A Quick and Simple Refurb on a Bari Senior Mandarin

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Blog by Steve Laug

This Danish pipe stamped Bari Senior Mandarin was in my pipe box for quite awhile before I got to it. You have to understand that at that point box of pipes awaiting refurb was full of about 300+ pipes. It is down to about 30 now. It was a busy winter and spring as I cleaned up the lot. It rains here in Vancouver for most of the winter, so refurbishing is a nice dry past time.

The Bari Senior Mandarin came out of the box looking like the pictures below. I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots of the pipe before I worked on it. It is a large bowled pipe with nice grain. It was dirty and just needed reaming and cleaning. The rim had a build up of tars and what some lovingly call pipe lava. The finish looked to be okay under the dirt. There were a few small dents in the sides of the bowl that would need to be looked after. The stem had some oxidation but no tooth marks or dents. ImageImage

The stem was a relatively simple cleaning job. The oxidation was easily removed with a good buff of Tripoli and White Diamond. I scrubbed the inside and outside of the stem to get rid of the tars and tobacco juice in the airway. The bowl was reamed back to a thin coat of cake and the rim was cleaned of the tars and lava buildup with Murphy’s Oil Soap (undiluted) I wiped the bowl down with a soft cloth and some oil soap to clean away the grime and grit on the bowl and shank. I cleaned the inside of the bowl and shank with a shank brush, bristle pipe cleaners and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. I steamed out the dents with a wet cloth and hot butter knife. Once they were repaired I then buffed the bowl and stem with multiple coats of carnauba wax.

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Reshaping a Dunhill Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

I picked up this old Dunhill Prince from an antique mall here in the Vancouver area. It was an “expensive” pipe in that it set me back $25. The bowl had been topped – badly – by someone. The shape of the bowl was affected by the work on the rim. This is an interesting pipe in that it is impossible to date. The stampings are very clear but the markings do not have date identifiable features. The other unique thing about this pipe is that somewhere in its life it was repaired on the shank. It appears to have been done by the factory in that the stamping is over the shank splice. The stem was dirty when I picked up the pipe but not too badly oxidized. The bowl had been reamed and was out of round as can be seen in the photos below. The rim was very wide and flattened out and there were scratches on it from the sanding.

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After smoking it for awhile in this state and looking at other Dunhill princes online and in person I decided to reshape the bowl and correct the wide rim. I stripped the bowl with acetone and then used 240 grit sandpaper (this seems to be my go to grit with sanding as it leaves smaller scratches that need to be sanded later) to begin to reshape the bowl and rim. The first picture below shows the new shape that is emerging from the briar. I was aiming for the look of the standard Dunhill prince. I had pictures that I constantly cross checked as I worked on this one. The second and third pictures show the shape of the bowl in profile. The second picture is after the work with the 240 grit sandpaper. I wanted the slope on the front to be more rounded and the back slope more round as well. I also wanted the rim to be less wide. The third picture shows the pipe when I had finished the sanding and shaping of the bowl. When I laid it on top of the printed photo of the prince shape it was as perfect a match as I was going to get with this one. ImageImageImage

Now I need to restain the pipe to match the previous colour of the stain. I was careful in removing the finish on the bowl to leave the shank colour original. I used a medium brown aniline stain that I thinned with isopropyl alcohol to get the stain to match the shank colour. I restained the bowl and flamed it to set the stain. I took it to the buffer and buffed the bowl with White Diamond, being careful to not buff the nomenclature on the pipe. In the next three pictures you can see the new shape and the staining. I think the match is very good. ImageImageImage

The last two photos show the pipe in a rest and the shape is exactly what I was looking for. The colour in the photos above is a little redder than the colour of the pipe. The two pictures below are correct in terms of colour. It is a nice warm medium brown colour with the grain showing through. I waxed the pipe with several coats of carnauba. It is a great smoking pipe. ImageImage

Refurb on a BBK Panel Billiard – Swiss made

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This BBK Panel was an interesting refurb for me. I had not heard of BBK pipes until I came upon this one. I think it came in a box of pipes that was gifted to me but I am no longer certain where it came from or when I received it. It is stamped BBK both on the bottom of the shank and on the logo on the stem. It had a beautiful blast finish. When I took it out of the box it was dirty and the bowl had a thick cake in it. The rim was blackened and tarred. The stem was a brownish green from oxidation. The beauty was that it was not chewed or dented by tooth marks. It would take a thorough cleaning to learn more about this pipe.

