Daily Archives: November 23, 2025

Restoring a lovely Peterson’s “Donegal Rocky” 338 Bent Billiard

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of our pipe hunts or a trade but neither Jeff or I remember when and where we picked it up. It is a classically rusticated Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky 338 Bent Billiard. The finish is quite nice with at that classic Peterson’s rustication pattern. The pipe pretty clean with the exterior polished and dust free. The bowl had been reamed somewhere along the way and the bowl was pretty clean. The rim top was in good condition and the inner edge looked quite good and the bowl was slightly out of round. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the bowl and shank and reads Peterson’s [arched over] “Donegal” [over] Rocky followed by the shape number 338. On the oxidized Sterling Silver band it is stamped K&P [over] Peterson’s. The stamping is clear and readable on both the pipe and band. The fishtail stem is clean – no tooth marks and chatter. I took photos of the pipe before I starting work on it. I took photos of the rim top to show the lack of cake in the clean bowl and rim top and edges. The stem was also in decent condition other than scratches and nick marks.The stamping on the underside of the shank read as noted above. The photo shows that they are faint but clear and readable. The stamping on the silver is also readable. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It is a great looking pipe. Peterson’s website describes the pipe as follows (https://www.peterson.ie/pipes/classic/donegal-rocky/moreinfo.cfm?pd_product_Id=247):

Though quite compact in terms of overall length, this bent Billiard shape maintains the signature muscularity and tubular profile that define our House Style, the bowl being more cylindrical in shape with a stout, angular transition. Its half bend provides a natural clenching posture for a comfortable, hands-free smoke.

Both Al Jones and I have worked on a 338 in the past. Mine had a P-lip stem while Al’s had a fishtail stem like this one. I am including the links to both of our blogs below if you are interested in seeing the details of the shape.

https://rebornpipes.com/2020/07/27/new-life-for-a-petersons-republic-era-donegal-rocky-bent-billiard-338/

https://rebornpipes.com/2024/11/15/peterson-338-donegal-rocky-clean-up/

I quote a portion of Al’s blog on the shape as his research really helped clarify a timeline for this pipe. I quote:

This Peterson Shape 338 caught my eye because it was a Donegal Rocky and came with a silver band. Peterson introduced this line in 1945 with a rusticated finish and two-tone stain. The rustication style has evolved over the decades.

Mark Irwin had an entry on the Donegal Rocky line on his Peterson Pipe Notes blog. Curiously, the line was first introduced only with a fishtail stem and Sterling band. The line came with a P-lip starting in 1975.

I followed Al’s link to the Peterson’s Pipe Notes blog (https://petersonpipenotes.org/148-the-rocky-history-of-the-donegal-line/). I quote the pertinent sections on the site about the Donegal line and have included the shape charts.

The “Donegal Rocky” (in quotation marks), released in 1945 or so, was Kapp & Peterson’s first rusticated line. Not that K&P hadn’t rusticated pipes previously, they just that they hadn’t devoted an entire line to rustication. And they were apparently proud of it, because they gave it a sterling mount along with a black finish and white-stamped P on the mouthpiece.It was part of K&P’s “Product Line,” what I call gateway pipes and others might call an entry-level pipe, as you can see in this shape chart from the 1945 catalog. Like the Shamrock (European version) and “K,” it was originally a fishtail line.

For nearly thirty years, from 1947 until 1975, the line continued uninterrupted, black rusticated finish with fishtail mouthpiece and sterling band.

The bowl was clean the briar looked very good, so I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the deep crevices of the rustication. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The rustication came alive with the balm. I polished the Sterling Silver band on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and polish it. I sanded out the scratches in the stem at the shank end. There marks, almost small cuts in the vulcanite that I sanded out with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads. I was able to remove the marks and give the stem a rich shine. There was some glue from a previous repair on the tenon and face of the stem to expand the tenon. I scraped off the excess glue and sanded the tenon and the stem surface at the same time.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky 338 Bent Billiard is a nice-looking pipe. The rustication and mixed stain around the bowl sides and shank really stand out with the polishing. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to give some contrast to the rusticated finish of the pipe. The polished black vulcanite, fish tail P-lip taper stem adds to the mix. The pipe is really quite eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the stamping on the shank and using a light touch on the rusticated portions. 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 Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky 338 is quite nice and feels great in the hand. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/1.31 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. I will be adding it to the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Peterson’s System Standard Made in the Republic of Ireland 313 with K&P Peterson’s Ferrule

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is another Peterson’s System Standard pipe – this one a sandblast. It is a nice smaller size with a saddle style Peterson’s P-lip stem on the shank end. It came to us from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 04/11/2023. This pipe was obviously a favourite of the previous pipe smoker. It had been well smoked and there was a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflowing onto the rim top. The rim top had been knocked hard and damaged showing raw briar. There was grime and hand oil ground into the finish. The nickel ferrule was oxidized but undamaged. The pipe was stamped vertically on the underside and read Peterson’s [arched over] System [over] Standard. Next to that it was stamped with the shape number 313 [over] the three-line Republic of Ireland stamp. The ferrule was stamped K& P [over] the three common hallmarks on System pipes with Nickel ferrules – a shamrock, a wolf hound, and a tower. That is followed by Peterson’s. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff captured the cake in the bowl and the damaged rim top and front outer edge on the bowl in his photos. You can also see the lava on the back rim top and edge in the photos. The stem surface had tooth chatter and marks and was oxidized. He took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to show the interesting grain patterns in the sandblast briar. It was quite beautiful. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and on the ferrule. It is readable and clear as noted above.To figure out a date on this Peterson’s pipe, I turned to The Peterson Pipe Project Blog to see what I could find out about it (http://thepetersonpipeproject.blogspot.com/2007/07/dating-peterons-pipes.html). I quote from the above site below.

Stamping of Bowl:

During the years of Kapp and Peterson’s business operations, the country of Ireland has undergone several name changes and K&P’s stamping on their pipes reflects these changes. Knowing these changes, a Peterson pipe can be roughly dated and placed in “eras.”

The Republic Era is from 1949 until the present. The Republic of Ireland was formed on 17 April 1949. From 1949 to present the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

With that information at hand I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants 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. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation as possible. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem to give a sense of the condition of both. The rim top looked had some scratching on the top and some damage to the inner edge but over all it was in much better condition than I thought. The stem cleaned up well and the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button are visible in the photos.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the rim top. I used my modified Philip’s Screwdriver “Rusticator” to clean up the burned and damaged rim top and edges. I worked to approximate the texture on the rest of the bowl sides. It took some careful fiddling to get it close. Once I finished the rustication I stained the rim top to match the rest of the bowl with a black stain pen. It looked very good.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I polished the nickel ferrule on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and polish it. It began to look very good and had a rich shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I painted the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem with the flame of a lighter. I was able to slightly lift the marks and filled in what remained with black, rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I use small files to flatten the repairs. I cleaned them 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 2 x 2inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad and the stem looked very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Republic Era Peterson’s System Standard 313 Sandblast Bent Billiard with a vulcanite stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain that shines through the polished finish is stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Peterson’s System Standard Sandblast 313 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/1.27 ounces. This Peterson’s System Standard 313 will be added to the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.