Author Archives: rebornpipes

Restoring and Repairing a stem on The Everyman London Pipe 332 Sandblast Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

This next pipe is another that has been here for a very long time. I have no idea where I purchased it or whether it came to me in a trade for labour. I don’t remember. I have worked on quite a few of these Comoy’s made The Everyman Pipes over the years and find that they are well made and quite nice. The pipe is stamped on the underside and reads The [over] Everyman [over] London Pipe. That is followed by Made in London [over] England followed by the shape number 332. This particular pipe has a rugged and deep sandblast around the bowl and shank. It has been stained with a cordovan or dark brown stain. The bowl had been well reamed but there was some lava on the rim top blast. Internally it smelled quite clean with no residual aromatic smell in it. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had some tooth chatter and marks on the top and a chip out of underside in the stem and button. It was not large but it was very present. I took some photos of the pipe to give a sense of what I saw before I started my cleanup work. I took photos of the rim top and inner edge of the bowl to show the lava coat in the sandblast rim top and darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. The photos of the stem show the oxidation, calcification and the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see the chip out of the button on the underside of the stem.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint but still readable as noted above. I took a photo of the three bars inserted on the left side of the stem. I also took a photo of the bowl and shank separated to show the condition of the pipe. It really is a great looking pipe. Before starting my cleanup work on the pipe I turned my favourite go to sites on background of brands. The first is Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-e4.html). There I looked up The Everyman brand and confirmed what I remembered about it being made by Comoy’s. From there I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s). I went directly to the section on Comoy’s pipes. This advertisement on the various lines of Comoy’s of London pipes as present. I copied the graphic and have included it here.There was also a shape chart that showed the 332 Large Billiard. I have drawn a red box around it for simplicity.With that done I started my restoration of the pipe. I worked on the lava build up on the rim top and the burn damage and darkening on the inner edge of the rim. I worked over the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to clean up the debris that filled in the sandblast finish on the rim and remove the tars. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and debris off the bowl with running water. I repeated the process until the rim top and the externals were very clean. It looked very good at this point. Somewhere along the journey the pipe had been reamed and the bowl was smooth. There was nothing to do in terms of reaming the bowl or sanding the bowl. The bowl itself was clean of cake or debris. Just to check on the cleaning of the rest of the pipe I turned to clean the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem. It was quite dirty and needed a thorough cleaning. I scrubbed the out with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and Isopropyl 99% alcohol. Many pipe cleaners and much time passed and the draught was clean and open in both the stem and the shank. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I cleaned up the oxidation on the stem surface around the button with 220 grit sandpaper to prepare for the repair to the button. I wanted a clean and non-oxidized surface to work with so that the glue would stick. I wiped it down with alcohol after each sanding until the surface was clean and has some slight roughening from the sanding.I coated the end of a folded pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it into the slot below chipped section. The Vaseline would prevent the black CA glue from sticking to it in the stem when I put it on the stem. I filled in the chipped area with KMS rubberized super glue and repeated the layers of glue until it was built up.I removed the pipe cleaner from the slot and set the stem aside to cure. I took a photo of the repair on the button and a photo from the slot end. I would need to build the slot up a bit but it was starting to look very good.Once the repairs cured on the underside of the stem I filed them flat and recut the button edge with a small file. I used a small slot cutting tool to smooth out the slot in the button. I sanded and reshaped the button with a folded piece of 220 sandpaper and also worked over the oxidation that remained on the stem. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I took photos of the repaired stem after I had shaped it and it looked very good at this point. I need to polish it more but I like the looks of the repaired button and slot.I scrubbed the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the deep oxidation in the stem. It was a lot of oxidation but it came out with repeated scrubbing with the pads. It looked much better when finished.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry.The Everyman London Pipe 332 Sandblast Billiard was finished. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I used a very light touch so as not to damage the stamping on the shank. 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 microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The depths of the sandblast came alive with the buffing and works well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. Altogether this The Everyman London Pipe 332 Billiard pipe has a rich look. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/42 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me. I have one of these and they are a cool dry smoke. Thanks for walking through the restoration of this fine old Comoy’s made pipe. It was a pleasure to work on.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

