Category Archives: Pipe Refurbishing Essays

Essays and pictorial essays on the art of refurbishing

Ship-Shape: Refurbishing a Mokin Corsaire 7087

Blog by Anthony Cook

The second pipe sent to me by my PSU friend for some work is a unique one. Let me introduce you to the Mokin Corsaire 7087. It’s a small pipe, just shy of five inches in length and about one and a quarter inches tall at the bowl. It has an author-ish shape, except that there is a spine that runs along the bottom like the keel on a ship. I suppose that’s where the “Corsaire” comes from, but despite the masculinity in that name, to my eye there is something distinctly feminine in the shape. The condition of this one was rough to put it mildly. The stummel had some fairly heavy scratches and dents. The rim was scorched and there was a divot on one side where the wood had been burned away. The briar was unstained but covered in a thick, tinted lacquer coating. I suppose this was done to help hide the many fills, but the lacquer wasn’t thick enough to prevent the black stain on the bottom from seeping through into the grain. Oh, did I mention the beautiful horn stem with the busted face and a crack that ran along half the length on the underside? Yeah, like I said, rough.

Here are some more triage photos:

Stamping detail: I gave the pipe a thorough internal cleaning, and then stripped off the lacquer finish with acetone and cotton pads. The lacquer lifted easily but it was a mess. It turned into a thick, sticky residue when it came into contact with the acetone. Once the stummel was clean, the grain became more apparent and it was stunning! I’m a bit of a grain-hound. So, I already knew that I was going to have to work that up as best I could.

I scrubbed at the dark stain on the bottom with the same acetone dampened pads to try to lift it or at least lighten it, but the attempt was in vain. The acetone didn’t even put a dent in it. I was fresh out of ideas and thought that I would probably have to sand them out, but before I did that, I shot Steve an email explaining the problem. He suggested that I try lemon juice. It seemed counterintuitive to me. What could lemon juice do to a stain that acetone couldn’t touch? Anything is worth a shot when you’re desperate though. So, I gave it a try and it worked amazingly well! The only stain that remained was what had set into the softest grain and that was something that I could work with. With the tinted lacquer removed, the fills were more evident than ever. There were seven of them in all and a couple of them were quite large. That’s a lot for any pipe, but especially so for a stummel this small. I picked each of them out and patched the pits with CA and a mix of fine briar dust and course briar file shavings. I find that the course shavings take the stain better, but the fine dust is a better mix with the CA. When mixed together, the resulting patch is still dark but it is mottled with lighter areas that will accept stain well.

I sanded out each of the patches with 220-grit and 320-grit paper and topped the bowl with the same grits until the majority of the burned wood around the rim was removed. Then, I gave a slight chamfer to the inner rim to soften the edge and lightly sanded the entire stummel with 320-grit paper to remove most of the scratches.

It was while I was sanding the stummel that I noticed that the carving was a little sloppy. The left side of the stummel was noticeably less rounded than the right, which made the stummel appear a little lopsided. It was obvious that it wasn’t intentional, but I debated with myself whether to try to correct it or preserve it as part of the personality of the pipe. In the end, I chose to split the difference and round off the upper and lower areas of the left side for a better match with the right. The stummel was ready for finishing. So, I moved on to address the damage to the stem. Usually, I would drill a small hole at the end of the crack to stop the run. In this case, however, that wasn’t really an option. The main crack that extended up from the stem face fractured into several short, stair-step cracks at the end. I decided that it would be best to just seal and stabilize them and hope for the best.

I wrapped clear tape around a thin bit of cardboard and cut a hole for the tenon to push through. This little contraption would serve a dual purpose as both a method for keeping the patched area of the stem face relatively flat and even, and also as stand to support the stem while the patches dried. I patched the cracks and holes with baking soda and CA in the same manner that I would apply a briar dust and CA patch on the stummel. I use super-thin CA for patches. It has about the same viscosity as milk and I think that it penetrates better into the dust than standard CA. It can be tricky to work with until you get used to it. Even though I’ve kind of gotten a handle on it by now, you can see in the photo below that it still got away from me a bit in the bend of the stem. I also filled a couple of bite marks on either side of the stem and when all the patches were fully dry, I sanded them out with 220-grit and 320-grit paper. The cracks were fairly tight. So, I didn’t get as much baking soda worked into them as I would have liked and they appear dark in the photo below. They are sealed and smooth to the touch though.

