GBD 311 Billiard Restoration

By Al Jones

This New Standard shape 311 came via Canada and was delivered in a plain paper envelope, with no packing and with the stem inserted – and survived! The pipe was in decent shape, the most challenging aspect was that the stem was very much stuck into the shank (and upside down). The New Standard finish is probably the most common GBD grade. This one had a very handsome two-stage stain that is unusual for that grade.

Here’s the pipe as it was received.

To remove the stem, I put the pipe in the freezer for several hours. That did the trick and it came out with a bit of effort (and care to not break the tenon). The stem was a bit too snug, so I rubbed some pencil lead on the tenon, which worked well.

The stem was then soaked in a mild Oxy-Clean solution for several hours with a dab of grease on the stem.

I used a rag and cloth to rub off most of the build-up on the bowl top. Then a piece of worn 8000 grit micromesh was used to remove the rim darkening. The bowl was reamed and then soaked with alcohol and sea salt.

With the stem mounted,I removed the mild oxidation and slight teeth abrasions with 800, 1000 and 2000 grade wet sandpaper. Next up was the 8000 and 12000 micromesh sheets. The stem was polished with White Diamond and then Meguiars Plastic Polish.

The bowl was buffed with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.

Below is the completed pipe which was purchased by a member of the Brothers of Briar pipe forum.

This favourite GBD Marquis 752 was a mess – not any more

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Blog by Steve Laug

About a month ago a friend of mine, Richard who has a tobacco shop here in Vancouver gave me a call and asked me to stop by for a visit. I went on a Sunday afternoon and we visited for a while. At the end of the visit he took me to another counter in his shop and brought out some display cases of pipes – four of them and a small bag. He told the story to me. An elderly gentleman who was a customer of his had died and his wife had stopped by and gave him the fellow’s pipes. She wanted nothing for them she just wanted him to get them cleaned up and sold to folks who would appreciate them. Richard is a reader of the blog and he thought that I would have fun cleaning these up and selling them. As we went through the display cases and bag I was pretty pumped about the collection. There were some really nice GBD pipes, Comoy’s, Stanwell as well as some brands I was not familiar with.

The first pipe I chose to work on was a GBD author shaped pipe. It was obviously one of the old gentleman’s favourites. It was very dirty. It was stamped on the topside of the shank with GBD in an oval and next to it MARQUIS. There is also the GBD Oval stamped on the topside of the stem. It is not the brass rondel but is stamped into the vulcanite on the top of the saddle. On the underside of the shank the pipe is stamped St Claude France and the shape number 752. The stamping is clear and sharp. The St Claude France stamp is light on the front part of the name. The finish is in decent shape with a medium brown stain over great straight grain. There is a thick cake in the bowl and over the beveled rim. It is hard to tell if there is rim damage as it is so dirty. There were two large fills on the front of the bowl that follow the grain. They were shrunken and not even with the surface. There is calcification from a softee bit on the stem and button. There are some deep tooth marks on the top and bottom side of the stem near the button.

The following photos show the condition of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. I took following close up photos of the pipe. The first shows the rim with all of its tars and oils. The cake is very thick and hard. The second photo shows the fills on the front of the bowl. The third and fourth photos show the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. The last two photos show the stem and the dents and calcification on the stem near the button. I reamed the bowl with the PipNet pipe reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and worked my way up to the third cutting head which took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the walls of the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl and rim edge with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the interior of the bowl and the inner edge of the rim. I cleaned the slight bevel on the inner edge as well. To clean the tars and lava on the rim I used a sharp pen knife to scrape the debris free of the rim without damaging the rim surface. I scrubbed it with saliva and a cotton pad to remove the oils and tars that remained on the surface.I heated the dents in the stem with a lighter and sanded what remained along with the calcification and tooth chatter with 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned out the tooth marks with alcohol and a cotton swab and filled in the dents with clear super glue. I set the stem aside to let the glue cure. Once it had cured I sanded the repairs smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads.I wiped down the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime on the surface and give some clarity to the grain. The photos below show the bowl at this point in the process. I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they were clean.I used European Gold Rub’n Buff to touch up the GBD logo on the stem. I sanded the stem with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. After each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. After sanding with the 12000 grit pad I gave the stem a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. While the stem dried I worked on repairing the fills on the front of the bowl. I decided to just top up the fills rather than dig them out and refill them. I used clear super glue to top up the fills. I over filled them slightly so that when they dried they would not shrink and need a second application of glue. I sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I wet sanded the area with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the entire bowl with 3200-4000 grit pads.I restained the repaired area with a medium and a dark brown stain pen. I streaked the area to look like grain with a black Sharpie pen. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond to smooth out the stain and blend it into the rest of the bowl.I lightly buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond once again to polish it. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth and it was finished. The restored pipe is shown in the photos below. This is the first of about 50 pipes that I received from my friend at the pipe shop. They are all from the same gentleman’s estate and there are some beauties. If you would like to add this one to your rack contact me via email at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. We will discuss the cost and the shipping. Thanks for looking.

