Restemming and Reworking a Rembrandt Bulldog

Blog by Steve Laug

Another bowl that was sent to me was a nice bent bulldog shape that needed a stem. It was in good shape. The bowl needed to be reamed and the top of the rim lightly topped. It was stemless so I needed to make a stem for it. It was stamped on the left side of the shank Rembrandt over Imported Briar. In researching it on the web I found that the company that made the pipe was The National Briar Pipe Co. It was homed in Jersey City, New Jersey. They produced several brands that I have seen over the years: Biltmore, Forecaster, Honeybrook, King Eric, Kleenest, Mayflower, Rembrandt, Sir Sheldon, The Doodler (created and formerly produced by Tracy Mincer, †1966). Typically the original stem of Rembrandt pipes bore a logo on the left side of the stem – a capital “N” in italics. This bowl had some ding marks on the cap on the left side. There was some damage to the briar between the double rings on the cap.

I sorted through my stem can and found a nice amberoid acrylic stem that would look great with the bulldog bowl. It needed a tenon so I used a piece of white Delrin that was a perfect fit in the hole in the stem. I scored the Delrin with a hack saw so that the glue would have a surface to stick to. I swabbed then tenon down with superglue and pressed it into the stem.

Once the glue had set in the stem and the tenon was firmly in place I sanded the tenon down with a folded piece of sandpaper to get a snug fit. I pushed it into the shank and it fit nicely against the shank. The diamond shank was smaller than the diamond saddle on the stem so I needed to sand it down to fit the shank.

I used 220 grit sandpaper to start the process of shaping the stem and then a sanding drum on a Dremel to bring down the sides of the diamond close to the shank dimensions. I finished the fit with sandpaper and a sanding sponge.

I sanded the stem and the shank with sandpaper and a sanding block until the transition between them was smooth to touch. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to the wood.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper and lightly topped the bowl to remove the nicks and cuts in the surface of the rim. I followed up on the sanding board with a sanding block laid on the board and once again turned the bowl into the sanding block to smooth out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the finish and make the restaining of the bowl more consistent. I have found that when I have sanded the shank and the rim it is easier to remove as much of the finish as possible before I restain the pipe.

I sanded the stem with my usual array of 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 and then did some more work on the bowl.

I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I stained and flamed the stain and repeated the process until the coverage on the shank and the rim matched the bowl. I hand buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to see where I stood with the finish on the bowl.

I gave the pipe another coat of the stain and then took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond. When I had finished I buffed it with multiple coats of carnauba wax and then with a soft flannel buff to finish the shine. The completed pipe is shown in the photos below. I really like the way the stain and the striations in the stem work together. I think that this one may well stay I my own collection!

Restoring a Kaywoodie Drinkless Volcano

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I was gifted this Kaywoodie Drinkless Volcano with a three hole stinger by Andrew, a reader of the blog. He wrote me an email about the pipe as follows:

Steve, I have this Kaywoodie Volcano shape with a 3 hole stinger, so probably 70’s or newer. It was burned out when I got it. I ended up slopping some fireplace cement in the bottom of it trying to fix it but it didn’t come out well as I was trying to form it with a pipe tool and it is rough. The stem is over turned as well. I figure this might “challenge” you as far as trying to bring it back to life somehow. Is this is something you might be interested in trying to some how to fix? — Andrew

I wrote back that would gladly see what I could do with it so he sent it out to me to work on. When it arrived I saw that he had begun the work on it already and had reamed and cleaned the bowl. He had mentioned that when he bought it there was a small burn out area on the bottom of the bowl. When I got it the inside of the bowl was actually quite alright. His repair looked quite good. A little cleanup of the bowl would bring things in order. The fireplace cement needed to be cleaned off the walls and rounded a bit in the bottom of the bowl but it was not bad.

Besides the obvious damage to the bowl there was some other damage to the pipe as well. The outer edge of the rim was damaged on the front and the inner edge was slightly out of round. The external bottom of the bowl had a half-inch long crack that had been cleaned out and repaired but there was still a slight groove in the crack. The sides of the crack had been joined and repaired so what remained was cosmetic. The stem was overturned and slightly out of round in comparison to the round metal insert in the shank. The stem had a partial stamp of the KW cloverleaf but was in bad shape in terms of appearance.

I set up my topping board and topped the bowl of the pipe to remove the damaged portion of the inner and outer edge of the rim. I sanded the top of the bowl, pressing it against the board and turning it in a clockwise direction until the damaged briar was removed. I used a PipNet reamer with a cutting head that fit the bowl diameter and turned it against the cement until it was removed from the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl had a slight indentation.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the remaining finish on the bowl and to clean up the partial repair to the bottom crack. I continued to wipe it down until the briar on the bowl was almost the same colouration as the sanded rim of the pipe.

I scratched out the surface of the crack with a dental pick and packed in some briar dust that I had left from sanding the rim of the pipe. I tamped it and then dripped some superglue into the briar dust until it formed a bubble over the crack. I always overfill the crevices and fills to make sure that when they dry they do not shrink and make a second fill necessary. When the glue had dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and also with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the bubble and blend it into the surface of the bowl.

