My Process for Cutting off and Reshaping Broken Stems

Blog by Steve Laug

It seems like lately I have had a few of these pipes with broken stems. I have gotten several emails through the blog asking for more information about how I go about cutting back a stem and reshaping it. Since I just finished working on the Yves St. Claude pipe where I did cut back the stem and reshape the button I thought I would use it as an example of the process. I figured that this provided the perfect opportunity to spell out more of the details that I hinted at in the full blog on the restoration of the pipe. The pictures below will show the progress from broken stem to a short saddle stem. It is only one of the methods for addressing a broken stem. Stem splicing and stem replacement are also possible solution. Soon I hope to have another blog on stem splicing but until then have a look at the piece by Jacek Rochacki where he demonstrates his method. https://rebornpipes.com/2014/02/28/some-remarks-on-dealing-with-damaged-stems-of-smoking-pipes-by-jacek-a-rochacki/

1. Before I cut off anything on a stem I spend quite a bit of time examining the broken stem. For me that means checking out the thickness of the stem material above and below the airway in the stem. There needs to be enough thickness that I can shape a button on the cut off portion. I check out the stability of the vulcanite to see if it crumbling or if the break is clean. Sometimes you need to cut quite a ways back into the stem to get either the correct thickness or stability to reform a button. I always try to imagine what the pipe will look like with a shorter stem. To help me see it I have devised a simple method. I clasp it between my thumb and finger making a straight line across the stem. Using my finger and thumb I can slide the stem as far as I want between the fingers and get a good picture of what the pipe will look like with a shorter stem. If all of these steps are passed then I get ready to cut off the broken portion.

This stem passed all the tests. The break not straight across the stem but actually was slightly diagonal. It was a very clean break with no crumbling material. The airway appears to be close to the surface on the top side of the stem but because of the angle of the break there was sufficient material there for me to cut and shape a button. I was ready to cut of this stem.

2. I marked the stem with a pencil to delineate how far I planned on cutting the stem. I use a Dremel with a sanding drum to cut off the broken portion of the stem to the point of my line. Others use coping saws or hacksaws to remove the material. Choose whatever tool you are comfortable with to do the work. For me I hold the Dremel in my right hand and the stem in my left. I keep the stem stationary while cutting but frequently rotate it in my hand to keep the edges straight. I am always conservative in the first cut only taking off what looks to be necessary. I want a solid surface to work on with the button. Once I have the cut finished I use the drum to slightly round the corners of the line. In the end I wanted to have a slight crown on the finished button so I plan for that at this point. In the two photos below you can see the slightly bow in the cut off. The cut off edge is vertical to the surface of the stem forming a 90 degree angle.

3. When the cut off is finished I take time to look at the profile of the stem. In this case the stem was quite thick. I was going to need to shave off the surface and thin the stem down but I would not do that until I had cut the button and roughed in the shape. Looking at it I could also see that I would need to flatten the stem near the new button as it had a definite rounding that would make it uncomfortable in the mouth.

4. The first tools that I use are a knife shaped needle file that has a thin edge like a blade and squared edge for the initial cuts and a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the newly cut edge. 5. I cut the edge with the straight edge of the file. I eyeball the line to make sure it aligns on both sides of the stem. This is a bit tricky at first but I rotate the stem to and angle where I can see both sides at once and begin the second cut. At this point in the process I am not finishing the cut but only drawing the line with the file. With the line cut and the button edge defined there is a lot of finishing work that needs to be done but you can get a clear picture of what the button will look like.

6. I use the knife edge of the file to shave the surface of the stem on the top and bottom sides. Be careful not to gouge the surface but smoothly shave it. I hold the blade at slight angle against the surface of the stem and carve toward the button. I have the stem on the table and work the blade away from myself sometimes and other times I have it in hand with the new button against the heel of my palm and work the blade toward the button. I work the blade until I have defined the line of the button and flattened the crown on the surface of the stem. Remember this is all initial carving. It will be cleaned up and smoothed out with the sandpaper and other files.

7. When I have the material in front of the button cut away and thinned down I sand it with the folded 220 grit sandpaper to get an idea of how it looks and of how much more I will need to remove from the crown on both sides of the stem. In the case of this stem I have enough material removed. I still need to shape the button and clean up the edges of the sharp edge. The top and bottom surface of the button still need to be shaped and sanded but the overall look is good to go.

8. With the rough shape finished I cut the slot in the end of the button and flare the airway. The first photo below shows the way the airway looked once I cut of the stem. You can see that there is plenty of material above and below the airway. I started the process by sanding the face of the button on my topping board and sandpaper. It is important to make sure that stem is absolutely vertical and does not tilt either way when doing this. You want to make a smooth face to work on the slot. 9. I use several different needle files to open the slot. The first file I use is a flattened oval file shown in the photo below. I work it against the right and left edges of the airway to open the slot. I don’t worry about the finished look at this point but am concerned to rough it in with the file. The flattened oval does the initial shaping work. I like a slot that is oval and tapers to a point on each side. I also work the file into the airway to taper the internals into a Y shaped funnel ending at the airway. 10. I work the top and bottom edges with the second file – an oval blade that is not flattened and almost round. I use it to work the internals into more of a smooth Y and then open the top and bottom of the slot. I follow this with a round needle file that has a thin point to clean up the opening and shape it. The photo below shows the slot after I have used all three files. 11. I fold a piece of sandpaper into a rectangle that I can fit into the slot. I work it in the slot to sand the internals and remove the file marks. I sand the face of the button to remove file marks and also sand the slot to refine the shape of oval. 12. The next photo shows the slot after I have worked it with the sandpaper. The internals are clean and smooth. I then use a pipe cleaner and isopropyl alcohol to remove any dust from the inside of the airway. The face of the stem still shows some light scratching that will be taken care of with wet sanding using micromesh sanding pads. However, you can see the new shape of the slot and how it sits on the button. That portion of the reshaping of the new button is finished and all that remains is to sand and polish the stem with the micromesh and the buffer. 13. I sanded the stem – all surfaces including the button face with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper. I worked on giving the surface of the button a slight bevel downward toward the slot. I personally like a gentle slope so I don’t overdo it with the sanding.

