Daily Archives: October 1, 2025

Restoring a Rare Peterson Kapruf 56

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Well, now, this is quite the pipe! I recently acquired a collection from a (late) gentleman who clearly LOVED his pipes. They were all well used and, according to his family, he had a pipe hanging out of his mouth at all times. As I was looking through them, this particular Pete caught my eye. It’s a handsome one, isn’t it? It’s a Peterson Kapruf 56 chubby bent billiard, with a beautiful sandblast. This one is really worth restoring. It’s such a comely pipe and deserves to be back in someone’s collection. Let’s look at the markings. We’ve got Peterson’s [over] Kapruf. Then we have Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland. Finally, there is the shape number, 56. Of course, there is also the stylized P on the stem, indicating the famous Peterson company of Ireland.The history and origins of this particular model are quite interesting. It’s an uncommon pipe and, if you’re a Pete collector, you ought to have one. In a blog post from 2019, Al Jones posted here on Reborn Pipes about a Kapruf 56 he had been working on and expounded on the background of this pipe. Rather than simply retyping what he wrote, I urge you to read his blog here and learn more. Meanwhile, here’s a catalogue photo from one of Steve’s blogs on the same pipe:I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you: the pipe was a bit of a mess. The stummel was in decent condition, but so, so dirty and clogged. The stem, on the other hand, was a localized disaster. The oxidation was extreme, the chomping of the bit was extreme, the tooth scrapings were extreme – and there was a small fissure in the vulcanite (on the underside of the P-lip to boot. I had my work cut out for me. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. Sadly, in this case, not much happened. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation.

I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. Given the general state of the pipe, I was surprised at how relatively clean it was.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush. Due to the severity of the oxidation, I then repeated the scrubbing with the cream cleanser for maximum effect.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. Quite frankly, this was a substantial rebuild of the button – including the fissure on the underside. This was done by filling those parts with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on. After this, I painted the logo on the stem with some enamel nail polish. I restored the logo carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done. You can see in the profile photo below just how much better the P-lip looks after my work. As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed.The inside of the stummel needed to be cleaned thoroughly. However, this pipe was so clogged, that I first needed to open the horribly occluded airway. So, I took a long drill bit, held in a drill chuck, and hand-cranked it to dislodge the dreadful detritus inside. Hand cranking is essential because it provides a precision and caution that a power drill cannot provide. Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. I also scoured the inside of the stummel with the same detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – with three coats of conservator’s wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

This Peterson Kapruf 56 looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. 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 ‘Irish’ 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 pipe are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2 in. (52 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅞ oz. (55 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did 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.

Restoring and Restemming an Angelo Saddle Stem Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