I continued to sand with 400, 600, and 1200-grit paper to smooth the surface. I used a drop of mineral oil between each grit. The oil allows the sanding dust to collect as slurry on the stem rather than build up on the paper. It also moisturizes the horn, which keeps the ends of the fine fibers from raising and splintering. A good polish with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads finished up the work on the stem. I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t leave the finish natural. There were just too many fills for that. I also knew that I couldn’t completely hide them. So, I hoped that I could give the grain enough “pop” with a bit of stain to draw the eyes away from them.

I applied four stains in all; dark brown, medium brown, light brown, and British tan. The first three were thinned with three parts isopropyl alcohol to one part stain. The last stain was thinned by eye until it was just a light wash. I applied the first stain, and then sanded with 400-grit paper. The second stain was applied before sanding with 600 and 1200-grit paper. After the third stain, I polished the stummel with 1500 through 4000-grit Micro-Mesh pads and gave the stummel a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. Then, I applied the stain wash and finished up the work on the stummel with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits. All sanding up to 3600-grit Micro-Mesh was wet sanded and the stummel was hand-buffed with a soft cloth after each stain to remove any excess.

Finally, I polished up the brass ferrule with Semichrome polish and used a bit of epoxy to affix it to the stummel. All that remained after that was to buff the pipe with White Diamond and apply several coats of carnauba wax before it was time for some photos.

I know that many may regard this one as just a novelty pipe, but despite the rough edges, it may be my favorite refurbishment work to date. The photos barely do justice to the color or the grain on this pipe. The credit for the transformation is not really mine though. This was one of the most cooperative pipes that I’ve ever worked with. It set on the bench and said, “Make me a star.” I was charmed and did the best that I could.

New Orleans “Black Eagle” Rides Again

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By Al Jones

Last week, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit our daughter and son-in-law who live in New Orleans. Our visit coincided with the first annual New Orleans Pipe Show, which was an outstanding event. While I was at the show, my family stopped at one of the flea markets in the city. At one shop, they found this “Black Eagle” bulldog, which had a faint “Made in London England” stamp as well. They knew that I loved the tapered stem bulldog shape and spied the “London England” stamp. I assume this was one of many basket pipes made as I can find nothing on the “Black Eagle” name, either via Google or in “Who Made That Pipe”.

The pipe had a heavy coating of tar on the bowl top and a few handling dings. Curiously, there appears to be a band mark on the edge of the shank. The diamond bulldog stem didn’t quite line up with the shank creases and it had a heavy cake build-up inside the bowl. There is one fill on the bowl

Below is the pipe as found. It is a generous Group 5 size and weighs 53 grams.

I reamed the bowl and discovered the interior was in very good shape. While completing that task, I soaked the mildy oxidized stem in a solution of Oxy-Clean.

I decided to remove the finish and restain the briar as part of the restoration. The handling marks were sanded smooth with 800 grit paper.

I reworked the angles of the stem with a fine, flat file than 800 grit paper. As I was completing this work, I concluded that someone had made replacement stem for this pipe. The vulcanite was of a good quality and it polished up nicely. I used 800>1500 and 2000 grit wet sandpaper to further improve the shine. Since I was restaining the bowl, I was able to mount the stem and do the file work from that position.

The bowl was soaked overnight in 91% isopropyl alchohol. I sanded the handling marks with 800 grit paper the 1500 in preparation for staining.

I decided to stain the pipe with Oxblood, as I only have one red stain bulldog in my collection. I lightened the stain with a little Medium Brown. I put on two coats of stain, and set them with a flame. The bowl was then buffed with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.

The stem profile still isn’t perfect, but the edges align. The one fill was made less visible by the oxblood stain. The pipe will be a nice souvenir from our New Orleans trip and my wife’s thoughtfulness.