On the bottom of the stem there were also two very deep tooth indentations that would not lift when heated with a heat gun. I sanded the area around the dents and dripped clear superglue into the dents. I chose clear superglue as the stem did not appear to be vulcanite. When I sanded it the dust was grey rather than brown. I have found that the clear glue blends very well on this material. When it dries and is sanded it blends in quite well to the surrounding stem material.

I wiped down the bowl again with acetone and sanded the whole bowl with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

The overturn on the stem is something that is easily corrected. I heated the stinger with a heat gun until the glue holding it in place was softer and then turned it in the metal inserted mortise until it lined up correctly with the bowl. I was almost a quarter turn to the right so I needed to turn it all the way around. Once it was aligned I laid it aside to cool. The final photo gives a clear view of the inside of the bowl. The repaired bowl bottom with the minor adjustments I had made with the PipNet reamer are visible.

With the stem aligned it was evident that the diameter of the stem was different than that of the shank. In looking at the stem from the stinger end I could see that the left side was slightly larger than the right side. There was an overhang passed the metal insert in the shank. The next photos show that the left side would need to be sanded to fit properly.

I sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper folded and was careful to not sand the stamping on the left side of the shank. I wanted the transition to be perfectly smooth to the touch. I sanded it with medium and fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper.

I stained the bowl with an aniline oxblood stain. I applied it and flamed it and reapplied it and flamed it again until I had a good even coverage across the bowl. I hand buffed the finish with a soft cloth.

I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then followed up with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-13,000 grit pads.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then sanded it a final time with the 4000-13,000 grit pads. I lightly buffed the stem with White Diamond. I screwed the stem back into the shank and then buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff for the final shine and protection. The finished pipe is pictured below and is ready for more years of service. The bowl repair done by Andrew provides a solid base in the bowl and the external repair and stem repair makes the pipe cosmetically more pleasing. Thanks Andrew for a good challenge. The pipe is ready for its inaugural smoke. I am sure it will last far longer than I do!

Refurbishing an Old Zulu Bowl

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I was gifted a few pipe bowls that needed to be restemmed and refurbished by a friend. The first of these that I decided to clean up and restem was an old Zulu bowl. It is stamped Algerian Briar over Made in France on the left side of the shank and no other identifying marks. Thus the maker remains a bit of a mystery that I am not sure can be solved. The bowl itself was in fair shape. The cake in the bowl was not thick but it was particularly crumbly and soft. The finish on the pipe was also shot. The varnish coat was gone and the stain was streaked and damaged. There were a cut groove next to the left side of the stamping and a smaller one on the right side of the stamping. The shank was filthy and caked with oils and tars. The rim was in great shape with no damage to either the inside or outside rim. The grain under the stain coat looked promising with cross grain on the front and back of the bowl and the top and bottom of the shank and mixed birdseye on the sides of the both.

I had a stem in my can of stems that fit almost perfectly. It was damaged and would need some work but the fit and bend was perfect for the Zulu shape.

I fit the stem in place and wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the remaining finish on the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare wood. I cleaned out the shank and the bowl with cotton swabs and Everclear.

I sanded the stem until the transition between the shank and the stem was smooth. I used both 220 grit sandpaper and medium and fine grit sanding sponges to smooth it out. The end of the stem was badly damaged and the button was ruined. I decided to trim off the damaged end of the stem and rework the button. Once it was cut back I cleaned out the stem with Everclear and pipe cleaners. The stem was badly plugged with tars so I had to use a bent paper clip to push through the airway. I used shank brushes and pipe cleaners to remove the tarry build up and open up the stem once again.

The airway was still wide and open so I did not need to reshape it. The top and bottom of the button were thin so I could not remove any further material. I reshaped the externals as best as possible by rounding the ends of the stem and making the button more oval in external shape.

The slight dents in the stem that remained would not lift with heat so I filled them with superglue until they were level with the surface of the stem.

I cut the new button with needle files and shaped the end of the stem to have a better flow and taper to the new button. This involved removing some of the thickness of the stem and making the taper more angled. I used files and sandpaper to reshape the stem.

With the new button cut I sanded the stem and the entire pipe with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining finish and make sure the flow of the stem was correct to the angles of the pipe. I also sanded it with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratches in the briar and vulcanite.

The stain around the stamping on the left side of the shank was very set and stubborn. I lightly sanded it to break through the top coat and then scrubbed it with acetone on cotton pads to match it as much as possible to the unstained briar. I stained the bowl with an oxblood aniline stain, flamed it and restained and reflamed until I had an even coverage on the bowl. I hand buffed it with a soft cloth. I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the stem and bowl with red Tripoli and White Diamond. The photos below show the pipe after the buffing.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a clean soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go into service again. I like the flow of the lines on this pipe. The shape and matte like finish work well together.