New Life for a Hardcastle’s London Made Reject Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

This perfectly shaped little Hardcastle’s sandblast pot was the next pipe to my worktable. It is a small almost pencil shank pot. It is stamped Hardcastle’s London Made and across that it is stamped Reject. It has a rich blast on the sides of the bowl and shank. There is a smooth portion on the bottom of the bowl and shank for the stamping and allowing it to be a sitter. My brother took the next photos to show the condition of the pipe before he cleaned it up.He took some close up photos of the bowl and stamping. The bowl had a thick cake and a large overflow of lava on the rim. The lava covered the light blast finish on the rim completely and it was hard to tell the condition of the bowl at this point. The finish was worn and dirty but there were no chips or dents marring the finish. The stem is oxidized and you can see the Hardcastle’s H stamp on the left side near the shank. You can see the stamping on the shank and clearly see the REJECT stamp across the initial stamping. I am not sure why this pipe was rejected. It appears to be a decent piece of briar. There were two small sandpits on the sides of the bowl that I suppose may have caused it to be a reject but that is not clear to me. My brother did his usual great clean up on the exterior of the pipe. He scrubbed it with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove the finish. He reamed the bowl and removed the lava build up on the rim and left a slightly darkened rim with no burns or damage to the edges. I took the next set of photos to show what the pipe looked like when it arrived in Vancouver. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the darkening on the back side of the top. It was clean but darkened. There were no burn marks or damaged briar on the edges of the bowl. The stamping is also shown and it remains sharp and distinct.The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth dents and chatter on the top and underside near the button. The button had some flattening and wear as well.I used a brass bristle tire brush to scrub the top of the rim and try to clean out some of the darkening on the rim. I was able to remove some of it and make it less pronounced.I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to clean of any remnants of the old finish and to remove the debris from the brass brush work on the rim. With the bowl cleaned I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed the stain and repeated the process until the coverage was even on the bowl and in the deep pits of the sandblast finish.I took some photos of the pipe at this point in the process. The stain had covered well. The colour was a little dark for my liking and would need to be lightened a bit before I was finished. You can see the sand pits on both sides of the bowl that may have made this pipe a reject. I have circled them in red. I cleaned the mortise with a dental spatula and then cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. I also cleaned out the airway into the bowl and in the stem.To lighten the colour of the stain I washed it down with some alcohol on cotton pads until the colour was more to my liking. The finished colour is shown in the photos below. I painted the dents in the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to raise them almost smooth. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the slight dimples that remained in the surface. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and rubbed it down with the oil after each set of three pads. After the final 12000 grit sanding I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffer and gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand waxed the bowl with Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad and again by hand with a microfibre cloth to raise and deepen the shine on the briar. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am pretty happy with the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

A Graceful Swan-Necked Tania Billiard

Refurbishing a Dulwich Quaint Oom Paul 64

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I took out of the refurbishing box was an Oom Paul that had a lot of character and some nice grain. It was stamped on the left side with the name Dulwich over Quaint. On the right side it was stamped with the number 64. It was also stamped on the underside, horizontally at the stem shank union with the words Made in England. I have searched for information on the internet for the brand in the past and not been able to find anything helpful. In a previous blog I wrote on a pair of Dulwich Quaint pipes the only link I could find was that the shape number was an Orlik shape number. Here is the link to the other blog: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/03/13/a-rare-find-a-pair-of-fieldcraft-dulwich-quaints/

