoking pipe. There was also dust and debris in the plateau finish on the shank end. The stem looked dirty and oxidized with bite marks and tooth chatter on the stem was light and should not take too much work to remedy. The light oxidation was another issue that would need to be addressed. The next photos show the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the beauty of the grain around the bowl of the pipe. Under the grime there is some great grain peeking through. Jeff took photos of the stamping to capture the clarity of it even under the grime. The stamping is faint but readable. Holding the pipe stem down the stamping is F [over] DANMARK [over] NORDING.Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to learn more about where this pipe fit into the Nording lines so I turned to the first of two sites that I always check to gather information on a brand. I turned first to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B8rding). Nording’s were exclusively freehand shapes, graded from A, B, C, D, up to its highest grade, extra. Later an “F” grade was added—less expensive than the “A.”

I did find a great collage of photos of Erik Nording.I turned to the second information site – Pipephil’s (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-n2.html) did not find any more helpful information on the Nording Danmark stamp.

Armed with the information on the F stamp being added at a later time I knew a bit about the pipe at hand. I turned to address the pipe itself. Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. 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 heavy overflow of lava on the rim top. 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 Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation. 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 photos of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the incredibly thick cake and lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. The inner edge of the bowl was in very good condition and was smooth to the touch. The rim top and edges looked very good. The stem looked very good and was much cleaner. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took a photo to try and capture the stamping on the shank side. It was faint but readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe sans stem to show the proportions of this unique beauty.I decided to start with polishing the briar 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 bowl began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. 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 plateau top. After it sat for a little while 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 and the corkscrew shank is remarkable. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. The tooth chatter was light enough that I figured micromesh would do the trick. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite even after the micromesh regimen. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the Nording F Danmark Corkscrew Freehand and took the pipe to the buffer. I carefully 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. The pipe polished up really nicely with a great contrasting stain look to the briar. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a unique Nording F Corkscrew Freehand for me – the diamond saddle stem gives the pipe a great look. The polished black vulcanite stem looks really good with the reds and blacks standing out in the grain. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 5/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restoring a JHW (Jack H. Weinberger) Fluted Tulip freehand with a saddle stem

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By Steve Laug

When Jeff and I were contacted about an estate in Santa Cruz, California, USA for sale I was excited to see what was in the lot. There were several with no other stamping on the shank than JHW. I have to say that I have seen very few JHW pipes and my heart skipped a beat when I saw not just one but 7 pipes with that stamping. All were Freehands and all were very unique – maybe even odd you might say! We purchased the estate on 05/28/2024.I am working on the last of the seven pipes. By now you know who JHW is. But maybe not so I ask again why so excited about three initials? Well I have to tell you right up front that JHW is Jack H. Weinberger. Who is that? That does not help either? Jack H. Weinberger was a pipe maker in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Still not helping? He hired young lads from the local high school to help him out as he carved 10-12 hours a day. Two of these are none other than Curt Rollar and Mark Tinsky went on to become the American Pipe Company. There was a long list of pipe carving luminaries who came through Jack’s shop and JHW pipes but these two you probably have heard of. So JHW or Jack H. Weinberger was an important part of the American Pipemaking scene and gave many carvers a start and they have continued to this day. Now maybe you understand my excitement – being able to work on a few of Jack’s pipes and bring them back to their former glory.

This pipe I chose to work on was another unusual one. It is a great piece of briar with a mix of grain all the way around the bowl and shank and a tulip shaped incorporated into the fluted and smooth portions of the bowl. It is a beautiful piece of briar! He made a carved, fluted style Tulip Billiard shaped pipe. The front, back and sides of the bowl have some nice straight grain. The rim top has the points of the petals around a thin flat rim top edge. Very unusual but something just calls out to you. When the pipe came to us it was dirty with grime ground into the finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the rim top and inner edge. There appeared to be some darkening around the inner edge of the rim, the top and on the sides of the bowl. It was dirty but that did not hide the beauty of the briar. The stem is a saddle made out of vulcanite. There was light chatter on both sides just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe as a whole before he started his cleanup work. I include them below. Jeff took some close up shots of the rim top to show the bowl and cake. You can see the lava on the rim top and the inner edge. The stem photos also show the condition it was in when we received it. Lots of promise with the pipe but some work too! Jeff took some photos of the sides – top, bottom, left and right to give a sense of the lay of the pipe on the block of briar. It is certainly unusual and unique. Here are some photos of the stamping on the left side of the shank. I think this must be an older stamp of JHW as the J is a part of the uppercase HW. It is the only one I have that has this stamping. Otherwise the J is a stylized pipe followed by the HW.Take some time to read the great writeup on Pipedia and JHW pipes and influence they had on the American pipe making scene. It is a well written and enjoyable read. Here is the link: (https://pipedia.org/wiki/JHW_Pipes).

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and inner edge of the bowl look good. There is some darkening on the inner edge and the top as well as on the insides of the points on the tulip petals. The bowl itself was very clean and the pipe smelled fresh. The stem surface had light tooth chatter on both sides near the button.The stamping on the left side of the shank is faint but still readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole.I wiped the bowl down with some acetone to see if I could lighten the darkening around the bowl sides and on the rim top and inside edge of the petals at the top. It worked quite well. I wonder as I am doing this if the top and inside edge of the petals was stained black. I sanded the briar flutes and smooth surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. There was still some darkening on the bowl sides and rim edges. There were also some scratches in the briar on the sides, but nothing to deep so this process would take care of the issues. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I take photos of the three groups of pads for my own viewing primarily as I am looking for progress in polishing. Once again, by the end of the process it looked quite good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem to raise the tooth marks on the vulcanite. I filled in what remained in the surface with black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once the repair cured I used a flat needle file to smooth out the repairs on the stem surface. I followed that up with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil soaked cloth. The process helped remove the lingering oxidation.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads to remove them. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Jack H. Weinberger (JHW) Tulip Billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe with some beautiful grain around the front and sides of the bowl. The grain around the bowl is quite stunning and works well with both the shape and the polished vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Jack H. Weinberger (JHW) Tulip Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.90 ounces/54 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. I appreciate your support and time!