14. With the scratches removed the stem is ready for polishing. I used micromesh sanding pads to do this work. Others use high grit wet dry sandpapers or micromesh papers. I like the way the pads fit in my fingers and how I can push the edge up against the slot to work that angle. I wet sand with 1500-2400 grit pads – wetting the surface of the stem and then sanding with the pads. I wipe it off regularly to remove the grime and check on the smoothness of the surface. I sand with each of the three grits until the particular grit no longer takes off any of the vulcanite. Once I finish with the three pads I rub the stem down with Obsidian Oil as I find it highlights the remaining scratches and also helps the micromesh to bite into the surface of the stem. I have used olive oil to do the same thing, applying it sparingly with a fold piece of cloth or paper towel. At times I have applied the oil between each of these three grits – essentially replacing the water with the oil. It works very well. 15. I dry sand (no oil or water) with the remaining grits of micromesh. I sand with 3200-4000 grit pads and then rub the stem down with oil again for the same reasons as above. I then either go back to the 1500-2400 grit pads to rework areas of concern or move on to sanding with the 6000-12,000 grit pads.

16. I buff the stem with White Diamond at this point in my process. If you do not have a buffer you can buff with a plastic polish on a cotton pad or cloth. The idea is to remove any of the remaining scratches (micro scratches really at this point) and give the vulcanite a high sheen. When I finish buffing I give the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. When I did not have my buffer I used Kiwi neutral shoe wax which has carnauba in it and hand buffed the stem with a shoe brush. Sometimes I revert to using the shoe brush even now. Especially when buffing areas around stamping and logos.

17. The finished stem is shown below. The button looks like it has always been there. I like giving it a look that fits the age of the pipe. I don’t want it looking like a brand new button that has been tacked onto an old pipe. Rather I want it to look as if it has been there for the life of the pipe and has seen some smoothing from use. You can be the judge if I have achieved that but at least that is the aim. You can also decide how you want the buttons that you shape to look. Don’t be afraid to experiment and add your own steps or modify these so that they work for you. The end result is really all we are interested in anyway and the methods for getting there are many.

Pipe Resurrection – from a Broken Shank to another Frankenpipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

In my recent gift box was a broken shanked pipe that looked like an interesting challenge to me. It is the one pictured below in the lower right corner. It was stamped on the shank Dunbar over Filter Pipe. On the other side of the shank it was stamped 36B or 368 it was hard to read. Next to that was the circular com stamp with Made in London England. Researching the brand on the web I found that it was a Comoy’s Made pipe and was their filter pipe line. This one seems to have been snapped when someone tried to remove the stem from the shank. It was absolutely frozen solid and unmovable. I put the stem and shank in the freezer over night which usually works to break loose a tight stem. It had no effect. I also tried heating the shank and stem with hot water – also to no avail. It appeared that the stem was literally glued in the shank. To top it off it seemed that there was a broken piece of plastic – possibly a tenon insert that blocked the end of the metal tenon in the stem. I could not get air to move through the stem at all.

Finally I used a heat gun on the stem and shank and was able to remove the stem from the tenon. PROGRESS! I soaked the junction of the tenon and mortise with alcohol and even WD40 to see if I could get the tenon to pop free. Nothing worked. The metal tenon was a permanent feature of the shank piece of this pipe. I would need to go with another plan – PLAN B. I set aside the broken shank and tenon and decided to use piece from several other pipes and a chunk of briar to reconstruct a Frankenpipe from the nice apple bowl. In doing so I would lose the stamping altogether but I was not overly concerned with that as there was no way I could reconstruct the shank and bowl into a repaired Dunbar Filter Pipe. I cut back the broken shank on the bowl with a Dremel and a sanding drum. I squared off the shank so that I could attach something else to it. I finished by squaring it with my topping board and sandpaper. I had a chunk of briar in my repair box that would work nicely. It was the right thickness to match the shank. I drilled it out with a drill bit that left a hole the size of the metal tube that I would use to join the bowl and the briar. I drilled the airway all the way through the briar and used a slightly larger bit on the mortise end of the block. I had a taper stem in my can of stem that was close to the diameter of the shank so I thought I would use it on this pipe. I put the pieces together for the photo below to get an idea of the work I would need to do. I marred the surface of the metal tube with files and then mixed a two part epoxy and set the metal tube in the briar block. I did not glue it into the bowl at this point as I thought it might be helpful to have the block free of the bowl to be able to use the Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess briar. While I was at it I also took out an interesting old metal sleeve that had come with a box of parts I bought on eBay. It was cross hatched with a smooth band on the mortise end. It had a saddle stem in it that was also stuck. Now I had a couple of options to work with on this old bowl. I could either have a briar shank and a taper stem and then rusticate the shank and at least the union of the bowl and briar or I could have a metal sleeve that would slide over a briar tube and have the saddle stem inserted. I did not need to decide at that moment so I set both stems aside and worked on removing the excess briar. I sanded the block with a Dremel and sanding drum until I had removed much of the excess and was left with a rectangular wedge that I would need to fit and shape to match the diameter of the shank. More sanding with the Dremel and sanding drum brought the block closer and closer to the diameter of the shank on the bowl.