A Welcome Mysterious Change of Pace – An Older Pipe with a Metal Cap and Horn stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

I decided I needed a change of pace in my restoration/clean up work. I went through my pipes waiting in the queue and chose pone from a group of four pipes that were given to us by a woman in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It had belonged to her Grandfather who lived from 1882 to 1977. There were four pipes that she sent us from his estate – the metal bowled apple, a cased meerschaum with a broken shank and an amber stem, a Whitehall rusticated apple and a BBB Glokar Fraternity Pipe.I chose the metal cap one because it seemed to call out to me with a voice of mystery. It is a very unique pipe with a briar base and silver rim cap. There seems to be a metal bowl insert under the inside lip of the cap. The bowl has five holes in the bottom of the bowl. The pipe has a silver ferrule on the shank end. It covers some of the stamping on the shank but what remains is readable. The partial stamp on the left side of the shank read… MID [over] LOND….The rest is covered by the ferrule. The stamp on the right side read BK4. The pipe was dirty and well used. The finish on the bowl was spotty showing damage to the varnish coat. The bowl had tobacco debris in it but little cake. The silver cap and ferrule were very tarnished. The stem was dark horn and there were some nicks in the edge where it sat against the ferrule. There was no button on the stem but was tapered down to a orific opening in the end of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.Jeff took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition. You can see the tarnish on the silver and some scratching in the rim top. The bowl is almost copper coloured but it is not entirely clear at this point. The horn stem is quite clean and polished. There were scratches on the button end of the stem and some nicks on the shank end. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the composition of the pipe. You can see the damage to the varnish and the tarnish on the silver rim cap. He took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. You can see what is readable and what has been cut off by the placement of the ferrule on both sides. It is clear and reads as noted above.He took a photo of the chip out the end of the tenon end of the stem where it is inserted into the silver ferrule.When the pipe arrived in Vancouver it was very clean. The briar, the metal bowl insert and the rim cap/top and silver ferrule were spotless and shiny. The silver shone in both places. The horn stem looked very good. There was a small chipped area where it fit in the ferrule but otherwise it was clean and tooth marks and chatter were absent. He had cleaned out the bowl, base and the airway in the stem and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with Murphy’s Oil Soap (undiluted) and a tooth brush. He rinsed the exterior with warm running water and dried. He polished the silver, bowl and stem with a small drop of olive oil. The pipe really looked very good. It was going to be a fun one to work on for my part. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table for my work. I took photos of the bowl and the polished metal insert and cap. It is clean and it is beautiful silver work. The bowl is very clean and there are small dents and nicks in the surface of the rim cap and bowl sides. The horn stem is in great condition. It is fascinating to me that there were no button edges but the stem just ran flush to the end. There were no tooth marks or chatter on the stem surface on either side. I tried to take photos of the shank sides to capture the stamping on the briar. It is faint but it is still readable. I took a photo of the bowl and shank separated to show the condition of the pipe. It really is a great looking pipe. I started my work on the pipe by wiping down the briar with alcohol and a cotton pad. I was able to remove the spotty remnants of the finish from the bowl. I was able to remove all of the remnants of the varnish and it really looked much better without it. The grain shown through really nicely. With the polished silver the briar looks really good! I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I dry sanded the briar and then progressively brought a shine to the pipe. It looked really amazing – the combination of the silver and reddish briar. It is a beauty! I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to give the stem a thinner profile and give it a button. I used needle files to shape the stem surface and give it a thin button. I like the new look for the stem.I sanded the filed areas and the area at the top of the stem near the tenon. I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem by sanding it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It is starting to look much better.I polished out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry.I am really happy with the way that this Mystery Metal Insert Bowl with a Silver Cap and Ferrule and a Horn stem turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished on the lower half of the bowl and silver rim cap. The original horn taper stem is really nice. The polished dark horn stem works well with the briar and the silver cap and ferrule. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Silver Capped Mid…London BK4 Apple really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31 grams/ 1.09 ounces. The pipe will be staying with me and joining my collection of older pipes. The horn stem, silver ferrule and rim cap look great with older dark briar. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Mending Shank Cracks to Revive a Gourd Calabash – Austria

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Looks good Dal. Nice work.