Refreshing a Delicate Comoy’s Made Sunrise Amber Grain Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The last pipe that came to me in the Smokers Forum Donation Sale was a beautifully shaped little Sunrise Amber Grain Bent Billiard. The shape and the feel of this little pipe are very delicate. It is almost a bent pencil shank – in fact I am not sure how much thinner it would have to be to actually be called a pencil shank. The pipe is 5.5 inches long, 1.75 inches tall with a small bowl with a chamber diameter of .75 inches. It is stamped Sunrise over Amber Grain on the left side of the shank. On the right it is stamped Vintage Briar and shaped number 13. On the underside of the shank next to the stem junction it is stamped France. The Sunrise line was made by Comoy’s as is identified also by the shape number. As it was made in France it does not have the familiar Com stamp that appears on British made Comoy’s.

This pipe was in decent shape in terms of the exterior finish. There were no dents or dings in the surface of the bowl or shank. The stamping was light on the right side of the shank and the Sunrise stamp was lighter than the Amber Grain stamp. I would have to be careful in the clean up not to damage these already light stamps. The stem was oxidized and there was a small bite through with a crack going toward the button on the underside of the stem.

The rim was in great shape with some light scratching. The inner bevel was still present and darkened but there was no damage to it. The bowl was still in round. There was a rough cake in the bowl that was uneven and would need to be removed. I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer to take the cake back to the bare wood.

I cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was amazingly clean. I am guessing that the previous owner cleaned this one up before setting it aside. I cleaned out the bowl and lightly sanded the bevel on the inner edge of the rim to remove the light build-up that was present there. I wiped the bowl down with a cotton pad and some alcohol and then gave it a light coat of olive oil. I buffed it on the buffer to give it a shine. It has some great grain on the bottom of the bowl and the left side. The grain on the front of the bowl and the right side is mixed with a few bald areas. The sides of the shank are full of birdseye grain and the top and bottom are cross grained.

The stem was oxidized and the underside bite through and small crack needed to be addressed.

I picked the debris out of the crack and bite through and examined it with a lens. It was clear that the bite through was very small and that the crack ended at the bite through and went back to the button. The bite through effectively stopped the crack from spreading forward along the stem. I wiped the stem down with acetone on a cotton pad to clean it up. I then spread some black super glue on the crack and bite through with the tip of a dental pick. I set the stem aside to cure for about an hour.

Once the super glue had cured I sanded the repair and the rest of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to both remove the oxidation and to blend the patch into the surface of the stem. I sanded with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the scratches and oxidation. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads and rubbed stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and then buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave it another coat of oil and then sanded with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I polished it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Breathing new life into an LHS Park Lane De Luxe Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I repaired Troy’s LHS Park Lane Lovat he gifted me this little beauty as a thank you. It is a small billiard and is stamped on the left side of the shank, Park Lane in an arch over the LHS Diamond and underneath the diamond it is stamped De Luxe. On the right side it is stamped with US Pat. 1,908,630. The shape number 19 is stamped on the underside of the shank. The finish was dirty and chipped all around the bowl. The rim had a buildup of tars and lava and the cake in the bowl left the bottom virtually conical. The stem was under clocked slightly. The stem (Bakelite?) was oxidized and had some small tooth marks near the button on the top and bottom sides. I love the swirl patterns of the stem material. They really give the pipe a look of class. When I removed the stem the stinger itself was black with tars and the inside of the shank was also dirty.

I looked up the patent number on the US Patent information website and found out that the patent was filed for the stinger and tenon apparatus in 1933. The one in the diagram is shorter and slightly different from the one in this pipe so I am thinking that it is a later modification that was introduced. That combined with the dates for Bakelite I would put the dates on this pipe in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It is in pretty decent shape for a 75-80 year old pipe.