There was still more sanding that needed to be done. The next four photos show the block getting very close to the size and shape of the shank. I put the stem in place and looked long and hard at it and still had not decided what to do. I sanded with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper to further shape the shank.

I looked long and hard at the pipe with the stem in place and decided I really did not like the look of the pipe. I put the metal sleeve next to the pipe and shank to have a look at it and made up my mind. I would continue to sand the briar until it could be pressed into the metal sleeve. I would need to shorten the briar so that it would leave room for the stem in the shank. I went back to the Dremel and sanding drum and continued to sand the shank. It would need to be quite a bit thinner in diameter to be able to press the metal sleeve over the briar.

I also decided to reverse the direction of the sleeve and have the black band against the shank and bowl junction. I figured that once I glued the tube into the airway in the bowl I would reduce the collar of the shank at that point and the slide the metal sleeve over the joint and it would not only hide the connection but strengthen the joint. I used the Dremel with the sanding drum and wood files to cut the collar down on the shank on the bowl until it matched the diameter of the briar that I would press into the metal sleeve. I shortened the briar tube enough to accommodate the stem when it was inserted in the sleeve. I wanted the airway in the briar to hold the tenon on the stem and also step the stem down so that it would sit in the metal sleeve like a faux military mount stem. I finally was ready to attach the briar tube to the bowl so I put epoxy on the piece of metal tube that I used to join the briar shank and the bowl. I pressed it into the airway on the bowl and let it dry. Once it had set I was ready to press the metal sleeve onto the briar tube. This was the moment I was waiting for to see if my vision of the pipe in my head matched the reality of the one on the table. The photo below shows the briar tube is ready to slide into the outer cross hatched metal sleeve. I drilled out the inside of the metal sleeve to remove the step ridges and make the inside the same diameter from the bowl end to the stem end. I used a metal grinding bit on the Dremel to polish the inside. I heated the metal sleeve with a heat gun to expand it and then pressed onto the briar tube and up on the collar of the bowl. I worked quite well. I would need to do a bit of fine tuning on the fit of the bowl and the sleeve but I liked what I saw and it was a match to my vision of the pipe when I started.

I sanded the briar at the union of the metal sleeve and the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted the joint to be smooth and even all the way around. I did not want a ridge to show at that point. I filled slight gap between the two with clear superglue and briar dust.

Once the transition was smooth I turned my attention to the stem. I would need to go back and do more work on the bowl but that was good for the moment. I wanted to fit the stem and get a feel for what the finished pipe would look like. Because I reversed the metal sleeve I needed to adjust the diameter of the saddle stem to have it seat properly inside the sleeve. I used a Dremel with sanding drum and files to cut the step down. In the photo below you can see the rough fit stem. I would need to clean up the step with files and sandpaper to smooth out the newly cut portion of the saddle that would sit in the sleeve. My plan was that the tenon would sit inside the briar and the step down saddle would sit inside the sleeve. With a little sanding my plan worked. The tenon sat perfectly in the airway in the briar and the stepped down saddle sat snuggly in the sleeve. Now all I needed to do was clean up the stem and polish it for a final fit. The first photo below shows the position of the briar insert in the sleeve. You can see the depth of the section of the sleeve for the saddle part of the stem that I modified in this photo. You can also see the airway where the tenon inserts in the briar. The three photos that follow show the progress of the Frankenpipe at this point in the process.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish on the bowl, rim and smooth out the sanding scratches on the shank. The bowl was covered with quite a few fills on the sides and I wondered how they would look once I had sanded the finish off. Fortunately the fills were not pink putty but brown putty that actually blended in quite well once I had removed the finish. When I had sanded it I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The first picture below shows the options I went through on this stem and the original broken shank.

The pipe was beginning to look like I had hoped. There was still more sanding to do on the bowl and the stem but it was coming along nicely. I used a file to clean up the edge of the step on the saddle so that I could get a good fit of the vulcanite against the metal edge of the sleeve. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove oxidation and scratches. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three sanding pads. I gave the stem a final rub down with oil after sanding with the 12,000 grit pad.

There was still some stubborn oxidation on the saddle and next to the button. I buffed it with red Tripoli and then with White Diamond. I had a pretty heavy hand with this stem. I did it without the shank and really pressed it into the pads. I wanted to strip away the remaining oxidation. Once it was gone I gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the stem by buffing it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The finished stem, both top and bottom sides, is shown in the next two photos below.

I decided to not use a stain on the bowl but to oil with a light coat of olive oil. The fills had blended in well and the grain was quite nice. The olive oil brought out a red tint to the briar. I rubbed it down and let it soak into the briar. I buffed the bowl with White Diamond and gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it to a shine with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below.

Now all that remains is to take it on its maiden voyage. The broken shank pipe has been reborn to another Frankenpipe. It has all the parts that pretty much make it certain that it will be a good smoking pipe.

Giving a Face Lift to a Jobey Canadian

6 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

This pipe has been an off and on project of mine since early to mid-November. I acquired this pipe from a friend of mine on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum (http://drgrabows.myfreeforum.org/forum3.php). I needed a Jobey stem emblem for a restoration. He sent me this pipe for a donor and it was nicer that the one I was restoring. The pipe was in excellent shape except for some mold stains. I saw a nice pipe hiding there behind it all. This is how it looked when I got it.