I did not know that I was dealing with a meerschaum lined pipe until I wiped it down to begin the cleaning process. I always wipe down the rim with some Murphy’s Oil Soap to get to the rim and clean away the build up and grime. I use it undiluted and scrub it on the pipe with a toothbrush. Once found that I was dealing with a meerlined pipe I carefully reamed the cake that had built up and then sanded it back. I sanded the rim back to get the grime off of it and expose the meer again. In the second photo below you can see what I found once I had wiped the pipe down with oil soap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blast is really nice on this panel so I cleaned it and then restained it with a black aniline stain (Feibings Shoe Dye) to match the original colour of the pipe. I flamed the stain to set it in the briar and buffed it lightly with White Diamond to remove the excess and to give it a polish. I finished by giving it several coats of Halcyon Wax to protect the finish. The stem was oxidized so I buffed it with Tripoli to remove the surface coating of oxidation. I soaked it in Oxyclean to soften the remaining oxidation and then sanded it with 240 grit and 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper before using the micromesh sanding pads (1500 to 6000 grit) to finish the work. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then gave the entirety another coat of Halcyon on the bowl and carnauba on the stem.

I used some liquid White Out to try to recolour the logo on the stem but it did not stick… time to try again. Thanks for looking.

4305 Miles From Home – James (jogilli) Gilliam

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You have no idea how tempted I am to start this little story off with “It was a dark and stormy night”, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Especially since it was a lovely sunny July Saturday morning when this little adventure found start. But first a little history lesson little Jedi; I end up travelling a little with my job and often find myself in the Norfolk, Virginia area with absolutely nothing to do on Saturdays, or weekends in particular for that matter. Found the nearest tobacco shop I have, found the furtherest tobacco shop I have, and all those in between. So here’s my plan to stay out of the hotel room for a day knowing that the sanctuary of Emersons near Greenbrier Road will still be there for my evening visit. So, since even I can’t spend an entire day in a tobacco shop, if I had a job there I could, but since I don’t, just imagine the day-after tongue bite that would have caused me all sorts of discomfort had I not made other plans.

So what does a sprite young man do? He takes advantage of the scheduled rendezvous with his co-worker, whose name just happens to be Dani; his name will come up again, hence the gratuitous mention. Anyway, Dani, who happens to be in the exact same predicament, and I meet up in the coffee shop and I, explorerer extraordinaire, suggest a day trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Along the way we can visit some of the antique stores… I mean this is Virginia. Pipes are my thing, but I would really like to find an antique tobacco plug cutter…. And since Virginia grows tobacco, where better to look than in a Virginia antique mall located near a Colonial Village, we’re talking old stuff, very old stuff. At least that was my thought.

So off we head, down what should have been a trip down memory lane of Tobacciana. I mean we walked the isles of two gigantic antique warehouses, and I actually found 3 or 4 plug cutters, not priced within any range of money I was willing to part with, but at least they were there. I got to touch them, mission accomplished.  We ended up almost playing NASCAR with each other as we cruised the aisles, looking at “stuff”. I was at least 3 stalls ahead when Dani informed me of two bags of old pipes behind a corner bookshelf. Since my search for plug cutters wasn’t panning out in my favor, I thought, what the heck and walked over to view the stash. And there they were, resting ever so peacefully in zip lock bags.  Dani saw a bag of broken, ugly, neglected pipes.. I on the other hand, was breathtaken by the unpolished jewels that were there staring me in the face. I think I even heard angels singing. As I stood there rubbing my hands in the same fashion as Smeagol, delicately holding each one in my hands, stroking them ever so gently, and I even think I called one of them My Precious.