I took the next three photos to give an idea of the state of the rim. I was uncertain of the condition of the inside edge of the rim because of the thickness of the build-up. The stamping was weak in the middle and the LHS diamond also quite weak. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I find that I use that reamer for almost all of the refurbs that I do. The four different sized cutting heads, the T-handle and the carbon steel blade make short order of the most difficult cake. In this case I reamed it back to bare wood. I really wanted to see what the interior looked like as there was significant darkening around the top half of the bowl. The rim itself was just slightly out of round so it would be no issue to clean up. I used a brass bristle tire brush on the long aluminum stinger to clean off the tars. I wanted it clean before I heated it to reclock the stem. With it clean I heated the stinger with the lighter to loosen the glue in the stem. Once it was loose I was able to align the stem correctly. I let it cool in place. With everything aligned I decided to try to pull the end of the stinger to get it to line up with the top of the stem. I wanted the slot in stinger to match the white bar in the stem material. I wrapped the jaws of a pair of needle nose pliers with cellophane tape to protect the aluminum from damage when I clamped them on it. I gently twisted on the end of the stinger and to my surprise the entire tenon unscrewed from the stem. That was a good thing by the way as it made cleaning the stem far simpler. I cleaned the inside of the stem and the stinger with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. I had already tested the stem material and I knew that it would not dissolve with the alcohol. With the inside of the stem clean I put the tenon back in place on the pipe and worked on the exterior. I sanded the surface and particularly the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper until they were smooth and blended into the stem surface. I decided to work on this pipe from the opposite direction of my normal practice and finished working on the stem first. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set the stem aside and let the oil dry.

I cleaned out the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean and smelled fresh. I thought about using the retort on it but I am just not certain what the hot alcohol will do with this stem material. Once the rim was cleaned I could see the chips and damage to the surface so I decided to lightly top the bowl. I decided to do some experimenting with Dave Gossett’s method of stripping a bowl finish. I read about it on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. He uses Oxyclean and alcohol he said. I had no idea how he went about it and fired him an email. Due to my impatience I did not wait and just jumped in. I tried to mix the Oxy with the alcohol. It did not work! It made a grit paste but I decided to give that a try anyway. I scrubbed and scrubbed and succeeded in removing a lot of the finish. The mixture left a white/grey ghost on the briar.

I happened to check my email and saw that Dave wrote back. He said that he dissolved the Oxy in hot water and then added the alcohol. He said to be careful of the stamping as the mixture had a tendency to raise the stamping in the weak areas. Boy I wish I had not been impatient. I lost some clarity on the week areas of the stamping. I did the mixture as Dave suggested and wiped down the bowl with it and was able to get some more of the finish removed. There were some deep cuts in the surface of the bowl. I steamed out the dents but these did not raise. I repaired them with superglue and briar dust. I sanded the repaired areas smooth to match the surface of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol to remove the dust. I heated the briar with a blow dryer and then stained it with a Dark Brown aniline stain thinned with 3 part alcohol to 1 part stain. I flamed the stain and set it in the briar. I buffed it with White Diamond and found that even with the thinning it was too dark to my liking. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of the stain and make it more transparent. The grain showed through nicely and the colour once it was waxed would look good with the stem material. I buffed with Blue Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then with a microfibre cloth by hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Silver Linings: Restoring a Savinelli Silver 320KS

16 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

A friend from the Pipe Smoker Unlimited forum recently gifted me a batch of pipes that need a little TLC. In exchange, I offered to do some repair and restoration work on a couple of their own pipes. Believe me when I say that I received the better end of that deal. So, I wanted to go the extra mile on these if I could.

The first of my friend’s pipes that I chose to work on was this Savinelli Silver 320KS. I love the shape of the 320. When I hear “Savinelli,” this is the shape that I think of. Unfortunately, somebody had gotten to this one before me and it wasn’t better for it.

The initial request was just to repair the deep scratches that ran all the way around the rim. However, as I looked the pipe over, I could see that it had a few additional issues. The bowl rim was uneven and looked like it had been heavily buffed. The pipe should have had a deep, cherry red stain from the factory, but this one appeared to have been partially stripped and the stain was uneven and closer to the color of red clay. The silver shank band was loose and it had a couple of small dents on the right side. Finally, the shoulders of the stem face had been rounded with a buffer, which created a thin trench all the way around the stem where it met the band.