The classic Gourd Calabash on the table came to me a few days before Christmas in 2018, when my wife and I were in the US from Bulgaria to celebrate …
Mending Shank Cracks to Revive a Gourd Calabash – Austria

Cleaning up a Republic Era Peterson’s 53 Straight Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I purchased two Peterson’s pipes from a fellow in Eastern Canada. They are shown in the photo below. The top one is a Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard. The second one is a 120 Dublin. You will note in the photo below that there is an extra stem included. It is an acrylic fishtail stem that was made for the 120. It is significantly longer (1 inch) than the original and the angles of the curve are more pronounced so the flow of the stem does not look at all the same. The acrylic stem is thicker and does not have the delicacy of the original.Today I decided to work on the second pipe, the Straight Billiard. It is stamped on the left side and reads K&P [over] Irish Made. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) followed by the shape number 53. The grain is quite nice on the pipe. There is a nickel ferrule on the shank that is stamped with three symbols – a shamrock. a wolf hound and a tower. These makers marks put the pipe as pre-circa 1963. The briar was dirty with grime ground into the finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl with darkening and lava overflow onto the inner edge and the rim top. The pipe had a strong smell of the tobacco that had been smoked in it. There is a hint of aromatic to it. The shank was dirty with tars. The stem was an original fishtail made by Peterson. There was some oxidation, calcification and light tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table to show its condition. I took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both. You can see the cake and tobacco debris in the bowl and the lava overflowing onto the back edge and rim top. The grain shows through and I think it will clean up very well. You can see the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and the oxidation and light calcification as well.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the look of the pipe and show its balance. It is a beauty. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the cake and the lava on the rim top and edges of the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The pipe walls were clean and undamaged with no checking or cracking. I sanded the rim edge and the top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and remove the darkening and the damage to the top and edge. It looked much better than when I started. I would still need to polish out the darkening.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and debris off the bowl with running water. I repeated the process until the rim top and the externals were very clean. It looked very good at this point. I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It took a bit of time but it came out clean. There was still a residual smell, a ghost that I would need to work on. Now it was time to deghost the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and twisted another boll into the shank. I filled the bowl with 99% isopropyl alcohol using and ear syringe. I set it aside to let the mix do its work wicking the oils and tars out of the bowl. It would sit for while I worked on the stem. After four hours I took photos of the bowl and the cotton. It had taken out a lot of tars and oils. I polished the outside of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. The stain was uneven around the heal of the bowl and on the rim top so I touched up the stain with a Maple Stain Pen. It blended in with the surrounding stain on the upper portion of the bowl. I would need to buff it to further blend it into the surface.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the oxidation on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break it up. I started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. When finished I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil. There was still some oxidation remaining on the stem so I would need to do more to remove it.I scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and cotton pads to remove the remaining oxidation. It worked very well and removed all of the oxidation that remained on the stem.I polished out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard with a Nickel Ferrule turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and rim top. The original vulcanite taper stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the nickel ferrule. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Republic Era K&P Irish Made Billiard really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/ 1.31 ounces. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Irish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Cleaning up a Republic Era Peterson’s 120 & reworking a chopped off P-lip Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