Well I sanded and refurbished it and even gave it a contrast stain. But the mold stains were still visible. It smoked fine and looked ok but I thought it was too nice a pipe to leave like it was.

I put it on the back burner until after the first of the year then I contacted another from a Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum about doing some blasting for me on a couple of pipes including this one. He does some very nice blast work. I figured that the blast would get rid of or obscure the mold stains. This is what the pipe looked like when I got it back. He did some fine blasting on it. He even threw in one of his custom-made tampers that is shown in the picture with the pipe.

I mixed up some brown Rit dye and added about 25% orange along with about 5% red as well. I wanted to match the colour of the amber stem in some way. I then coated it in mineral oil and took a scotch brite pad and went over the surface to lighten the high spots of the blast. I wanted the color of the pipe to match the dark brown of the stem at the shank so that it would look like the whole pipe fades from Brown to the amber yellow. After many coats of wax this is what I got.

I think it turned out real nice and it smokes wonderful. A gift from a friend and the blast work from another friend make this one of my prized pipes.

Cutting off a broken stem and reshaping the stem on an Yves Saint-Claude #75 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the gift box of pipes I received (shown below) there was one pipe that kept calling out to me to have a look and see what I could do with it. It is shown in the photo below – it is the bulldog in the bottom right corner. It is stamped Yves St.Claude GOLD TOUCH on the left side of the shank and on the right side it has the shape stamp 75 and Made in France in a circle similar to the Comoy’s Made in England Stamp. “Made” and “France” make up the outside of the circle and “in” is in the centre. On the stem it bore a script stamp of YSC and also a light golden coloured wooden stem adornment. I think this is the “Gold Touch”. I have done a bit of research on the net and have found several other examples of the Gold Touch and all have had this wooden stem adornment. The stem was broken off at an angle from the button forward about one inch. In searching the web I found several references to Yves Grenard, trained in Comoy’s England purchasing the Chacom plant in St. Claude. He managed the factory and it passed on to his son afterward. I am pretty certain that this Yves St. Claude pipes was made by Chacom in France with the stamping bearing Yves name.

I took the pipe to my worktable and took the following photos. They are a little dark but give a pretty clear picture of the condition of the pipe. The finish was clean but had a lot of damage. There were dings and scratches that cut deeply into the sides of bowl on both sides. On the right side there were vertical scratches on the bowl. The centre of the two rings had several places where it was chipped and damaged. The outer edge of the rim had dents on it from tapping the pipe out on hard surfaces. The top of the beveled rim had a build up of tars and oils. The inner edge was clean and undamaged. The bowl was quite clean and did not need reaming. The stem had light oxidation but the major problem with the stem was that it was broken. The bottom edge of the diamond stem had several cuts and dents in the vulcanite that would be a challenge. I would need to decide what to do with it – should I cut it back and reshape it or replace it with another saddle stem. The problem with replacing it would be that I would lose the stamping on the saddle and the nice wood stem adornment. Shortening it would not be hard to do but I was not sure what it would look like. So I was faced with a decision.

The next two photos are close up shots of the stem to show the damage. The first photo is the underside of the broken stem and the second is the top side.

I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and grime from the surface of the bowl. I wanted to have a clean surface to work with when I repaired the deep scratches on the sides of the bowl and also the damaged ring around the bowl.

I scrubbed it until the bowl and rim were clean. I filled the deep scratches and sharp edged dents with clear super glue and then sanded them until they blended into the surface of the bowl. Once I had sanded them down they virtually disappeared into the grain. This was one of those times that the patches literally disappeared into the briar. The next photos show the bowl stripped of its finish and cleaned and repaired.

I decided to cut back the stem and reshape it. I figured that if it did not look right I could make a new stem. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to cut away the damaged portion of the stem. I took it back until the remaining stem was solid and the damage was gone. Fortunately the airway was absolutely centered in the stem. Once I had it cut off I kind of liked the look of the shorter stem and I thought that I could reshape it so that it would look natural. It reminded me of some of my older WDC bulldogs that had an elongated shank with a short stem. I think that it works because of the wooden stem adornment which gives the shank a longer look.

Below I have included a photo of the entire pipe with the shorter stem to show the new look. I like it! I decided to stain the pipe bowl and set it aside to dry while I worked on the stem. I use an old candle stand with a wine cork that fits into the bowl of the pipe as a drying stand for the bowl. It works very well to keep all surfaces exposed to the air. I used a walnut aniline based stain to bring out the grain on the bowl.

While the bowl was drying I turned my attention to cutting a new button on the stem. I use several needle files in the process followed by a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work the new sharp edge. I start with a knife blade needle file and use the straight edge to define the line of the button. Once that is done I use the curved edge to carve away the surface of the stem ahead of the new button line. I continually refine the sharp edge in the process with a flat rectangular blade needle file that has a straight edge. It does not have the teeth to cut the edge at the beginning like the first file.

Once I have the general button cut I sand the stem surface with the 220 grit sandpaper folded. I use the folded edge to get right up against the new button. I work the sandpaper to get rid of the file marks. The next two photos show the newly shaped button and the smoothed out stem surface.

I then worked on the slot in the button. For this I use three different needle files – a flat oval, an oval and a round file. I work them interchangeably as I open and flair the airway. I start with the flat oval to spread out the opening and the other two to widen the gap.

Once the slot was opened I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to shape the edges and to smooth out the opening of the oval slot. Once the slot is opened and smooth I sand the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further shape the stem and also to remove the scratches.