Plugging a Burnout on a Peterson’s Irish Whiskey 999

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Blog by Steve Laug

Lately several of the pipes that I have refurbished were part of a trade with Mark Domingues for work on this pipe. It is a beautifully grained Peterson’s Rhodesian 999 – one of my favourite shapes. The grain on this thing is beautiful. The photo below shows what drew Mark to bid on this pipe in the first place. What the photo does not show however, is the incredibly horrible shape that this pipe was in when it came to Mark.

The problem with the pipe became obvious when Mark took it out of the shipping package to enjoy the “new” Peterson that he had purchased. The pipe had a serious burn through on the front right side of the bowl toward the bottom. That damage was quite extensive and either the pipe could be thrown away or the burn through drilled out and the damaged briar replaced with a briar plug.

Mark decided to drill out the damaged portion of the bowl. We talked back and forth via email about the steps to take to fix it. He toyed with it and then one day asked if I wanted to do the work on it. He would send the pipe, a chunk of briar some pipes that he thought I might enjoy working on in exchange for the repair. After emailing back and forth we agreed to the terms and he sent the bowl on to me to do the repair in exchange for a few pipes for my refurbishing box. Here is what the pipe looked like when it arrived in Vancouver. Mark had cleaned up the exterior of the pipe and also the interior and drilled out the burnout. The brass/gold band on the shank was loose and the stem was in decent shape with two minor tooth marks.

The top view of the pipe, shown in the photo below, also highlights several others issues with the pipe. First, the bowl itself was not drilled straight into the briar but at a slight angle from left to right. Second, the stem was totally out of round and the right side of the stem fit against the band far differently than the left side. Looking at the stem from the tenon end it was clear that the stem was not round but rather oblong. The small block of briar in the photo was sent along by mark for me to use in cutting a plug for the bowl.

I used a small hacksaw to cut off a small chunk of briar. I then shaped the briar chunk into a cylinder. I always cut the plug long to give me something to hold onto when I am shaping it. I am sure others do it differently but I shape the plug with a Dremel by hand and I hold the piece of briar with my fingers while I shape it. The next series of eight photos show the progressive shaping of the cylinder to fit the drilled out hole in the bowl of the pipe.

The next four photos show the final shape of the cylinder. I left a slight handle on the top of the plug to hold onto while I turned the cylinder with the Dremel. I tapered the plug slightly so that it would fit into the hole but not extend to far into the bowl itself. Once I had the shape correct and the piece extending into the bowl smoothed to fit the shape of the bowl I glued it in place with superglue.

I used the hacksaw to trim off the excess briar in the plug as close as possible to the surface of the bowl.

Once I had it trimmed back to that place I used the Dremel and sanding drum to sand it down to the surface and then hand sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to make the surface of the plug and the bowl match. I used superglue around the circumference of the plug to hold it tightly in place.

I washed down the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grit and the remaining finish on the bowl. I also sanded the plug and the rim with 220 grit sandpaper and then medium and fine grit sanding sponges to smooth out the scratches. I sanded the inner rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to remove the damage to that portion of the bowl. In the photos below the fit and finish of the plug is clearly visible. The grain on the plug and that on the bowl did not match but the fit was nearly perfect.

Mark and I had talked about rusticating the whole bowl but I could not bring myself to do that to such a beautiful piece of briar. I marked the area that I planned on rusticating with a black permanent marker to give myself an outlined area that I would rusticate. I find that setting up parameters and boundaries for the rustication helps me to keep it in a defined space more easily.

I used the modified Philips screwdriver with the four points to rusticate this part of the bowl. The next two photos show the rusticated portion of the bowl. The area of the older briar showed dark spots in the rustication and the new fresh plug showed almost white after rustication.

I decided to try and use a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol on the whole pipe to see what would happen with the rustication. I wanted to see if the dark areas on the rustication would blend into the briar of the lighter parts. I did not really expect it to work but thought I would give it a try.

The dark portions of the old briar still showed dark after staining. I decided to use a black aniline stain on the rusticated portion of the bowl and leave the smooth part of the bowl the brown colour. I applied the stain with a cotton swab and flamed it, reapplied it and reflamed it until the coverage was even.

The inside of the bowl then needed to be addressed. The drilling of the bowl was not only angled from left to right but the airway entered the bowl over 3/8 inches above the bottom of the bowl. Whether this was caused by drilling or over reaming is not clear to me. My problem was that the angle of the patch on the side did allow me to shape the patch to provide a new bottom for the bowl. I could have cut another piece of briar and inserted it into the bottom of the bowl but the strange angles of the bowl made that a task that I did not want to tackle. I opted to build up the bottom of the bowl with Plaster of Paris instead of pipe mud because of the depth of the buildup. My fear was that the pipe mud would have to be almost ½ inch thick and I was not sure if it would hold. I have used Plaster of Paris to repair meerlined pipes and it is durable and gives a solid base. I intend to use pipe mud on top of the repair and also reshape the bowl sides.

I glued the band on the shank with wood glue before I restained it with another coat of the medium brown aniline stain. I flamed it and then buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the smooth portions of the bowl several coats of carnauba wax and hand buffed the rusticated portion with Halcyon II wax.