My brother took some photos of the pipe when he received it and before he had done any cleanup work on it. He took some close up photos of the pipe. The first photo shows the top of the rim was in good shape. There was some light tars and some scratching on the surface of the rim. The second and third photos show the stamping – first the Dulwich over Quaint and then the Made in England. Both sides of the stem looked like the photo below. There was a lot of tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface on the top and bottom. The button was worn down by teeth mid button.My brother scrubbed the pipe with his usual mixture of Murphy’s Oil Soap and water. He rinsed the bowl with running water. He scrubbed out the internals of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. When it arrived I took the following pictures to show its condition. The finish was worn and uneven all around the bowl. The shank was also unevenly finished. The finish on the rim was also worn. I took some close up photos of the rim top to show what it looked like before I started. I took some photos of the stem surface to show the condition of the stem. It shows the tooth chatter and some mild oxidation on the stem. I scrubbed the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. I also sanded the bowl lightly with a medium grit sanding block to break up the finish that remained on the bowl. I wiped it again to remove all the finish that remained. The clean bowl is shown in the photos below. I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem from the button forward. I reshaped the surface of the button with sandpaper to smooth out the tooth marks and redefine the sharp edge of the button on the top and the bottom sides.I removed the stinger from the end of the stem and sanded the saddle portion of the stem to smooth out the scratches.I wiped down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil and hand buffed the bowl to give it a shine. The next photos show the bowl at this point. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-1400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I set it aside to dry once the final pad was used. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to smooth out the finish and the stem. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. It raised a shine on the bowl and stem. I used a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. I hand buffed it until it shone. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has a wide open draw and should be a delightful smoking instrument. Thanks for looking.

Using the Dremel for Polishing – An Addendum

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Blog by Dal Stanton

I leave Bulgaria Monday, to join my family as we celebrate the wedding of my youngest daughter, who will be married to my future son-in-law in Nashville, November 6^th! I decided to give my future son-in-law a wedding gift – not just my beautiful daughter!, but also his choice from among the pipes that I’ve restored. I sent him a picture of pipes that all have been published on rebornpipes.com and encouraged him to look at the write-ups by searching my name and to choose the pipe he favored. His choices were (from top to bottom), the No-name from Sozopol that was just published as my Dremel Polishing Techniques essay; Horn stem throw-away Pipe; a Butz-Choquin Rocamar with a Cumberland stem, a Jeantet Fleuron and, at the bottom, a Denicotea Deluxe Curling.He chose well. He was drawn to the Butz-Choquin Rocamar (center, above) with its eye-catching Cumberland stem. After I received the text message with his choice solidified, I picked up the BC Rocamar and took a closer look at it. The thought that ran through my mind was that somehow the finish had dulled and I wanted to spruce it up a bit before wrapping it and packing it to the US. Then on a hunch, I decided to look back at the write up that was published on rebornpipes in July and see if the finish had indeed dulled or was it the way I had finished it? After a quick look at the BC’s restoration, I realize that I’m looking at the same finish that I gave the pipe then. In that restoration, I did the full micromesh phase (9 pads) and followed with staining the stummel. Then I by-passed Tripoli and Blue Diamond compounds and went directly to carnauba wax with a cotton cloth wheel, then a buff with a clean cotton cloth wheel, concluding with a microfiber cloth rub down. Since I had just completed the Dremel Polishing Technique essay for Steve, I find myself comparing the finishes of the later pipes with the BC and there was a distinct difference. The luster and depth of the briar grain was much more distinct in the more recent pipes that I’ve restored. A wonderful thought came to mind – the Dremel technique and process that I’ve been honing in on really DOES work! I’m not just blowing pipe smoke up to people reading these blogs and who use a Dremel! J The next thought was to write an addendum to the Dremel Technique essay and run the BC through the polish process again – as I’m doing it now, and see if I can detect and record a substantive advance in the finish of the BC Rocamar (by the way, the BC Rocamar is a pipe of Saint Claude, France). My approach is to reverse time with the BC by applying both Tripoli and Blue Diamond with felt wheels, at the lowest RPMs available, and work it to the end of the process as fully described in detail in the Dremel Technique essay (Link). After completing the process again with the BC, I retook pictures as closely as I could to mimic the pictures of the BC’s restoration in July. I did this to compare the effectiveness of the Dremel approach I’m using now to what I did before. Here’s what I found:

July:
Today:
July:
Today:
July:
Today:
July:
Today:
Disclaimer: This definitely was not a scientific test, but I will let you judge stem and stummel! I’m pleased with the results that I see before me today compared to July. I’m not sure the pictures do full justice to the view the naked eye enjoys of the rich briar grain, but I will be very happy and pleased indeed to wrap this reborn pipe and bring it to my future son-in-law as a gift from his future father-in-law. This special gift from my hands and prayers from my heart entrust this soon-coming marriage into God’s able hands. Thanks for joining me!

Ashton Sovereign XX Addition/Clean-up

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By Al Jones

I’ve slowly been adding the occasional Bill Taylor Ashton to my collection and this one completes a seven-day set. I’m a big fan of the XX size and all but one have that designation. The XX size runs around 50 grams, which is right in my wheel-house.

This is my second Sovereign grade Ashton. This RD Field webpage describes the various Ashton grades.