I then used my usual array of micromesh to sand and polish the stem. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. After the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and let the oil soak into the vulcanite.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine.

The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I like the shortened stem and how it looks on the pipe. The overall look of the pipe with the newly shaped stem has both a Danish flair and a look of days gone by. I think I will be enjoying some good smokes in this one.

I have also included a few close up photos of the rim and the stampings on the shank and stem. It is truly a beautiful pipe.

Parker Super Bruyere Straight Billiard

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. I have no other restriction as regards smoking. I do not know just when I began to smoke, I only know that it was in my father’s lifetime, and that I was discreet. He passed from this life early in 1847, when I was a shade past eleven; ever since then I have smoked publicly. As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.
― Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens, 1835-1910), U.S. author, humorist and critic, at his 70th Birthday Speech, 1905

INTRODUCTION
The nomenclature on this Parker Straight Billiard is worn beyond much recognition, but certain details stand out enough under the closest of scrutiny to make me confident it is a Super Bruyere, Made in London England. The following pictures, “enhanced” by various means with photo editing, are all I have to go with.

On the left, the words Parker at the top followed in the middle with a clear enough trademark diamond and on the bottom a definite, fancy Bruyere can be made out. This combined with the very rough yet apparent Made in London England in the photo to the right seem to compare on pipephil.eu only to the Super Bruyere.

That said, the other most notable condition of the pipe as I received it, other than fading of the original stain, was the actual presence of a small amount of tobacco in the bottom of the chamber. That was a somehow endearing quality I had never before seen. This angle also shows the majority of the kind of work I needed to do to make the once precise pipe presentable again. The stem was discolored and scratched with minor chatter but no teeth marks. There were also slight dings around the inside of the rim and some blemishes on its top that appeared elsewhere throughout the pipe’s outer area.

I apologize for jumping the gun on the sanding away of one patch of bad pits on the right side before even documenting its original state.

THE RESTORATION
The chamber needed considerable reaming, which also removed the dings in the rim diameter, before sanding with 150-grit paper followed by 200 and 320. I swabbed it with small Everclear-soaked cotton cloths, scoured the shank over and over again with a wire-handled cleaner dipped in the alcohol, did a preliminary cleaning of the stem’s air-hole and retorted the pipe.

After those steps, I sanded the top of the rim with 200 paper, eliminating the scratches there. I followed that with 320 paper over the entire bowl and shank and buffing with super fine steel wool, then 1500, 3200, 3600 and 4000 micromesh.

As much as I liked the lighter color of the briar, I concluded that re-staining with medium brown boot dye seemed the best course. I flamed it, let the wood cool and buffed with 3200 micromesh.

The stem needed 200-grit paper before micro-meshing with 1500, 3200, 3600 and 4000 grades.

To finish, I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond, and the wood with red and White Tripoli, White Diamond and carnauba.

The last touch was to refill the Parker “P” in a diamond on the stem with a white marker.

CONCLUSION
This restore, I’m happy to report, went without a hitch, although that does leave me with a rather unexciting blog. I almost wish something exciting had gone wrong and required a clever solution!

Restoring an Old Yello Bole 2033 Apple

10 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

This is the other pipe I got with the Doc Watson. Both came from the same owner estate sale – an old gentleman that had them has since passed on to glory. The two pipes have been together longer than I have been alive. It’s an early Yello Bole in that it has the Imported Bruyere stamp but no “Honey Cured Briar” along with the 2033 four digit shape stamp. I’m guessing 1930 – 1933 roughly.

The pipe as it was when I got it.

I started out by removing most of the cake, then sanding inner bowl with some rough grit paper leaving a thin coat of cake. Next I cleaned out inner shank and stem with 91% alcohol. On these large airway YBs I like to twist 2-3 shank brushes together for better scrubbing. I also scrubbed outer stem with 91% alcohol and a Scotch Brite pad to remove grease, oil, wax etc. This is easiest way I’ve found to remove rim cake. I mix up some Oxy Clean and warm water. Dip a piece of Scotch Brite pad in it leaving it not quite dripping wet. Lay it flat on surface and move rim along lightly. It takes it off pretty fast and will not harm under finish if you are trying to save it. It will leave it discolored but a little mineral oil will bring the color back to original.

Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. After getting a good look at the bowl after old dirt and such was removed the finish looks toasted. Sadly it cannot be saved.

So I went ahead and sanded bowl with 400-2000 grit sandpaper. Never touching the stampings with any grit sandpaper less than 1200 grit. I will leave a defect or mark near a stamping just so it won’t be harmed. Luckily the stain I had left over from the Doc Watson was a good match so I was able to use it. I applied three coats letting in dry in between. After third coat of stain I like to apply mineral oil to help the grain stand out and condition the briar. The mineral oil lets you see any defects in the finish and what the bowl will look like when waxed. I set it to the side and let it air dry. I had to do some filing on the stem and button to remove some tooth marks. If you noticed in before pic the stem did not fit tight to the shank, so I filed down tenon a little at a time until it fit tight.

I wet sanded the stem again using 400-2000 grit sandpaper. I put the bowl and stem back together and it is ready for some buffing and wax. On bowls I’ve stained I put about 3 coats of base wax then go back over with white Tripoli then go back to wax .

On the stems I use brown Tripoli, white Tripoli and then wax. Here are pics of the finished pipe.

It was missing a stinger so I dug out an extra I had and cleaned it up.

It should make a fine daily smoker and better than most any pipe I could buy today for under a 100 dollars. I have less than 12 dollars in it.