I sanded the tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge. I reshaped the stem to fit more proportionally against the band. I made it round instead of oblong so that the fit against the band was even all the way around giving it a more finished look. I then sanded it with my usual array of 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 and when it was dry buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to finish and protect it.

The next series of five photos show the finished exterior and stem of the pipe. The stain and the patch rustication are completed. The interior of the bowl still only bears the plaster repair. Once it cures for several days I will give it a coating of pipe mud to finish the job.

The pipe is finished other than the pipe mud and soon it will go back to Mark for its inaugural smoke. I am looking forward to hearing his response once the pipe is in his hands and he has smoked it.

UPDATE: I applied the pipe mud to the bowl last evening. It was a great day to fire up a Cohiba Habana and save the ash to mix. I use a shot glass to collect the ash and add the water with an ear syringe. Once the mix is the right consistency I apply it with a folded pipe cleaner. I apply it and let it set and then follow up with a second or third coat as necessary.

For this particular pipe mud application I built up the right side of the bowl toward the bottom to compensate for the angular drilling of the bowl. I was able to smooth out the wall and that side is as straight as possible.

Comoys Stems – New Buttons

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Blog by Al Jones

Walt, a member of the BrothersOfBriar pipe forum asked me if I could repair the stems on this quartet of Comoy’s pipes. One of the pipes is a Blue Riband. The stem damage was pretty severe and he wanted to save the original Comoy’s stems. All four have the 3 piece, drilled “C” logo of a pre-Cadogan era Comoy’s.

Beyond the holes, the stems were in remarkably good condition with only dull vulcanite.

I didn’t think the Super-glue repair technique would hold up across those open areas, so I decided to cut off the damaged section and reshape a new button. I have a small, fine tooth “hobby saw” that I used to carefully cut off the broken button.

I used a small, round needle file to “funnel” the buttons for better air flow.

Cutting the new button creases was a nerve-racking job as the Comoy’s stems were so thin. I didn’t want to weaken the stem. Using a sharp knife, I made a slight cut across the stem, about 2 mm in width. I then used a small flat needle file to give the button some height, but was careful not to go too deep. I used some 800 grit paper to taper the stem towards the new button then smoothed out the file marks with 1500 and 2000 grit paper. I used the 2000 grit paper on the rest of the stem, to remove the mild oxidation. The entire stem was polished with 8000 and 12000 grit micromesh paper and then buffed with white diamond.

On the briar, I removed the top layer of tars build-up and gave the pipes a light buff with white diamond and then a few coats carnuba wax.

The new buttons required they have a slim profile, but I think they will hold up to many more years of use.

Walt graciously gave me one of the four pipes and I chose the Sandblast Canadian. Repairing that stem will be a future project.

Rustication & Rebirth of a Racine de Bruyere Author

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Another pipe that Mark included in the trade was stamped Racine de Bruyere. I have no idea about the maker or the time period of the pipe. The stem is an older style orific button (round hole in an end cap style button). Ron had stripped the finish off of the bowl and also had picked out the fills. The flaws in the briar that remained behind sans fills were deep crevices. The stem was stuck in the shank and would not insert the whole way. The stem itself was in great shape – good, hard older vulcanite. There was minor tooth chatter at the button on the top and the bottom of the stem. Once I had removed the stem the tenon was in great shape with a Dunhill style inner tube that extended all the way from the tenon into the airhole in the bowl. The photos below show the extent of the damage to the bowl in terms of the serious flaws in the briar. On top of the shank, on the left side and on the front of the bowl there were deep holes. There were also minor holes in other areas around the bowl. The shape is actually one of my favourite shapes so it would of course be worked on and brought back to life.

I used a dental pick to scrape away the debris in the pits. There were loose bits of briar and dust build up. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove surface grit. I packed briar dust in layers alternating with superglue into the pits. Once they were filled to the top I tamped them down and then dripped superglue into the briar dust. I added more briar dust and also more superglue.

The sandpits, even with the fills, were large and there were many other small pits around the bowl. It made it an easy decision to rusticate the bowl. I used the modified Philips screwdriver to rusticate the bowl. I wrapped several layers of tape around the end of the shank so that I could leave a smooth band there making a stem fit more simple. I also put a piece of tape over the stamping on the left side of the shank. The next series of thirteen photos shows the progressive rustication of the bowl. I decided to do a deep rustication so I worked the tool deep into the wood of the bowl.

When the rustication was complete I used a brass tire brush on the surface of the briar to knock off the sharp points and loose pieces of debris from the work of the tool. My aim was to leave behind some smooth spots that would end up have a contrast stain on them when I was finished.

In order to get the stem to seat properly in the shank I used a knife and beveled/chamfered the inside edge of the mortise so that the stem would sit well. I also found in measuring the tenon that it was slightly too long for the mortise and the original manufacturer had left the end slightly at an angle so that it did not seat well in the mortise. I used a file to reseat the tenon and then put the stem in place. The fit was good, but the diameter of the stem was slightly more than the diameter of the smooth band on the shank so I sanded the band and the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the excess diameter and bring the stem into line with the shank. I finished sanding it with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratches.

