by Steve Laug

Not too long ago I received an email from a Andrew in Greece asking if I could work on some pipes for him. He had some that needed a stem and a couple of pipes with broken stems and a Canadian that had a crack down the back of the bowl and across the right side. We emailed back and forth and he sent me the following photos. I figured they would be some interesting pipes to work on so he sent them to me to work on. I received the box yesterday. When I opened it this morning I was amazed to see what he had sent. The Sandblast Canadian that needed restemming was stamped 264 Peterson’s Kapruf. The rest of the stamping was quite faint. The pipe needed to be restemmed and it had a small divot in the shank end and what looked like a crack. The second, a smooth Canadian was a BBB Ultonia 504 with a gold band. The two Sandblast with broken stems turned out to be Stanwells. The larger on is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48. It is followed by the shape number 858 [over] Old Briar. The smaller one is stamped Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 followed by de Luxe followed by the shape number 87. The last of the five with the cracked bowl is an 8 Dot Sasieni [over] London Made [over] Pat. No. 1513428. It was also stamped “Amesbury”. They were going to be an interesting lot to work on.

I chose to deal with the Peterson’s Kapruf 264 Canadian first. It was a worn and tired Canadian. The stamping on the underside of the shank was faint and worn. What was readable I included in the previous sentence. The sandblast was worn and dirty. The bowl had a light cake in it and there was an overflow of lava on the rim top and inner edge. The end of the shank had a divot out on the underside which when examined showed a thin hairline crack. The interior of the shank was quite dirty. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of them bowl. The lava in the sandblast rim top was quite thick and had some darkening. I also took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the faint stamping that was present. It is faint but is still readable.I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and scraped out the cake that was present to get it back to bare briar. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth them out. The pipe began to look much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and some undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the sandblast with the brush to clean out the dust and debris in the finish. I used a brass bristle wire brush to work over the rim top and knock off the grime and debris. I rinsed the soap and grime from the finish and it looked much better. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The pipe is very clean. I like it clean to make a better fit for the band and the new stem.Now it was time to address the crack in the underside of the shank. I found a nice older Sterling Silver Band that would fit the shank well. I worked glue into the crack and the length of the crack. I worked glue around the shank end as well. I pressed the Sterling Silver band on the shank end and wiped off the excess glue. I took photos of the shank with the fitted band. It worked very well. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to work it into the sandblast. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I went through my stems and found one that was the right length and would need some slight adjusting to fit the diameter of the shank and the tenon.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to shape and rework the stem and tenon to fit the shank end. Once I was finished with the reshaping of the stem I put it in the shank and took photos of the look of the stem. I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol to remove the sanding debris and dust in the newly fitted stem. I sanded the stem with 320-1500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth to remove the sanding dust. It began to look very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil Cloth. The stem began to take on a rich shine. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s “Kapruf” 264 Sandblast Canadian. I am really happy with how the bowl turned out when I consider the condition of the bowl and the cracked shank on the pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the colours popping through the sandblast. Added to that the polished Sterling Silver Band and the black vulcanite taper stem was beautiful. This shapely Classic Peterson’s “Kapruf” 264 Canadian is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 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 29grams/1.02oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I hold until I have finished working on the other four pipes that Andrew sent me. Once I am finished with the lot they will be heading back to Greece. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.