An Unknown Italian Full Bent Billiard by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
― William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, in “Romeo and Juliet,” Act II, sc. 2, 1597

INTRODUCTION
This splendid rusticated full bent billiard somehow overshadowed the other pipes in one of the many estate lots I purchased in rapid succession some months past, despite my inability to identify its brand in the group photo. Of course, being also a system pipe, the slim chance that it was a Peterson’s crossed my mind, but I was more than doubtful. When the lot arrived, I was eager to see who made it and set aside the others of known make and quality in a rush to examine the nomenclature of the mysterious new addition to my pipes to be restored for resale. I was surprised and intrigued to find it was a no-name Italian. I began showing the unusual pipe to some of my friends more familiar with Italian crafters than I. The first of these was my mentor, Chuck Richards, as he was present at our tobacconist just after the package arrived when I tore my way past the over-taping that is the bad habit of so many shippers. His own exquisite pipe of the day in mouth, Chuck examined the specimen with the quick thoroughness of which he is capable, squinting and pursing his lips, but offered nothing by way of a comment, which in itself spoke volumes of his appraisal. In this way Chuck’s style is much like that of New Yorker Magazine reviews, which, if they have nothing at all good to say about a book, condemn the work to a brief blurb citing only its name, author and other trivial information.

Undaunted, perhaps or perhaps not with an undue sense of romanticism, I held onto my suspicion that the no-name bent billiard system was the reject of a well-known company such as Savinelli, Ser Jacopo, Castello or Velani – though I could not suspect a Romeo.

I can only add now that the bella pipa’s origins remain secret, but like Juliet in the Bard’s famous tragedy, I care not for its name.

Needing to know how this pipe smoked before the refurbish, I gave it a good initial cleaning with Everclear. I noted the ease with which the several pipe cleaners – that’s right, this pipe was so well cared for that I did not need to use half a pack of bristly cleaners just to test it with safety – passed through the stem and well-aligned shank opening and draught hole. After letting it have plenty of time to dry out, I loaded a bowl and relaxed on my couch. Soon I drifted into abstracted musing.

By the time I returned to the present space-time continuum, a half-hour had passed. Faint drifts of smoke wafting upward, I realized the tobacco had not yet extinguished, yet the bowl, still in my hand, was cool. The taste of the tobacco remained fresh, without a hint of wetness to the draw. I reached for my tamper and, still puffing, found that less than a quarter of the bowl had turned to ash.

Whoever crafted this pipe, I knew, was a true artist by any name.

THE REFURBISH
Finished with my one and only enjoyment of this wonderful no-name, I turned it again in my hands for another look-over.

There was not a thing wrong with it that minimal cleaning and shining would not fix. The rim showed no burn. The rusticated majority of the bowl and shank was faded black from age. The deep red natural wood in two spots had but the faintest scratches. The stem was impeccable if lusterless. The steel band was in good shape. The chamber, even, was as smooth as almost any I have ever seen.

And so I began with a gentle ream of the chamber followed by a scouring using 320-grit paper to remove the mild buildup of cake. As always, I followed this by soaking a couple of small squares of cotton cloth in Everclear and washing away the carbon residue.

The next logical step was to retort the pipe. This, in fact, proved to be the step that took the most time (maybe 10 minutes), despite the previous owner’s excellent care but apparently frequent enjoyment of the bent billiard.

Following the retort, I gave the briar bowl and shank with the band, along with the stem, a bath with purified water. This revealed the minor scrapes on the patches of natural wood, which I removed with progressive increases of micromesh 1500, 2400, 3600 and 4000. I made the band sparkle with a light buff of super fine steel wool, leaving no scratches, and used the same progression of micromesh on the stem.

And that was all, other than buffing the stem with red and white Tripoli and White Diamond, and then the bowl and shank with the last of the Halcyon II I had on hand.

CONCLUSION
The strain of my well-known pipe acquisition disorder almost proved too much to overcome with my intense and somewhat inexplicable desire to add a no-name Italian pipe to my collection that already overflows the boundary of a stand-up case with shelves of excellent examples of some of the best brands made. But such is the obsessive-compulsive beast of P.A.D. that the beauty of the pipe itself and the nagging doubt as to the mere possibility of a greater pedigree proved to be a great trial.

The tribulation ended with the wise arbiter of such matters, whence its powers are derived no serious pipe collector can say, granting me at least a reprieve. With every ounce of willpower I could summon, I listed the No-Name Italian Rusticated Full Bent Billiard for sale.

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
— Id., Act IV, sc. 3

Giving a Large No Name Imported Briar Cutty a New Look

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the box of pipes that I was gifted was a large cutty shaped pipe that looked to be in pretty decent shape. It appeared that it did not need a lot of work to bring it back. The finish looked pretty good with birdseye on the sides and cross grain off to one side of the front and back of the stem. The grain followed a similar pattern on the shank. The bottom of the bowl had some mixed grain patterns. The stem was not oxidized. The bowl had a minimal cake in it. The only issue appeared to be the outer edge of the rim. On the back side it was very beat up and the briar was broken and nicked. All of this is what I assumed when I took it out of the box and took a closer look at the pipe.

The pipe is large, at least for me. It is seven inches long from button to the front of the bowl. The bowl is 2 ¼ inches tall. The chamber is ¾ inch in diameter. Proportionally it is a well made pipe. There are no fills in the briar. There are no sandpits. But there were issues! The bottom of the bowl had been flattened but the flattened portion was not centered on the bowl and shank bottom. It was off to one side. This gave the bowl and pipe a distinct cant to the right. The damage to the rim was deep on the back outer edge. The stem had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. All of these would need to be addressed in a restoration of this pipe.