I grabbed the bag of five pipes and fell solemnly behind Dani as he made his way through the rest of the warehouse. I think we might have stopped at a stall or two, but I only recall the cashier telling me the price and my pulling out a wad of singles to gladly pay her. Laying each bill on the counter.. One Dollar…. Two Dollars… Three Dollars… and so the count went on until I had paid her in full. I might have even skipped out the front door to the car, only to become a little distraught as the realization hit that it would be at least another two weeks before I would get any workshop time….. What to do? What to say!

Fast forward two weeks and I’m back at home sitting in my basement workshop. Now being a pipe maker and not a pipe restorer I was facing a conundrum, as there are so many blocks of beautiful briar laying around just waiting, begging actually, to have the artistic pipe extracted ever so gently from the rough briar block. Fix, Make, Make, Fix, which should come first? Well since I had promised Steve Laug that I’d write a story of my foray into his realm of the universe, I left my rough cut briar blocks be..for a while.

Five beauties from yesteryear is what I picked up that Saturday in Virginia. A Ladd’s bent bulldog, a Lee bent bulldog, a Kaywoodie bulldog, a Kaywoodie Superior Grain Apple and a Yello-Bole Danish; and of the five laying on the table, my initial inspection deemed that the bent bulldogs would make great shop pipes. The one burning question I had was where do I start? There was really no drilling required, no shaping, no contemplation on how to pull a smoking instrument from raw material, so what am I supposed to do with all the fancy smancy power tools I’ve invested so much time in modifying? In order to explain the process a little more, I thought I’d devote a paragraph to the individual pipes, or at least attempt at doing something like that. But check out the picture, Sasquatches thick headed brother must have owned these. All the buttons are almost chewed off, the cake is so thick that I have no idea how anybody could receive any joy from smoking the instruments, and upon pulling them apart, ohhhh my gosh.. the stench, the smell, the tar, the buildup,… If you’ve ever sanded ebonite, you garner an understanding of the sulfuric bouquet that making a handcut mouthpiece creates.. these “Old Timers” surpassed even my love of sulfur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph, schmerigraph, I can’t write an entire paragraph for each pipe. I mean really, what is so hard about restoring a pipe. I’d end up having 5 duplicate paragraphs explaining nearly the exact same thing for each pipe. So I decided against the Novel approach and chose the actually describe the repair aspect of the exercise.

So I reached into the recesses of my shop where the pipes were stored and pulled out the bent bulldogs and seeing that there wasn’t a shape that I was really going to return in its pristine state, decided to sand where I could, and of course remove electrical tape where it had been applied. Once all the digs were sanded down and out, I was astounded by how my meticulous application of pipe making skills could be applied to restoration.. Sanding is good right? Oh, yea I forgot to mention the two hours I spent carefully reaming the living daylights out of these gems, and yes more sanding inside the bowls. I think Tim the Toolman Taylor coined the phrase..or sound, “UHRRRRUHHRRUHRRR”. Back to nature for you guys I say.

Figure 1 Ladd’s Bent Bulldog 

Figure 2. Lee Bent Bulldog

Five clean bowls. Two clean stummels. Mouthpieces, not a single useable device in sight. So I set off making two mouthpieces that would adorn the briar bulldogs of yesteryear. Mortises sorted and standardized for a 7mm tenon. Sure I had to do a little hand drilling..more tools.. it was a good day. Unfortunately, when I twisted in my carefully created mouthpieces all I hear is a sound that is so foul to a man’s ears that I cringed partly in shame, partly in disgust, and partly in astonishment.  Cccrrrrrraaaaaack! I looked around to see if somebody had snuck into my workshop and tripped over the cables adorning my floor. But there I was, alone, with a stummel that had split from the end of the shank halfway toward the bowl. So much for a workshop pipe, but then there is still one more.