Oh, there was one more thing, but for reasons that I can’t explain, I hadn’t noticed it yet. I’m sure that you’ll see it in these photos of the pipe as it was on arrival.

Nomenclature and logo details (notice the “trench” on the stem next to the band): This 320 appeared to be pretty clean, but there’s no such thing as a pipe that’s too clean. So, I gave the internals of the stem and stummel a bit of a scrub with isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, a shank brush, and a percolator cleaner (the fat brush in the upper right). I’m glad that I did. As you can see below, there was still grime to be removed. After that, I gave the surface of the stummel a scrub with acetone on cotton pads to remove the old, spotty finish. I took a few photos of the rim damage, and after seeing them enlarged a few hundred times on the big screen, I noticed that the edges of the marks were rounded. That seemed to indicate that they were more like dents than scratches. So, I decided to see what a little bit of steam would do for them. I used a tea candle to heat the end of a flat-head screwdriver. Then, I placed a wet cloth over the dents and pressed it into the cloth. The steam worked well on the marks, although I had to repeat the process several times to lift the deeper ones. After I had worked my way all the way around the bowl, the rim was in much better shape. It would still need some sanding, but not nearly as much as it would have taken before to get it smooth. I sanded out the remaining dents with 220-grit paper before addressing a couple of small pits that were possibly missing fills on the bottom front of the stummel. I refilled them with a mixture of briar dust and CA, and then sanded them out with 220-grit as well. Three more fills were present on the front of the bowl, but they looked like they were in good shape and I had confidence that they would blend in with the final stain.
Next, I topped the bowl to level it out and chamfered the inner rim to match the original, factory shape with 220-grit paper. Then, I started cleaning up some of the light scratches and blemishes on the stummel with 320-grit. I then heated the stummel to open the grain and prep it for the first stain. I applied a mahogany stain thinned 3:1 with isopropyl alcohol. Mahogany is a nice dark color that gives contrast to the grain and it would play well with the red tones that would come later. After flaming the stain, I hand-buffed it with a soft cloth to remove the excess, and then wet sanded the stummel with 400-grit to remove most of the stain except for what had set into the soft grain.

To start bringing in those red tones I mentioned, I applied a 50/50 oxblood and medium brown stain thinned to the same ratio as the previous application. I again flamed and hand-buffed before lightly wet sanding with 600-grit and 1200-grit paper, and then polishing with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-2400.

I applied a third stain, red this time, and hand-buffed before giving the pipe a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. Then, I polished with Micro-Mesh pads 3200-4000. At that point, I didn’t like how bright the red was. So, I decided to darken it up with a thin stain wash. I can’t tell you the exact mix, because I just eyeballed it until it was what I wanted. I can say that it was at least 50% red mixed with a small amount of oxblood for richness and an even smaller amount of dark brown to darken it. I thinned it until it was about the same color density as Kool-Aid and applied it with cotton swab. After that, I hand-buffed the excess off and continued polishing with the remaining grits of Micro-Mesh pads. That finished up the work on the stummel. So, I thought I’d try to do something about those rounded shoulders on the stem face. In a scrap piece of wood, I drilled a hole large enough to easily accommodate the tenon. Then, I clamped a strip of sandpaper over the block and cut a matching hole with an X-Acto knife. I inserted the tenon into the hole and rotated it while applying firm but gentle pressure to keep the plane level. I started removing material with 220-grit and worked up to 600-grit. All in all, I probably removed 1/16 of an inch or less from the end of the stem. It wasn’t enough to completely correct the problem, but it did make it a great deal less obvious. The shoulders were nice and sharp again and I didn’t compromise the flow of the joint by creating a “step” down to a smaller diameter stem. You can see for yourself in the photos below. To be honest, I thought I was done at that point. It wasn’t until the pipe was reassembled and I was preparing to give it the final buff and wax that I noticed the glaring damage that I’m sure you’ve already seen. For the life of me I can’t figure out how it had escaped my attention, especially since I had just done work on the stem, but the button had been severely worn away by overbuffing. There was barely a button left at all. Of course, that wouldn’t do at all. So, after getting permission from the pipe’s owner to do some extra work, I began to create a new button.