I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer. I seem to default to this T handled reamer as first choice in most of the refurbishing that I do. It is an easy tool to use. The T handle is small enough in diameter at the junction of the cutting head that it can be pushed deep into the bowl which was necessary with this pipe. Since I was planning on topping the bowl to repair the rim damage I decided to remove the finish from the pipe so that matching stain would not be necessary. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The finish dulled but it did not completely come off the bowl. It has the feel of a Urethane coat. Once I topped the bowl I would deal with that issue.

I set up my usual topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I would need to remove quite a bit of briar from the surface of the rim to take care of the damage. I also found that the cant on the bowl and shank left me with a canted bowl top as well. I sanded the bottom of the shank until the pipe sat upright and then had to work on the rim to make it horizontal without a slant. As usual I collected the briar dust for later use on fills and repairs.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge of the rim and lightly bevel/chamfer it and remove the charring.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium grit sanding sponge to break through the urethane finish. I wiped it down further with acetone until it was gone. I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath to soak while I worked on the stem. I have found that the stain darkened alcohol bath works really well to give some patina to briar once the finish has been opened up. For such a large piece of briar the bowl was surprisingly light weight and it floated on the surface of the bath. I sanded the bite marks on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until they were removed. I followed that by sanding the stem surface with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratches in the stem.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside. I took the bowl out of the bath. The finish had completely disappeared with the soak and the entire bowl, including the rim had picked up a nice patina. The grain just popped in the clean surface of the bowl. It would be easy to stain and polish.

The colour of the topped rim matched the bowl colour perfectly – in fact it matched so well that I was unsure that I would even stain it. The next photos show the bowl as it stood after the soaking and drying. I love the way that the grain stood out.

I ran a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs soaked in isopropyl alcohol through the shank to clean it out. I was surprised with how dirty the shank was. The buildup of tars and oils was heavier than I expected. I set up a retort and boiled alcohol through the pipe until the alcohol came out clean.

After the retort I used a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the alcohol and remaining tars from the shank. With the bowl and shank clean and ready to go it was time to finish the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry.

I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil to highlight the grain. I did not stain the bowl as I really liked the natural look of the briar. I gave it a buff with White Diamond and did the same with the stem. I then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and a buff with a soft flannel pad. I took the photo below to give some idea of the size of this pipe. It is sitting next to the Kaywoodie Prime Grain Lovat that I finished restoring recently. The finished pipe is shown below. The first four photos show the overall look of the pipe. The last three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem. The pipe is like new. The new finish is far better than the one that came with the pipe. The look of the grain and the way the bath and olive oil highlights it is quite stunning. This pipe will make someone a great addition to their rack and should be a great smoking pipe. It is too large of a pipe for me at this phase of my pipe smoking. I am much more drawn to smaller bowls and lighter pipes, but that being said, the grain on this one makes it very tempting.

A Restorfurb of a Doc Watson SR Billiard

12 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

I have read about some of Troy’s refurbs on Pipe Smokers Unlimited and on the Dr. Grabow Collector’s Forum so when I saw his work on this old Doc Watson and the unique stamping it had I wrote and asked him if he would be willing to post it on rebornpipes. It is a pleasure to have some of Troy’s work here. He did an amazing job on this particular old timer with the distinct purpose of trying to keep the original finish as much as possible as he worked on it. Thanks Troy for taking the time to send me this blog. I am glad you were willing to post it here. Welcome to rebornpipes as one of the contributors. It is great to have you here. You have shared not only a great restorfurb but some tricks that I will have to use in the future. We would love to read about and look at more of your work. Thank you. – Steve

Hi everyone, my name is Troy Wilburn and I live in rural Virginia near Roanoke. I have been a dedicated pipe smoker for a little over a year now and refurbishing my own pipes for about 8 months. I mostly hang out on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. My collection is mostly American made pipes. My favorite shapes are pokers, billiards and Canadians. Pokers are my most favorite with nearly 40 of them last count. I have kind of a tight budget to work with on my pipe smoking, pipe purchasing and pipe refurbishing. That’s why I got into refurbishing my own pipes. I’m always trying to find a bargain on pre 50s pipes as they are my favorite. Linkmans and Yello Boles are my most common pre 50s pipes with three Marxman’s thrown in. I do have a hard to find Marxman poker that is one of the prides of my pipe collection and is 100 % original finish.

I have browsed Reborn pipes for information and refurbishing info for a while.

This is my latest one and the pipe that got me here. It’s a Doc Watson pipe shape #51. I know from researching this pipe that Steve had restored a couple so I thought he might know some info on the odd stamping’s mine has. He invited me here to post my work on this pipe.

I got this one and an early Yello Bole apple from a woman who got them at the same estate sale. They both came from the same owner. The Doc Watson’s were made by KBB and though I have seen a few, mine has odd stamping of a P in a shield and mine has the name SR applied. The others I’ve seen are stamped just plain Doc Watson and with the KKB in a cloverleaf. I know this is a KBB as it has the same shape number as KBB, YB and KW charts. The stem has the same logo as the KBBs. KBB stamped Watson’s are all marked Italian Bruyere not Algerian like this one is. I’m guessing this pipe is dated between 1936-1940 as it has the Bruyere stamp but lacks the four digit code.

Pipe as I got it…

After a reaming and a good cleaning I noticed that it had some discoloration spots from heat and the finish was all but gone on these spots. Also there were lots of scratches on the surface and some were deeper. So instead of stripping the whole thing I decided to try and blend in the spots with the original finish, to keep it as original as possible.