RD Field Ashton Finishes Page

The Sovereign is described as:

The ASHTON Sovereign pipe is rare indeed, for out of every 100 flawless bowls that undergo the ASHTON oil curing process very few come out unscathed. For as the hot oil exudes from the bowl, bringing with it all manner of impurities. Sandspots are brought to the surface as well.

This one came via Steven Fallon’s ebay site, aka The Pipestud. Steve sells unrestored pipes, which works for me. This one was in great shape, needing only a mild clean-up. The Ashtonite stem was only slightly oxidized and the material polishes up brilliantly.

There was a very slight cake in the bowl and a little rim darkening. I used 8000 grade wet micromesh to polish the bowl top. The stain was slightly faded in spots, perhaps from display and the sun? I wiped on a greatly diluted Medium Brown Fieblings stain to brighten it up. The bowl was polished with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax.

I polished the mild oxidation with 1000 grade paper, then 2000. That was followed by 8,000 and 12,000 grade micromesh. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Carnuba wax.

Below is the finished pipe. The “26” stamp marks it as being made in 2006 (For Bill Taylor Ashtons – 1980 + the two-digit date stamp).
Not all Bill Taylor pipes are drilled properly, but this one was and it passes a cleaner nicely. It also smoked wonderfully, which was not surprising, since it was so clean.

GBD 5031 Century Restoration

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By Al Jones

This Century finish GBD came via a seller in Portugal. The pipe looked to be in great shape, with only an oxidized stem and some bowl top build-up. The pipe from the pre-Cadogan era, with the brass rondell and straight-line “London, England” stamp (COM = Country of Manufacture mark). The Century finish is said to have been introduced in 1950 and described as:

“A golden finish created to celebrate over a century of manufacturing the
finest briar pipes.”

GBD started making meerschaum pipes in 1850, so I suppose that introduction date makes sense. This is one of many times that I wish there was a definitive book on GBD pipes.

Below is the pipe as it was received. I’ve never had the 5031 shape before. It is quite graceful and comparable to the Dunhill 120, on a slightly smaller scale. The pipe weighs only 31 grams

Curiously, this one had a push-in stinger apparatus. I’ve worked on over 100 GBD’s, including several Century pipes, but this is the first time that I’ve encountered a stinger. Dating GBD’s is only a broad stroke and the only sure bet is that this one was made before the merger in 1981. But, the stinger makes me think it might be closer in age to 1950 than 1981. In the later years, stingers fell out of favor with pipe smokers. The stinger pulled right out. Not all full bent GBD’s will pass a cleaner, but this one does.

I used a cloth and distilled water to remove the bowl-top build-up. I finished with 2000 grit wet paper and then 8000 grade micromesh. This leaves the stain intact and the beveled-bowl top polished up nicely. The bowl was reamed and I found the interior in excellent shape. It was then soaked with sea salt and alcohol. While this was happening, the stem was soaked in a mild Oxy-Clean solution.

The stem was mounted and I removed the first layer of oxidation with 800 grit wet paper, followed by 1000 and 2000 grades. Next was 8,000 and 12,000 grade micromesh sheets. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic polish. The vulcanite on this one has a very high grade feel and is comparable to the few GBD’s that I have stamped “Hand Cut”.

As you can see in the “Before” photo’s, the stem had a slight gap on the top position. I warmed the tenon slightly with a heat gun and using a metal pin punch inserted into the tenon, I adjusted it slightly, then put the tenon in cold water to set the position. That worked nicely and the finished stem fitment was excellent

The bowl was polished with White Diamond and several coats of Carnuba wax. The nomenclature was in great shape, so I was careful to only hand-polish those areas.

Below is the finished pipe. I reluctantly posted this one for sale and a friend of mine grabbed it. I have to deliver it to him quickly, before I regret my decision!

The Havana Cigar Booklet

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This little informative booklet was put out by Cubatabaco who sells Havana Cigars what they call – “the Best in the World”. This fun to read booklet is illustrated and told from the perspective of the cigar itself. A great read and some very 70s illustrations. It is a quick read. Enjoy.

A 1977 Iwan Ries & Co. (IRC) Catalogue

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I have put many of the catalogues I was given on the blog for you to enjoy over the recent months. Last evening I was going through the remaining pieces in the envelope and found that there was also this 1977 IRC booklet from Iwan Ries & Co. of Chicago, Illinois. It was really fun to read through last evening so today i scanned it so I could share it with all of you. I find it an enjoyable read to go through the pipes and tobaccos that are listed from the time when I was in university. Sometimes I wish there was a way to go back and pick up some of these amazing pipes and tobaccos.