Same routine as the last, the pipe is carefully prepared for my artisan mouthpiece and again. Cccrrrrrraaaaaack! I looked at the stummel in a state of pure amazement, as it too had split from end to about midway down the shank. So I’m thinking great, some pipemaker you are. You can’t even repair a simple stummel. This was about the time I really started looking at all those briar blocks just begging for me to help them become a man’s (or woman’s) best friend in moments of quite solitude. Did I drill a block? No, not just yet… but almost. I did the second best thing. I went upstairs and packed one of my old durables with a great tasting tobacco and smoked it while watching some mind numbing show on TV about some subject I couldn’t even remember the next day.

Figure 3. SplitShanks

But the next day would come, did come, and what a day it was indeed. The Kaywoodie Bulldog and the Yello-Bole Dublin from the 50’s were the next two in the lineup. Great instruments from a time gone by. The only thing that was really wrong with them is that they: 1) had no mouthpieces; remember Sasquatches thick headed brother, and 2) had these metal things stuck in them. There was no tenon per se; I mean who makes a pipe without a tenon. Integrated tenon, Delrin tenon… no where in sight, but more aluminum than even I knew what to do with. How in the world  was I supposed to fix a mortise when it has a screw in drool catching device (Kaywoodie) and a aluminum looking tongue thingy sticking out (Yello-Bole) of it where a tenon should be. I can’t make these things, but I can repurpose them.

Heat gun! Yea, I’ll heat these puppies up and just pull or untwist these monstrosities out. And low and behold it worked. Power Tools, they’re your friend I tell you… your friend! These things I can reset into a raw material that needs SHAAPPINNNG. Elation, joy, and pure ecstasy ensued. Easy part here.. figure out the diameter, drill, glue and Viola ready to shape. There really isn’t a great point to pontificate on here. Old mouthpieces were looked at, copied and made, but they were missing one integral part that the originals had. The emblems. I looked down and say my hacksaw just laying there begging to be used after such a long time of non-use.

First I attacked the Kaywoodie and cut out a square portion around the emblem out, repeat for the Yello-Bole. Chucked them in my lathe and with masterful skill got the Kaywoodie emblem to pop out of its abused resting place. At this point I’m feeling pretty good and figured I could do the same for the Yello-Bole. Cut out the square, mount in my chuck, and turn the piece down to the yellow circle. It was to my horror, or as the Dreaded Pirate Roberts would say “To the Pain”, that I watched the yellow dot disintegrate as I tried to free it from its resting place. Man that bites.

Figure 4. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 5. Yello-Bole Danish

So what does a maker do? He longingly looks at his briar block again. Picks up a pencil and starts drawing on the blocks. Two designs anxiously awaiting and two “Old-Timers” saying.. “Hey I’m still here young fella, and you ain’t done yet”. I ended up giving in to peer pressure and carefully figured out what the diameter of the Kaywoodie clover was.. drilled a hole in the mouthpiece where the emblem would set, mixed up my epoxy, and carefully placed the emblem in predetermined location. YES! I think I patted myself on the back about this time and since I was feeling so good decided to attack the Kaywoodie Premium Briar apple.

Figure 6. Mouthpeice Workings

The mouthpiece wasn’t really all that ruined. So I cut off the chewed up part and started reshaping a new button. And that is where the fun really stopped, and the briar blocks started screaming to me. I had to muster all my strength at this point as I was just about ready to throw the pipe across the room. I actually sanded into the airway. Now I have to cut a new stem! No, now I get to cut a stem. Yea, that’s it.. same shape, same emblem extraction exercise and same delicate placement in the proper place… well someday.

Here is where the story comes to an end. The Kaywoodie bulldog and Yello-Bole pipes are done. They have newly created artistically designed shiny new mouthpieces. One looks original, while the other is unfortunately missing the emblem. Good enough for now.