So after sanding the bowl down with some 600 grit sandpaper very lightly, being careful of the stampings and the stem with 1000 grit, I applied a matching dye that I mixed up to the spots. The dye pretty much only stuck to the bare finish parts and the excess rubbed off after I wiped it with a rag. After three coats I applied some mineral oil. I had to file out some tooth marks on the stem and button and then wet sanded the stem.

Below is a picture of the bowl and stem back together and ready for some base wax. After waxing the pipe late last night I saw some file marks still visible and the spots were not quite as well blended in as I would have liked. It was more visible in person that it is in the pic shown here. So I decided to back up and punt. After some sleep, morning caffeine and some Vitamin N from some Haunted Bookshop I was ready to go at it again. I sanded the whole pipe and stem with mineral oil and 1000, 1400 and 2000 grit sandpaper. Then I applied a thin coat of red sharpie as toner and buffed off the excess with a loose pad. It left just a red tint and helped blend the dye with the original finish. I lightly waxed the bowl to seal it in. The pipe is about 70-75 percent original finish with some slight blending and tone work. It still has some minor dings around the stampings but I didn’t want to damage them or buff them out any more than I could help. I guess you would call it a Restorfurb.

After several more coats and buffing…

Sadly the stinger is missing on this one. The Doc Watson pipes have a pretty near stinger. Here is a pic of one that I got off the web. I’ll try to find one for it but it may be difficult as these are not that common of a pipe and they were only made for a short time.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Prime Grain 40 Saddle Stem Billiard??

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Blog by Steve Laug

In my gift box of pipes to refurbish there was a small Kaywoodie pipe that I would have called a Lovat but as I learned in looking up the line and shape number I would find that Kaywoodie called it something different. The red arrow points to the KW shape 40.

It is stamped on the left side of the shank Kaywoodie over Prime Grain over Imported Briar. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number. The stem was a short saddle stem. The pipe is in decent shape – certainly restorable. The finish was gone but there was some great grain on the back, front and sides of the bowl. The rim was a mess – out of round, scratches and knocked about enough to lose its sharp profile and edges. The bowl looked as if it had been reamed with a pocket knife. There was an oddly formed cake due to the scraping with the knife. The stem was clean but the button was misshapen with a large part of the top edge missing. The inside of the shank was dirty and the threaded tenon was black with a tarry build-up.

Holding the pipe in hand I would call it a Lovat. Look at the pictures above and see if you would not agree to the shape designation. The problem is I turned to the Kaywoodie shape and line chart below and found that pipe shape #40 is designated as a saddle stem billiard. The first red arrow in the first shape chart below highlights the description on the catalogue picture. The second red arrow points out the line – Prime Grain – a mid-priced pipe in the KW line. So it looks like the pipe is a saddle stem billiard – even though personally I would still call it a Lovat. The next photo is a close of the state of the rim. You can see the knife damage on the inner edge of the rim and the scratches, dents, rounding that has been done to the top and outer edge of the bowl. The rim really was the part of this pipe that was in the worst condition. The next photo shows the rounded outer edges of the rim and the state of the KW thread stinger apparatus. It is a three hole stinger even though the inlaid black cloverleaf in white seems to point to an early era KW pipe. To begin work on repairing the rim edges I needed to ream the bowl. I used a PipNet reamer to take the bowl back to bare wood. I find that doing that gives me a clean surface to work on with the inner rim edge. The second photo below shows the freshly reamed bowl.

With the bowl reamed it was time to top the bowl. This would be a fairly serious topping job – not a light one. There was a lot of damage to remove and it would take a fair bit of sanding to bring the top back to flat with sharp outer edges. I used my normal topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to top the bowl. I sand it in a clockwise circular motion. I checked my progress quite often as I topped the bowl. I sanded until the damage to the top of the rim and outer edge were gone. The process also cleaned up much of the damage to the inner edge of the rim as well. I wiped the stinger and the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to clean up the aluminum stinger and to remove the remaining finish on the bowl and shank. The stem was overclocked about a ¼ turn. I used a lighter to heat the stinger until the glue was warm in the stem and then turned it back into the mortise and realigned the stem.

The bowl had some deep, sharply edged dents in the briar. I cleaned them out and then used clear super glue and briar dust collected from topping the bowl to fill the dents.

I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper and then with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the excess and blend them into the surface of the briar.

I built up the top of the button with black super glue until it was close to the original thickness. I would sand and reshape it once it had cured. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 3 parts to 1 part alcohol. I flamed it and restained until the finish had an even coverage.

I hand buffed the bowl and shank with a cotton cloth that served to give it a light polish and also smoothed out the stain on the surface of the bowl, rim and shank.

The stain was still too opaque to my liking and hid the grain on the pipe so I wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of it and allow the grain to show through the finish.

The photo below shows the pipe when I had finished wiping it down with alcohol. The finish is exactly what I was aiming for. I wanted it to be a warm brown that hid the repairs to the dings in the finish. It worked well. I sharpened the edge of the button with a needle file and then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I continued to sand with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. Between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then continued with the next set. When I had finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and then buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel.

I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond, cautiously around the stamping on the shank. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and lightly buffed the pipe with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below.

In the process of repairing the inner edge of the rim I used a folded piece of sandpaper to bevel the inner edge to bring it back to round and to deal with the divot out of the left side of the edge. The finished rim is shown in the close up photo below. The inner edge is better than it was when I started and looks close to round. I have included a variety of photos of the rim and the stem for your viewing. This should be a great smoking old Kaywoodie.

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