I used 220-grit paper to rough up the surface of the damaged button and also a bit of the surrounding area. Next, I applied thin layers of black CA glue to the button to build it up. I lightly sanded between each layer with 220-grit to roughen them and ensure that the next layer had a good surface to cling to. Once the mound of CA was slightly higher than I wanted the button to be, I used 220-grit paper to start shaping the button, needle files and sanding files to carve a sharp edge at the back, and 320-grit paper to refine the shape. I continued to refine the shape and smooth the surface through 400, 600, and 1200-grit paper. Then I polished the button and the rest of the stem with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads and applied a drop of Obsidian oil to wrap up the stem work.

Before reassembling the pipe, I tried to lift the dents in the silver band by placing it over a wooden dowel, pressing firmly, and rotating it from side to side. My attempt was mostly in vain though. I was able to lift them slightly, mostly the one at the edge, but stopped when I began to worry about raising the stamping or tearing the band. I polished the band with Semichrome polish and placed it back on the shank with a small drop of CA to fix the looseness.

Finally, I put the pipe back together and buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. After buffing again with a clean wheel to remove any excess compound, I gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax to complete the work on the pipe. The end results can be seen in the photos below.

I think the lines of a 320 are iconic and it is a fine example of the author shape. I’m glad that I was able to restore this one to at least a bit of its former glory and get it back into rotation. Thanks for looking!

Large Fills and Stem Work on a Small Well Pipe Bent

1 Reply

I love the ways the stain job subdued the look of the many fills in this little bent pipe. Really nice work.

This is one of the last pipes from my first estate lot purchase to hit my work table. It’s in the top right corner of the pipe lot pic below. Even from this poor shot, you can see that the stem needs some tweaking.

The pipe appeared to be in halfway decent condition when I pulled it from the refurb box – a bit of rim tars and surface grime on the stummel, but nothing major. The stem turned out to be a replacement, well fitted to the military-style mortise, but still showing the lines up the sides from the molding process. The amount of tooth chatter on the stem points to a DIY repair job – it was as if whoever had done the repair was only interested in making the pipe functional again, and left the stem in mostly its raw state. It can’t have been that comfortable…

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Early Van Roy Arista “Selected Briar” Adjustamatic Refurbish

A Tale of an Ugly Duckling & His Virtually Invisible Swandom

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

All of you are probably familiar with the tale of the ugly duckling. The poor bird hatched from a clutch of duck eggs that came out gangling and very unducklike. His appearance left much to be desired when he walked beside his siblings toward the pond following his “mom’. He was always laughed at and misunderstood. He sat with his head down in shame at how much he did not fit. Each day passed and the down of the ducklings was replaced by feathers. This went on until one day the duckling looked at his reflection in the pond and found that he was not a duck at all but a regal and majestic swan. He had always been a swan inside but the fact of his swandom was not visible to any who beheld him. Instead they saw what they wanted in the misfit duckling and wrote him off as ugly. They never once saw the swan inside until it came out in all of its glory. This tale really captures the pipe that I worked on next.

I have had a really rough older Canadian pipe sitting in the refurb box for a long time now. I have taken it out of the box and looked it over time and again but never took the step of cleaning it up. I have no idea who the maker of this old pipe is but it is a rough piece of wood. I say wood because it is clearly not briar. It is lighter and the grain pattern is quite different from briar. It has a Kaywoodie mortise insert and a Kaywoodie stem that has the stinger clipped off. I don’t know if it came that way or some creative soul made it happen. The wood was roughened and not sanded smooth. It looked as if it was rough shaped with a file or wood rasp and then just smoked. Somewhere along the way someone had put a coat of shiny urethane over the entire pipe. The shine hid none of the flaws but actually accentuated them. It had a significant fissure near the shank bowl joint on the left side that needed attention. The roughened finish had file marks going in every direction. The effect was a mess for a finish. The stem had some cardboard or thread pushed on to the threaded tenon that allowed the stem to line up correctly. I cut off the cardboard or thread washer and the stem was seriously overclocked. The bowl had a cake in it that was crumbly and uneven. The interior edge of the rim was not too badly out of round. The outer edges would need some work to smooth out before I could see if they were in round.