With the sanding finished the fit was tight and the transition was smooth. I scrubbed down the shank and the stem with some Everclear on a cotton pad to get rid of the sanding dust from the stem. With that done the pipe was ready to stain.

I decided to use a black aniline stain as the undercoat of the pipe. The stain would hide the repaired flaws well as they were also dark. I applied the stain with a cotton swab and made sure that it went into all the nooks and crannies of the briar.

Once the stain was applied I flamed it with a lighter to set the stain and then took it to the buffer to see if I could buff away the stain on the higher parts of the rustication. I used red Tripoli to do the buffing. I kept a pretty light touch as I did not want the Tripoli to build up in the rustication. With that done, the finish was closer to what I was aiming for. I still wanted a few more of the high spots showing.

I wiped the bowl down with Everclear on a soft cloth to remove some more of the black and then buffed it with White Diamond. I then gave it a top coat of oxblood stain to bring out the contrast and highlight the high portions of the rustication. I buffed it again with White Diamond.

To remove the tooth chatter and the scratches from fitting the stem to the shank I used my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with the 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

Once the stem was done I used 2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded the high spots on the rustication on the bowl and the shank to further accentuate the contrast. I buffed the bowl lightly with White Diamond and then buffed the pipe as a whole with White Diamond yet again. Once it was done, I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I also gave the bowl a very light buff with the carnauba wheel – too heavy a touch and the wax fills in the crevices of the rustication. I then hand buffed it with a shoe brush to finish the shine. The completed makeover is shown in the photos below. The pipe is ready to enter into a new chapter of its life.

Since posting this I have found out some information about the stamping. Racine de Bruyere means Genuine Briar. It was stamped on pipes coming out of St. Claude. The stamping does not define the maker but the region. The pipe was probably made in late 20’s to early 30’s. I found the original eBay sale description that showed the pipe as it was when Mark received it. I have included those pictures below. Note the gold leaf/paint in the stamping.

Reworking a Peterson’s Irish Seconds Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe was another one I got in my trade with Mark, an Irish Seconds made by Peterson. It is stamped on the top of the shank, IRISH SECONDS and on the underside of the shank, Made in the Republic of Ireland. There is no shape number or other stamping on the pipe. The briar is actually very nice except for a flaw that ran around the bottom of the front of the bowl like a smile. It had been filled with white putty that had shrunk and left a shallow groove its entire length (from side to side of the front). The finish was non-existent and I am not sure it ever had been stained. The stem was evidently a replacement and did not fit well against the shank. The diameter of the oval on the shank and that of the stem did not match. The stem was also lopsided at the junction. On the underside of the stem there was a trough carved about ½ inch from the button that functioned as a groove to make the stem a dental bit. It too was poorly executed and was rough. The dimensions on this pipe are diminutive – its length is 5 ¼ inches, height is 1 5/8 and outer diameter of the bowl is 1 ¼ inches. It fits well in the hand and is very light in weight. I suspect that if it were not for the flaw noted above this would have been a higher grade Peterson.

The next photo shows the extent of the flaw and the white fill material on the bottom front of the bowl. This is the only flaw on the bowl.

The next two photos below shows the groove that had been cut in the stem to make it function as a dental bit.

I used a dental pick to remove the white fill material in the flaw and then wiped it clean with acetone. The groove was not deep but it was long and quite wide. I used a combination of briar dust and superglue to replace the fill. I packed the area with briar dust using a dental pick and then dripped superglue into place. While the glue was still wet I quickly put more briar dust on top of the glue and packed it in place as well.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge. I wiped it down with Everclear and then filled the remaining groove with clear superglue until it was a bubble on the surface of the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper once it was dry. I sanded the stem shank junction with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the transition and make the fit more seamless. I followed that by sanding with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches. I was careful in sanding the shank to make the flow of the shank into the stem a gradual incline rather than an abrupt change. I have found that in doing this the stem and shank flow look as close to original as possible.

I sanded the front of the bowl with 220 grit and also with the medium and fine grit sanding sponges. The fill still had spots that needed more work.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to clean up the finish. I am very happy with the transition from the shank to the bowl.

I did more sanding on the fill on the front of the bowl and refilled the spots that needed work. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I have been using this mixture since I opened the bottle of stain several months ago and now am at the bottom of the bottle so it may be slightly darker.

The stain went into the new fill material but it turned very dark. I continued to apply the stain to the area and flame it repeatedly until the blend was better.

I buffed the pipe with red Tripoli and the White Diamond to see where I stood with the staining.

The fill still stood out as can be seen from the photo below. I decided to continue to apply stain to the surrounding area on the bowl to darken the bottom of the bowl a bit. My thinking was that if the entire bottom of the bowl was slightly darker the fill would blend in better with the briar.