I purchased two Peterson’s pipes from a fellow in Eastern Canada. They are shown in the photo below. The top one is a Republic Era K&P Irish Made 53 Billiard. The second one is a 120 Dublin. You will note in the photo below that there is an extra stem included. It is an acrylic fishtail stem that was made for the 120. It is significantly longer (1 inch) than the original and the angles of the curve are more pronounced so the flow of the stem does not look at all the same. The acrylic stem is thicker and does not have the delicacy of the original.Today I decided to work on the shape 120 Dublin. It is stamped on the left side and reads Peterson’s [arched over] Dublin. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) [over] 120. The grain is quite nice on the pipe. There is a silver ferrule on the shank that is stamped Peterson’s [over] Dublin followed by Sterling [over] Silver followed by three hallmarks – 1. Hibernia seated with a harp designating the country of origin, 2. A crowned harp designating the quality of the silver used, 3. A date letter which in this case is the italic letter Q which dates the pipe to 2001. The briar was dirty with grime ground into the finish. There was a thick cake in the bowl with darkening and lava overflow onto the inner edge and the rim top. The pipe had a strong smell of the tobacco that had been smoked in it. There is a hint of aromatic to it. The shank was dirty with tars. The stem had originally been a P-lip but someone had cut off the end of the stem removing the P-lip and leaving behind a single hole high in the button. There was some light oxidation and light tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the table to show its condition. I took photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both. You can see the cake and tobacco debris in the bowl and the lava overflowing onto the back edge and rim top. The grain shows through and I think it will clean up very well. You can see the chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and the oxidation and light calcification as well. The cut off P-lip looks good showing the button edges.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the look of the pipe and show its balance. It is a beauty. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the shape of the button and slot. It was a single round hole and was high in the button. I would need to reshape it. I used a slot saw to open up the slot. It took some work but it came out looking better. You can see from the photo below that the airway hole is below the slot. It is a round divot at the bottom edge of the slot. The slot looks better but will still need to be shaped more. I filled in the round divot in the first photo with black CA glue. I pressed it into the round divot with a tooth pick and layered it until the flow of the slot was even. Once the repair cured I used 220 grit sandpaper to shape the button edges and give the slot an oval look.I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The pipe walls were clean and undamaged with no checking or cracking. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and debris off the bowl with running water. I repeated the process until the rim top and the externals were very clean. It looked very good at this point. I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It took a bit of time but it came out clean. There was still a residual smell, a ghost that I would need to work on. I polished the outside of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. Now it was time to deghost the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and twisted another boll into the shank. I filled the bowl with 99% isopropyl alcohol using and ear syringe. I set it aside to let the mix do its work wicking the oils and tars out of the bowl. It would sit for while I worked on the stem. After four hours I took photos of the bowl and the cotton. It had taken out a lot of tars and oils. I cleaned out the shank and let the bowl dry. I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and absorb for 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and then gave it a rigorous buff to raise the shine. It looks good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth after the sanding pads. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this Republic Era Peterson’s 120 Dublin with a Sterling Silver Ferrule turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl. The modified stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the silver ferrule. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Republic Era Peterson’s 120 really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. The reworked P-lip to Fishtail vulcanite stem conversion cleaned up very well. It looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/ 1.66 ounces The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Irish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Repairing a 9mm Tenon on a Stefano Exclusive Tomato

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Thanks Charles great refresher on the history of filters. Pipes looks great.

Filtered pipes have been around in one form or another for decades. According to this article on Pipedia.org, the Dr Grabow paper filter was first …
Repairing a 9mm Tenon on a Stefano Exclusive Tomato

Replacing a broken tenon and restoring a Stanwell de Luxe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Earlier in July I received an email from Peter, a fellow in California regarding a pipe repair he needed. He wrote as follows.

Hi, I’m just wondering if you can repair a Stanwell pipe for me? The stem broke off inside the pipe. Thanks for your time, Peter.

I wrote him back asking for photos so I could have a look at it. I figured he meant that the tenon snapped off inside the shank but I wanted to be certain. He replied