I took some close-up photos of the bowl and the shank to give more of an idea of the kind of finish that the pipe had when I started. You can see the file marks and lines going in every which direction that were left behind in the initial shaping of the pipe. The overall look was very rustic and actually quite ugly. It was truly an ugly pipe. The beautiful Canadian that resided below the ugly exterior was virtually invisible. It would easily been put up there with “folk art” in terms of the rustic and rough finish to the pipe. Yet there was something about that seemed like raw charm that shone through the mess that sat on my table. This evening when I took it out I took more time to sit and look at it for a while before beginning to work on it. The more I looked at it the more I have to tell you that the second thoughts I was having almost caused me to put off working this old timer and just burying it in the box. I really was unsure whether I could do anything with it or that it would even be worth doing the work. I was not convinced that what I had when I was finished would be worth the time and energy that would go into reworking it.

I cleaned off the debris (cardboard or thread) that was on the tenon and then heated the tenon with a lighter to reclock the stem. I heated the metal carefully keeping the flame away from the vulcanite stem. It did not take long before the heat softened the glue that held the tenon in the stem and I was able to turn the stem back into the shank and twist it until it lined up correctly.

I lightly sanded the bowl surface and then stopped to ream it with a PipNet reamer. I decided to take the cake completely out of the bowl so that I could check for cracks in the walls of the bowl.

With the bowl reamed out I turned my attention to the finish on the exterior. I sanded the bowl and shank with emery paper and with 180 grit sandpaper to remove the roughness of the finish and to sand out the file marks. I wanted to sand the bowl and shank smooth to address the generally poor appearance of the pipe. It took quite a bit of sanding to even start to make a difference in the surface of the pipe. I also sanded it with a rough sanding block to smooth out more of the scratches. I filled the flaw at the union of the shank and bowl on the left side with clear super glue and briar dust. I sanded that repair smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the pipe. There was a dark spot on the outer right edge of the rim that did not seem like a burn. I had the appearance of a stain. It was hard and did not affect the shape of the bowl edge so I left it. I lightly topped the bowl to clean up and flatten out the rim surface.

The more I sanded the grain began to come through the smoother finish of the pipe. It was clearly not briar. My guess is that it is Mountain Laurel or Manzanita. Once I get it sanded smooth and get a better look at the grain and colour I will be able to give a better assessment. The good thing was that a nicely shaped Canadian was emerging from the rough cut pipe that I started with. The shape was well executed and once I finished sanding and smoothing things out this alternative wood Canadian would look really good. My initial reticence gave way to curiosity to see what would emerge when the sanding was finished. You can see for yourself in the next set of photos below what is coming out as it is sanded.

I continued sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the shank bowl junction. There were some deep cuts and file marks there that needed to be addressed. I sanded until the surface was smooth to touch. There were still a lot of scratches in the wood but the surface was getting smoother. I sanded it with a coarse and a medium grit sanding block to flatten out the shank and to smooth out the bowl sides, bottom and rim. I used a black permanent mark to cover the fill and line it up with the grain at that point. Once I sanded it more and blended it into the grain of the shank it would become less visible than it is in the photos below. I sanded more with the sanding blocks and then gave the pipe a light coat of olive oil to see what the grain would look like when I was finished. The wood had a red hue to it and some nice looking grain. There is a lot more sanding that needs to be done at this point but it is progressing.

I have included a few more close-up photos to show the progress of the sanding on the surface of the bowl and shank. There is some nice looking grain coming through in the photos of the bowl sides and shank.

At this point I sanded the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads and the oil to give me some traction while sanding. I find that the oil allows the micromesh to cut more deeply and work more effectively. I sanded with older 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads that I reserve for working with oil sanding. Unfortunately I got into the flow of things and did not take photos of this part of the process.