I sanded the stem with my usual array of micromesh pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil to protect the vulcanite and set is aside to dry.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond. The photo below shows the finished stem after buffing. The repair of the trough is not visible in the photo and is barely visible when held in the light. I am happy with the repair.

I buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond a final time and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I did not want a high gloss on the pipe but rather a slight matte finish. The photos below show the finished pipe. It is ready for many more years of service.

Repairing and Reworking a Comoy’s J186 Billiard

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Another part of the trade I got from Mark was this damaged Comoy’s Billiard. It has some great grain on it. The stamping is Comoy’s on the left side of the shank and J186 on the right side. It also has the characteristic circular Made in London over a straight line England. This circular stamp is next to the end of the shank. The stem was a replacement – it does not have the C logo on it. It had also been repaired. I believe that Mark must have used the black superglue to patch a couple of bite marks in the stem near the button. The shoulders on the stem were rounded and the stem shank junction was not smooth. Otherwise the finish was in fairly decent shape and the stem looked good.

In the letter Mark included with the pipes he noted that there were small cracks in the exterior bottom of the bowl. I examined it with a light and saw that the three small cracks radiated from the three divots on the bottom of the bowl. These were flaws in the briar or dents, I am not sure which. The cracks radiated from the three points to a centre point where they met. They did not extend beyond the divots. Examining the inside of the bowl the bottom was not overly deep and there did not appear to be any cracks internally.

I decided to work on the rounded shoulders on the stem and the stem shank junction first. This is a very easy fix and I thought I would give the cracks a bit of thought before I worked on them. I sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper carefully avoiding the stamping. I also did not want to sand too deeply so as to taper the stem artificially from the junction forward. This took care but I was able to smooth out the rounded shoulders. I followed the 220 sandpaper with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the finish and make the restaining easier. I also wanted to clean up the bottom of the bowl to be able to examine the cracks more closely.

As can be seen in the photo below the cracks are virtually invisible to the eye. There is no burn or darkening around the cracks so I am pretty sure that it is not a burn out. I decided to restain the bowl and see how the stain took in the area of the cracks.

I stained the pipe with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol to approximate the colour on other Comoy’s I have. In the photos below it appears far redder in colour than it is in reality. I flamed the stain and repeated as necessary. The cracks were still visible so they would take a bit more work to repair.

I worked on the stem with my usual array of 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 and let it dry. I buffed it with White Diamond paying particular attention to the patches around the top and bottom of the stem near the button. I was able to blend them in well and the black of the polished stem and the black of the superglue match.

I decided to work on the cracks on the bottom of the bowl. I scratched out the cracks using a dental pick. I was able to clean out the debris in the cracks and open them slightly. They did not go deep into the briar and there was no internal darkening in the bottom of the cracks. I packed in briar dust and dripped superglue into the briar dust. The photo below shows the superglue briar mix after it had dried. I over filled the cracks to ensure good coverage of the repair.

I sanded the patch with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess glue and followed that with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. The photo below, though slightly out of focus shows the repair clearly. It is almost a Y shaped repair.

I mixed a batch of pipe mud – cigar ash and water to make a paste. To ensure that the bottom was not damaged I picked it clean with the dental pick and then painted it with the pipe mud. Though there was no sign of damage on the inside of the bowl, the pipe mud was a precautionary measure for peace of mind.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and to give it a shine. I have set it aside to allow the pipe mud to cure before using it. I want to see if the bowl bottom heats up at all during a smoke. I am happy with the overall look of the repaired pipe. If it turns out that the cracked area over heats then it may well be a candidate for a briar plug. The verdict is still out for now, but time will tell.

Restoring an Old Hardcastle Dryconomy Shape 69 Bulldog – Chiz Szymanski

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Chiz has followed rebornpipes for quite a while now and shown his refurbishing work on Pipesmokers Unlimited. When I saw his step by step work of reclaiming this old bulldog I wrote and asked if he would mind writing up the process for us on the blog. He was happy to do so. His words and photos follow. I hope this is the first of many refurbs he writes about and posts here on the blog. Thanks Chiz.

This project was first documented on pipesmokerunlimited.com where under the member name of Peter Piper, I am an active contributor. A relative newcomer to the hobby of pipe restoring, my ambition is to encourage others: “If a manually challenged clod like me can do it, so can you!”

I recently bought a job lot of Hardcastle estate pipes on eBay and decided that I should document the experience of restoring one of them. Which one? Why, the grottiest one of course, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

I am delighted at the opportunity to share my experience here. Steve and this blog have been far and away my biggest influences and sources of help when it has come to learning how to restore a pipe, so I feel honoured to be asked for a contribution.

OK, let’s get down to it.

Superficially it doesn’t look too bad, but the rim is badly charred and uneven and I fear I am going to have to risk compromising the shape in order to make the bowl look presentable. The stem/shank fit and alignment has somehow become slightly out of kilter, perhaps it is not the original stem, so that too will need attention.

But more pressing problems first, feast your eyes on this cake.