Thanks so much for your very fast response. Pictures are below. Best wishes, Peter We chatted back and forth a bit and Peter decided to send the pipe to me. I received it yesterday and here is what I saw once I unwrapped it. The photos tell the story but here is my review of it. The finish was dirty and worn. The bowl had a thick cake and there was lava buildup flowing along the inner edge and into the plateau on the rim top. The stem was snapped off leaving the tenon in the shank. Fortunately, there was no damage to the shank itself. It did not have any cracks in the sides. The shank end showed a lot of tar buildup. The tenon was still in the shank. The snap at the stem was fairly clean and would just need to be flattened. The stem itself showed a lot of oxidation, calcification and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe was stamped on the left side and read Stanwell [over] de Luxe. I could not see any other stamping on the shank. There was a gold crown S on the left side of the saddle stem. This was going to be fun to bring back to life. I decided to begin working on the pipe by trying to pull the broken tenon with my usual methods. I put the bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes, then inserted a screw into the airway in the shank. I wiggled the screw and tried to break it free. It was no use. I used a qtip to dribble alcohol around the edges of the broken tenon in the shank. I repeated that several times and let it sit. I was still unable to remove the broken tenon in the shank. It was stuck and nothing seemed to loosen it. With the tenon being stuck in the shank I stepped up the process and drilled it out. I started with a drill bit slightly larger than the airway. I have had good success in drilling and in the process having the tenon come out on the drill bit. In this case I worked through four drill bits until I used one that was slightly small than the mortise. I then scraped out the remainder of the bits of vulcanite in the shank with a small pen knife until the walls were clear. I took a photo of the pipe at this point in the process – the tenon drilled out, a replacement tenon and the stem. Now it is ready for the next part of my work. I set the stem and tenon aside so that I could work on the bowl and shank. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer. I took the cake back to bare walls so I could check out the walls for damage or checking. It looked very good. I scraped out the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded it with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I worked on the buildup in the plateau surface of the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove the heaviest part of the lava in the grooves of the plateau surface. It looked better but would need to be scrubbed. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scoured the surface of the briar and rinsed and repeated the process until the bowl was clean and the rim top looking very good. I cleaned up the darkening on the smooth bevelled portion of the inner rim edge next. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and also smooth it out. I touched up the deep grooves in the plateau with a black Sharpie pen. The rim top and edge look very good.I polished the smooth rim top portions and the exterior of the pipe with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and debris. By the last pad it was looking very good with a shine in the briar that highlights the grain. I cleaned out the shank and mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I wanted to remove the oils and tars so that I would have a clean surface for the new tenon that I was fitting in the shank. It cleaned up and certainly smelled better once cleaned.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get into the plateau top. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. At this point the bowl was finished until I finished with the new tenon insertion. I set the bowl aside and took a photo of the new tenon and the tools for reducing the diameter to fit in the shank. I used the Dremel and a sanding drum to reduce the diameter. I cleaned up the work with a file and then 220 grit sandpaper to get it to a point where the tenon fit in the shank.I put the stem in a bath of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and set it aside while I worked on the tenon fit. I left it in the bath for three hours and then removed it and rubbed off the bath with a paper towel. The surface of the stem looked significantly better at this point. The oxidation was greatly reduced, the calcification was gone and the stem showed improvement. The tooth marks would still need to be worked on but there was progress.I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol the drilled the airway to match the diameter of the new tenon insertion. I started with a drill bit the same size as the airway and gradually increased the bit size until it matched the outside diameter of the tenon. I took a photo of the newly drilled end of the stem. I cleaned up the airway once again in preparation for gluing the new tenon in place. I wiped the tenon end down with black CA glue and then aligned the tenon and the mortise. I pressed the tenon in place in the stem and set it aside to cure. Once it cured I took a photo of the stem and new tenon with the bowl before putting them back together. Once the glue cured I fit the stem in the shank. As seems to be very usual when I do this kind of thing the fit against the shank was not perfect. I would need to shape the stem and shank to make the fit and flow perfect. I took photos of the pipe at this point. The fit is not far off but just enough to be noticeable in the photos on the top and underside and slightly on the right and left sides. I sanded the shank and the stem to match and make the transition smooth all the way around the junction. I used 220 grit sandpaper and sanded it in place on the shank. I had to remove briar and vulcanite on the sides of the shank according to the transition. When finished it looked much better. I polished the sanded areas with micromesh sanding pads to make them smooth. I used an Oak stain pen to touch up the sanded areas and blend them into the rest of the bowl and shank. It blends in very well.I rubbed it down once again with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar and let it sit for 10 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. I polished the bowl with a cotton cloth and set it aside. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to finishing the work on the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. Once the repair cured I used files to smooth out the surface of the repair. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. 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 Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and buffed it off with a cloth and buffed it to a shine. I am really happy with the way that this Stanwell Danish Made de Luxe Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and plateau on the rim top. The original vulcanite saddle stem is cleaned up nicely. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the plateau portions. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell de Luxe really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 56 grams/1.98 oz. The pipe will be going back to Peter very soon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks about it. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Rescuing a Chap Ecume of Saint-Claude: A Broken Shank and Meerschaum Lining Repair