While I was travelling Rob stopped by with a bag containing a pipe that was gift from his daughter. It was a mess with a very thick cake in the bowl, burns and damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The finish was very worn and the shiny varnish coat was spotty and very damaged. The shank end was coated with a lot of grime and oils and had cracks on the topside of the diamond shank on both right and left sides. The tenon was stuck in the shank and the stem was wrapped in electrical tape to hold it in the shank. The button on the top side was chomped and showed a lot of tooth marks. The underside of the button was cracked and a chunk was missing. The pipe appeared to be a basket pipe from Italy and bore the stamp Angelo on the top left side under the dirt and debris. The crack ran through a portion of it and obscured it. It was a brand I was familiar with and had worked on before. Here are some photos of the pipe as it was initially fit together. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts. I also removed the tenon from the shank using a pair of pliers and took a photo of the parts.I took a photo of the stamping on the left topside of the shank and captured crack on that side of the shank as well.Before I started my cleaning up the and crafting a new stem for the pipe I wanted to have a bit of information on the Angelo brand. I personally like to have the background so that when I am working on a pipe I know who carved or made it originally. Then as I work on it I can carry on a dialogue with them (at least in my mind) about my changes. I turned to PipePhil’ site for information (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a6.html#angelo). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section and the sidebar information below the photo.Second brand used by the Rovera family (Angelo and Damiano) who produces Ardor, Roverart and Rovera.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl. You can see the spotty varnish coat of the finish on the bowl and shank in the photos. I started the reaming with a Pipnet Pipe Reamer using the second and third cutting heads to take back the cake to the bare walls. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape the remnants. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. It looked. much better. I decided to try and remove the spotty varnish coat. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove as much as I could. I would need to do some sanding on it as there were still dark spots on the finish that would need to be removed. I went through my bands and found a ferrule style diamond band from the shank end. It was a good fit from the look of it. I heated it with a lighter and pressed it onto the cracked shank. It fit very well and brought the cracks together. It slight covered the “o” on the end of the Angelo stamping. I sanded the top of the bowl with a folded piece of 320 sandpaper to clean up the rim damage and the inner edge. Once it was flattened I used a wooden sphere to further clean up the rim top and to minimize the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. I sanded to remove the darkening around the rim and inner and outer edge of the bowl. It is frustrating, but I forgot to take photos at this point so I posed the bowl after my polishing to show what I had done.I stained the bowl with dark brown aniline stain (Feibings Shoe Dye) and flamed it to set it in the briar. Once the stain cured, I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – 320 -3500 to smooth out the finish and remove all the scratches and excesses. Once again, I forgot to take these photos. I think I am out of the habit of photographing the pipes as I work on them. After sanding the bowl with the 320-3500 grit sanding pads I moved on to polish the briar with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris left behind. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm and set it aside to let the product do its work. After about 10 minutes I buffed it off with a soft cloth to polish the briar. The pipe bowl and polished band looked very good. I really am rusty after a month of not restoring any pipes. I forgot to clean out the inside of the shank. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners – both bristle and fluffy and isopropyl alcohol to work over the inside of the shank. It is much cleaner now that I remembered to do it!I polished the nickel band on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to give it a shine and protect it from oxidizing. It looked much better with the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the new stem I needed to fit on the pipe. The previous stem (origianal??) had many cracks in the saddle portion, the tenon was loose and the whole thing had been wrapped tightly with electrical tape. I went through my stems and found one that would work well wit the bowl. In the photo it looks longer but it is actually about the same length. The tenon will need to be reduced in diameter and the casting marks removed but the stem should look great once it is finished.The next phojto showed the bowl before I had finished it. I started fitting the stem to the shank before I worked on the bowl finish. I used two files to reshape the tenon. I shortened the tenon to match the depth of the shank with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once I had the length correct and the fit of the tenon correct I put it on the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the new look it had with the new stem. It still needed much more work to smooth out the stem surface but it looked good on the shank with the band. I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. I smoothed out the castings on the sides of the stem and the button surface. I sanded the saddle portion and the top and underside of the blade with the 320 sandpaper. It looked better and the fit to the band on the shank end was very good.I sanded the stem further with 320-3500 sanding pads. I worked on the surface of the stem to give it a smooth finish. The finish on the stem was getting smoother with the work.I polished the stem with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. It began to take on a rich glow and the surface was very smooth. This reworked and restemmed Angelo Straight Bulldog has a beautiful finish now that the varnish coat has been removed and the bowl restained. It truly has a new lease on life. The medium brown/black finish gives depth to the grain around the bowl and shank. The newly fit polished black vulcanite stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Angelo Straight Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/49 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. The fellow who dropped it off will pick up his pipe on the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing what he thinks of it.

Cleaning up a Second Beautiful MORABB Pipe Tool for my collection

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by Steve Laug

In August of 2025 I received an email from Paul in England regarding a Morabb pipe scraper that he had in his possession from his grandfather’s estate. He sent me the following email regarding the tool. It goes to show you that you never can underestimate the reach and readership of the rebornpipes blog. I have included his first email below in full.