Sleeves rolled up…

Cleaning the chamber out proved to be quite a job. I had to pick away at it with the nail from a 3 in 1 before I could even get the spoon in there, let alone a reamer. And the smell, ugghh. But at least it looks more like a pipe bowl again now. And happily there was no hidden damage within.

Once the chamber was clear I packed the bowl with salt and saturated it with isopropyl alcohol (99.5%). Additionally, I folded a pipe cleaner in half and twisted that into the shank so that it would soften the gunk in there and wick some of it out. I topped up the alcohol regularly and then left it to do its thing overnight.

Meanwhile, I gave the stem a soak in a bath of oxy solution to help bring out the discolouring. I also find that this helps soften whatever gunk lurks within and I don’t even attempt to do any cleaning on the airway before then.

What I have finally managed to get hold of, after failing to find anything suitable locally, are some long, bristled brushes narrow enough to fit inside the stem. What a boon! Whereas in the past I have struggled with countless regular pipe cleaners, this little beauty made short shrift of cleaning out the innards. It took just a couple of pipe cleaners soaked in isopropyl after that and they were coming out clean. Thank you to our friends in China!

Overnight the salt and alcohol worked their magic, you can see the brown crust as well as the darkened pipe cleaner here:

After chiseling out the crusted salt and a quick rinse under warm running water, I set to with my new super brush in the shank. This soon cleaned the conspicuous debris, but the muck of past smoking clearly ran much deeper. It took many, many pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl before they started to emerge anything other than black, the previous owner had clearly been a recidivist of the worst order. Even when the pipe cleaners began to emerge light, the niff from within the bowl was still rank. So I have resorted to a further treatment only used in extremis: stuff some cotton wool wadding into the bowl and soak it in lemon juice. I have the germ of an idea forming for what to do with this pipe when I have finished with it and that does not include someone sucking on it and going green around the gills.

After all that effort the pipe is now sweeter than it must have been for quite some time. The next challenge was the misshapen rim, how on earth it got into this state I honestly cannot imagine.

First I roughly flattened the top with a Dremel with sander attachment. I don’t have a workshop with bench grinders and buffers, different kinds of polishing compound etc.just a very basic Dremel – which is of limited use; you really don’t want to go near a pipe with one unless you absolutely have to! – and the rest is all done by hand. So for anybody reading this wondering whether they should have a go at a similar job: if I can do it then anyone can, truly.

After the brief bit of machine work, I set to with the time-honoured and laborious technique of sanding the rim by hand, inverted on a perfectly flat horizontal surface with mostly circular/twisting motions. I also took the opportunity to give the stummel an overall rub with 800 grade sandpaper and then a quick scrub with a tiny dab of oil soap under running water.

Whilst obviously having to sacrifice a bit of height on the bowl, I am relatively pleased with the result of the “haircut.”

The stem cleaning was a matter of routine i.e. oxy solution to lift the grime and loosen the dirt inside and internal cleaning as mentioned earlier. Finally an application of good old elbow grease with MicroMesh 4 way flexi files, going through the colours in sequence: BLACK 180MX; PINK 2400; WHITE 4000; GREY: 12000, used wet.

After all this I was still scratching my head about the stem/shank fit, though. There is a just-about-discernible “H” on the stem, so I know it is aligned the right way. Yet it just didn’t seem quite right. It’s a bit loose to boot, so I will have to deal with that as well. I was grateful at this stage, whilst documenting this in “real” time on the forum, to get some reassurance from others regarding tricky diamond shaped stems. Never underestimate the benefit of soothing words from your peers when things look problematic!

Moving on, here are the first stages of colouring the stummel back up. I use Rustin’s Wood Dyes, which are naphtha based. Whilst you have to exercise some care, the evaporation is almost instant and the drying time is quite short, so two to three coats can be applied in relatively quick succession. I do like it to rest for at least 24 hours until finishing, so that’s it for now.

Oh, nearly forgot, one more tip: I wrap the stem in clingfilm (plastic wrap in the States?) and use that as a handle whilst applying the dye.

I wasn’t able to resolve the stem/shank problem to my complete satisfaction, I could have tried sanding away, but there is always a risk that one ends up removing too much material with no visible improvement. So I settled for heating the tenon in boiling water, inserting the nail from the 3 in 1 and very gently applying outward rotary pressure. I also applied some beeswax to the tenon, these steps together have at least ensured a more snug fit.

To finish off there is just the matter of giving the pipe a good polish to show off your handiwork at its best. As mentioned earlier, I am not fortunate enough to have an array of spinning buffer wheels and various compounds, so as throughout most of the process I rely on a manual approach: Renaissance Wax, applied by dabbing on and rubbing with finger tip and then buffed off with a lint-free cloth.

This will not, of course, produce the glassy shine so beloved of certain eBay sellers. But bear in mind that such a shine starts to disappear the moment you touch the pipe and I kind of like my less exaggerated finish. That’s my argument anyway and I’m sticking to it!

For ease of comparison, I am posting “before” and “after” pictures here next to each other:

A couple more pics of the finished article followed by some final thoughts:

You can see that the rim is out of round at the front edge, this is where the damaged, lowered area was. I was loathe to attempt shaving any more off, but after some input from Steve, I gave the inner edge of the rim a gentle rub with 800 grit paper, it does make it look better.