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The next pipe on the work table came out of the box with some obvious issues. The Chap Ecume had tape wrapped around the shank which is a sure sign …
Rescuing a Chap Ecume of Saint-Claude: A Broken Shank and Meerschaum Lining Repair

Cleaning up the worst used of the lot a Ben Wade Martinique Made in Denmark Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago I was contacted from a fellow in Montana who was selling his pipes as they had not been used for quite a few years. I asked him for a picture and he sent me the one to the left. It included the following brands (from the top to the bottom of the photo): Savinelli Autograph 5 Freehand, Mastro de Paja Ciocco 0C Bulldog, Mastro de Paja Media 1B Bent Billiard, Ser Jacopo Delecta Octagonal Bent Billiard, Caminetto Business KS 118 Canadian, Radici Rind Rhodesian, Dunhill Bruyere ODA 836 Panel Billiard, Barontini Straight Grain B3 Freehand and a Ben Wade Martinique Hand Made in Denmark Freehand.

Almost all of them were higher end pipes and all were hand made pipes. They were a mix of finishes – smooth, sandblast and also rusticated. They were a mix of shapes as well and the majority of them were Italian Made other than the Dunhill and the Ben Wade Martinique. They were beautiful pipes and after exchanging quite a few photos of the pipes from various angles to get a sense of what was there we struck a deal. We sent him the payment and the pipes arrived in Idaho a few days after I left for Vancouver. They were certainly more dirty than we were led to believe but that is not an issue.

Jeff cleaned them all and this week I received them in Vancouver. I am impressed with the way they cleaned up and the beauty of the brands. They truly are some beautiful pipes. I just need to put the final touches on each of them and address issues on the bowl tops, rims and stems and they should be good to go. I am really looking forward to working on each of them in the days ahead.

Today I am working on the last of the lot. It is another warm, late afternoon so after work I descended to the basement to continue working on the lot. The last pipe left to work on was the smooth Ben Wade Freehand. This one is a bit different than any of the other in this lot. It is very nice looking piece of briar and has fancy saddle stem. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable. It reads Ben Wade [over] Martinique [over] Hand Made in Denmark. The medium brown stained finish was very dirty with grime ground in the finish all over the whole bowl and shank. The plateau rim top and shank end are dirty with lava and darkening in the grooves of the plateau. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim top/inner edge had thick lava flowing up from the bowl. It was hard to know its full condition of the inner edge with certainty until it was cleaned. The acrylic saddle stem is was dirty and had deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was a BW Crown logo on the top of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake and the darkening and lava overflow in the plateau rim top. The photos of the stem show the dirty condition of the stem and the tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the great grain on the pipe. It is a beauty under the grime and dust. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It is faint in spots but still readable. It read as noted and explained above. The third photo shows the Crown BW logo on the stem top. I remembered a bit of history on the brand that Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand and would encourage you to do the same (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement. (Ben Wade Ad in a Tinder Box catalog, courtesy Doug Valitchka.)I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. 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 stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. I took a photo of the rim top. Jeff had been able to remove the thick lava coat from the plateau rim top and inner edge. It looks very good at this point. A work over with a brass bristle wire brush will remove the remaining darkening in the grooves. The plateau on the shank end is clean and looks very good. The stem is clean but has some the tooth marks on both side are deep and obvious. I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint but still readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to get a sense of what the pipe looked like.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the debris still in the plateau rim top. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the plateau on the top and shank end. It worked very well and the plateau looked significantly better once finished.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris from the surface of the briar. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, preserve and protect the briar. I let it sit and work into the briar for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a cotton cloth. I buffed the briar with a clean cloth. The bowl is starting to look beautiful and there is a shine developing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button with a black CA glue. Once the glue cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the Crown BW logo on the top of the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I buffed it off with a soft cloth and rubbed the stem down with some Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem surface 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with each pad and then wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil. I finished the hand polishing of the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both the Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry.I am really happy with the way that this Preben Holm made Ben Wade Martinique Danish Made Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and smooth finished bowl and plateau on the rim top and shank end. The fancy original acrylic saddle stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar and the plateau portions. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ben Wade Martinique really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches long x 1 ¾ inches wide, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 6 grams/2.29 oz. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store soon. It will be in the section on Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!