Once I had finished sanding the bowl to this point I worked on the stem. The same file marks went across and the length of the stem. There were gouges and marks and two deep tooth marks near the crease on both the top and bottom of the stem. The next two photos show the scratches and the tooth marks.

I used an emery board to sand out the scratches and the tooth marks. I was able to remove most of the scratches and gouges with the board and then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove some of the deeper scratches and blend in the board marks. I also used the topping board to even out the end of the clipped stinger so that it was not rough. The tooth mark on the top needed to be repaired. I cleaned up the sanded area and then filled the remaining tooth mark with clear super glue. When the glue dried I used the emery board and the 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the repair with the surface of the stem. Once the scratches and marks were gone and the patch smoothed into the surface I went on to wet sand the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads before giving the stem another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and then a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I let it dry before taking the pipe to the buffer.

I sanded the bowl and shank down with all of the grits of micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12000 grit. By the time I was finished the scratches were virtually gone. The repair on the shank/bowl junction though showing is smooth to the touch. The ugly duckling had become a swan. The Canadian hidden beneath the file marks and rough finish gave way to the beauty of the alternative wood. The finished pipe was truly a thing of beauty.

I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond Polish on the wheel. I worked it until the remaining scratches disappeared. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax and then buffed the pipe with a soft flannel buff. I finished by hand buffing it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The change in appearance is significant and the feel in the hand is much better. I am still pretty convinced the pipe is Mountain Laurel but could be convinced otherwise if some of you know. Thanks for looking.

A Peterson 301 System Pipe Reborn

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have this pipe and one other left to clean up of the donated pipes for the benefit of Smokers Forums. This one is a Peterson’s System Standard Bent Pot. It is stamped Peterson’s System Standard on the left side and on the right side it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland over 301 which is the shape number. The finish was shot, worn and stained with most of the colour faded out. The nickel ferrule was oxidized and dull. The rim was dirty and nicked on the top surface but undamaged on the inner or outer edge. There were some deep scratches on the underside of the bowl that went across the surface of the briar. They were ragged and I knew that steaming them would not raise them. There was also some road rash on the right side of the bowl where it looked as if the bowl was dropped on concrete. The bowl had a thick cake that was soft and crumbly. The stem was oxidized and dirty with some tooth chatter on the top side and the underside near the p-lip. The interior was also dirty with grit. The inside of the shank/mortise was surprisingly clean with dust and tobacco residue but little tar and oil. The inside of the stem was also dirty. The hole in the end of the button was in great shape.

I took a close up of the rim and bowl to show the thickness of the cake. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the soft cake back to bare briar so that a new hard cake could be developed by the new owner of the pipe.

I sanded out the bowl to remove the ridge that appears in the photo below. You can also see the dents and nicks in the surface of the rim. I lightly topped the bowl with a topping board to take out the damaged surface of the rim and clean up the top. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and the grime in the grain of the briar.

I filled the deep scratches in the bottom of the bowl with clear super glue and also filled the road rash nicks on the right side of the bowl. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and then sanded them with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I also sanded them with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain that I thinned with 3 parts alcohol to 1 part stain. I flamed the stain to set it deep in the grain. To make the stain more translucent I scrubbed down the surface with alcohol to lighten the stain and make it more transparent. I put a light coat of wax on the bowl to protect it while I cleaned the inside of the pipe. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the shank and mortise area. I polished the nickel ferrule with a silver polishing cloth and was able to remove the oxidation.

I let the stem soak in Oxyclean for several hours while I worked on the bowl and then gave it a vigorous rubdown with coarse cloth to remove the loose oxidation. I then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the oxidation. Once it was gone I buffed it with red Tripoli and then moved on to sand it with the micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads, rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanding with 3200-4000 grit pads and giving it another rub down. I buffed it with White Diamond and then finished with 6000-12000 grit pads before giving it a final coat of oil and letting it absorb into the stem.

I finished by buffing the pipe with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then giving the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed with microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below.