The shank/stem issue which I have banged on about so much remains clearly visible. At the end of the day, perfection was not in my view possible with this job, certainly with the limited tools at my disposal.

Ultimately one has to ask oneself: what is my aim here? To restore a distinctly banged up specimen to a decent, smokable condition? Well, I hope I have achieved that and, while the pipe still shows signs of age and use, I think that is as it should be. Like an old movie star looking attractive and dignified in a nice set of new threads. But without an OMG facelift.

Refurbishing a Pipe for a New Pipe Smoker – A Straight Grain Apple

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This past weekend I was in Lethbridge, Alberta as the speaker at a retreat for a friend of mine. As usual I took along my pipe and some tobacco and planned to sit on his front porch and enjoy a few bowls during the course of the weekend. We were sitting one night in his living room enjoying good conversation and a pint when he commented that he had been thinking of smoking a pipe. He wanted to know if I would teach him the ropes. Of course I agreed and the next afternoon we visited a couple of antique shops in search of a pipe for him. My experience in helping a newbie start is to find a seasoned pipe that is in good shape and use it to introduce the art of pipe smoking. The seasoned or estate pipe is already broken in and if it has been cared for is not too difficult to clean up and restore. We found just the pipe at the third shop we visited. It is a nice apple shaped pipe that was in fairly decent shape. He paid the $9 price on the pipe and we took it home.

I asked him for some isopropyl alcohol, some cotton swabs, cotton makeup pads, and a sharp knife. I had some pipe cleaners with me so that we could field dress the pipe and clean it enough that he could smoke a bowl with me. The pipe had a slight burn on the front right of the bowl toward the bottom from having laid it in an ashtray and having it come in contact with a cigarette. The rim was caked and dirty with buildup but undamaged. The bowl was caked and had some burnt tobacco in it. The stem was lightly oxidized and there was light tooth chatter near the button. There was a stinger apparatus in the tenon of the stem. The stamping on the pipe was on the left side and read Straight Grain over Imported Briar. There was no other stamping on the pipe.

I carefully reamed the bowl with the pocket knife to remove a large portion of the cake. I scrubbed the top of the rim with the cotton pads and saliva until I removed the buildup on the rim. I cleaned out the inside of the shank with the pipe cleaners and the cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. I removed the stinger, threw it away and scrubbed the exterior and the interior of the stem to make it ready for him to smoke. Once finished we loaded a bowl of tobacco – a light English blend and headed to his front porch to have a bowl. It took some work to get the hang of lighting and keeping the bowl lit but it worked well after several tries. We enjoyed the visit and the smoke and then headed back inside.

When I headed back to Vancouver I took the pipe with me to give it a more thorough cleaning and polish. The photos below show the pipe when I put it on the work table to give it a thorough work over.

The next photo shows the cigarette burn mark on the bowl. It was not too deep and did not char the wood but it was deep enough that it could not be sanded out without damaging the shape of the bowl.

I sanded the burn mark and the rim to clean up the burn on the front inner edge. I used 220 grit sandpaper to start with and followed that with a medium grit sanding sponge.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish from the bowl and to prepare it for new staining.

The slot in the stem was tight and hard to get a pipe cleaner to pass through easily so I decided to open the slot open with needle files. I shaped it and opened it and then sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.

I reamed the bowl and cleaned out the shank with isopropyl alcohol and then used pipe cleaners. I used the drill bit in the KleenReem pipe reamer to open up the airway into the bowl from the shank. The tars had clogged the airway so the drill bit opened it and cleaned up the buildup on the sides of the airway.

I decided to do a cotton boll and alcohol soak on the bowl. I stuffed the bowl with cotton and used an ear syringe to fill it with Everclear. I set the bowl in an old ice cube tray to let it soak while I was at work. The alcohol leaches out the tars in the bowl into the cotton and leaves the pipe fresh inside.

It sat in the tray for about 10 hours soaking. The cotton boll was soaked and brown coloured from the tars that leached out of the bowl.

I took the cotton out of the bowl and then lit the alcohol remaining in the bowl with a lighter. It quickly burned the alcohol out and left the bowl dry. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim to remove the burned spot on the front inner edge. I also used a PipNet reamer to remove the remaining cake that I had missed earlier. I wiped the bowl down a final time with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grit and grime that came out with the cleaning of the bowl.

I stained the bowl with an oxblood stain as an undercoat. I applied it and then flamed it. I hand buffed the bowl once the stain was dry.

For the second coat of stain I used a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I hand buffed the bowl with a soft cloth and then took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond.

Once the staining of the pipe was finished I worked on the stem with my usual array of 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 and let it dry.

I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a clean flannel buffing pad. The pictures below show the finished pipe. It is ready to send back to my buddy in Lethbridge. I think I will put a few samples of tobacco in the package with the “new pipe”. I think he will enjoy the improved version of his pipe.