Hello Steve,

First a big ‘thank you’. I have a ‘Morabb’ pipe scraper but didn’t know its purpose. It originally came from my grandfather’s house, he was a wire-drawer by trade and naively I thought it might have something to do with that! So, I type ‘The Morabb’ into my search engine, your site pops up and therein is all the information I need. Makes sense too, my grandfather was an avid pipe smoker.

Speculative enquiry this, I don’t suppose anyone in your pipe restoration circle would be interested in obtaining the scraper? As it belonged to my grandfather, I would prefer it went to someone who would really appreciate the item and perhaps even use it. I don’t smoke myself and I don’t have anyone to pass it on to.

Age wise I believe it may be slightly older than the one you have; it has ‘Pat. Appd For’ stamped on the case rather than showing an actual patent number. Condition is good on the outside, but way dirtier than yours on the inside. It has no box or instructions. 

To give the scrapers’ age some context, my grandfather was born in the 1890’s and, to my knowledge, he smoked his entire life.

If it might be of interest let me know and I will send some photographs.

Oh, and please be aware I live in the UK.

Kind regards, Paul

I replied to Paul that I was indeed interested in purchasing the Morabb from him. I asked him for photos of the tool that he had so that I could compare it with the one I have here. Paul kindly sent the photos to me and I have included them below. The show the stamping on top of the tool and it reads as Paul noted above. It is also dirty and oily as he noted as well. We made arrangements regarding purchasing the tool and I sent the payment to him. I headed out on a trip and while I was away the package arrived. Before I left on my trip I went back and read the blog I had written on the previous Morabb scraper purchased from and English seller back in 2019. I have included the link as follows: (https://rebornpipes.com/2017/09/30/just-added-a-new-reamer-to-my-collection-the-morabb-pipe-scraper/). I included a photo of the pipe scraper from that blog below as well as the previous seller’s description of the tool.The seller described it as follows and his description set the hook for me. “This little item is a classic 1930s example of the Pipe Smoker’s paraphernalia and was used to ream out the bowl of the pipe to clean it. It is approximately 6cms long and is adjustable to different bowl sizes. A nice addition to a collection of smoker’s requisites. The piece is stamped on the handles as follows: The “Morabb” original vintage 1930s adjustable tobacco pipe scraper/reamer. Nickelled (nickel plated) metal. Made in England. It has a UK Patent Number: 177053/22. It is a rare collectible item in very good condition (vgc)…

I am also including the research that I had done on the previous Morabb as well as pictures. I quote:

Since I had not heard of the brand and was unfamiliar with how it worked I did a bit of hunting on the internet. I wanted to see if I could find more information. I tried a UK data base search and was unable to find anything of help. No matter how I entered the Patent number I did not find any listings. However, I did find several listings for the same kind of reamer on the web. There was one that was still boxed on Worthpoint and on eBay. I am pretty sure it was the same piece. I scrolled through the photos and did screen captures of one that showed the box that the scraper came in and the contents of the open box. I also found a photo of the instruction sheet that came in the original package. The first reamer was stamped as follows: The “Morabb” original vintage 1930s adjustable tobacco pipe scraper/reamer. Nickelled (nickel plated) metal. Made in England. It has a UK Patent Number: 177053/22. The new addition from Paul was as he noted an earlier version of the reamer. It is stamped on the top “THE MORABB” and also PAT. APPD FOR. It is not stamped with the UK Patent Number, Made in England or with the Nickelled stamp.

Now that I had that information I cleaned up the Morabb with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the thick spots of grease on the surface and a tooth brush to clean out the inside of the case. I wiped it down with a damp cloth. It began to look significantly better. I polished the pipe scraper with a soft cloth to raise the shine. There are some worn spots by it really looks very good. The nickel has some small scratches and marks but they in no way ruin the appearance of the piece. The knurling on the edges of the cap, the lid and the turning screw are in excellent condition. The piece will make a great addition to my collection. Thanks Paul.