The 1955 Kaywoodie is mine. I didn’t have a bulldog yet, and the opportunity to have something made in the 50’s is just calling to me. The 1950-60’s Yello-Bole will be sold, someday to somebody that will appreciate it. Dublin isn’t really my shape, or at least doesn’t call out to me with the same longing voice as the bulldog does. Please don’t take my comment wrong, as it is a preference thing. Seriously though, I will say that I truly admire the works of Steve and Co. who devote their time to restoring old(er) pipes. It is a labor of love, the same labor of love that most makers enjoy. It takes time, determination, and an eye for aesthetics. I can only hope that most restorers don’t end up with mouthpieces so chewed up they can’t be fixed.  My foray into the world of restoration was a fun time. Will I do it again? Probably, I mean I still have to make a mouthpiece for the Kaywoodie Apple. Just not today; and probably not tomorrow. There are two block of briar that somehow got pencil marks and drill points marked all over them. They’ll see a band saw in about two days and most definitely will feel various grits of sandpaper rubbing across them as their shapes are extracted.

Enjoy the before and after pictures below, smoke in peace, and take care of your pipes. Someday your son or daughter will cherish the memory you leave to them once you’re no longer there. Oh yea, resistance was futile so I included is a picture of the Quail Egg I made for myself during this process. As for the bent bulldogs, they’re destined to receive either bamboo or horn shank extensions/replacements. I really had a hard time thinking about getting rid of them, as they still will make great shop pipes. The Kaywoodie apple will also get a new stem… someday.

James (of JSEC Pipes http://jsecpipes.com/

Figure 7. Finished and Restored

Figure 8. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 9. Yello-Bole Danish

Figure 10. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 11. Yello-Bole Danish

And the pipe that resulted for Briar calling my name

A Frustrating Brigham 1 Dot Rehabilitation

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This old Brigham came to me in a box pass here in Canada. Brigham pipes were made in Canada in the old days and had an aluminum tenon/filter holder. When I took it out of the pass I thought it would be an easy clean up and I could put it back in the box on the next pass through. The other day I took it out to clean it up and this is what I found when I took the stem out. The aluminum tenon/filter holder had literally been eaten away. The hard rock maple filter must have been the original and it too had been eaten away. It was stuck in the corroded and rough tenon and I could not get it off. I used a light to shine down the mortise and the aluminum end of the filter was stuck in the airway. It was perfectly situated to not block the airway at all but it was there. The stem also had some thick white build up all around the button end. The only good part of the mess was that there were just a few small tooth dents on the stem. The bowl exterior was in good shape. The inside of the bowl was caked with a very tarry and oily aromatic smelling stuff. The rim was thick with the same tars as the bowl.

I used a hack saw to cut off the aluminum filter holder/tenon. I cut it off the same length as a regular tenon and used a file sandpaper to clean up the rough edges after the cut. Once that was done the maple filter had to be coaxed out with a dental pick until it broke free and came out. I do not believe it was ever removed since the day it was purchased from Brigham. It was unbelievably tarred and oily. The end of the filter that was stuck in the airway was more of a problem. The aluminum seems to have bonded to the walls of the mortise. I tried the freezer method to see if it would break free – no luck. I went on to clean and restain the bowl as described below before filling the bowl with cotton bolls and alcohol to see if the tars will break free from around the aluminum. I am going to let it sit over night with the soak and see what happens. The soaking did not work. So I tried to drill it out I started with a bit the same size as the metal end of the filter. I worked my way up to larger bit to open it and see if I could back it out. The trouble is the situation of the insert is right against the opening into the bowl so I opened it as wide as I could without damaging the airway. So now there is a small metal tube in the end of the airway that is open to the bowl. It is probably ¼ inch deep so it will act like a sleeve in the airway. It looks to me that it will stay there!

I cleaned off the rim with acetone on a cotton pad while carefully keeping the acetone off the sides of the bowl. I also followed that with micromesh pads – sanding it with 1500-6000 grit pads. There were three dent marks at between one and two o’clock on the photo above. I steamed them out with a hot knife and wet cloth. These dents easily came out of the rim and the surface was smooth and after sanding they virtually disappeared. I reamed the bowl back to bare wood and sanded the remaining surface of the bowl.

I worked on the stem quite awhile. I used emery cloth, medium grit to remove the white build up and the tooth marks on the stem. They were not too deep but would not lift with heat. Once I had them removed I worked on the stem with 240 grit sandpaper and 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the scratches. Then I worked over the stem with 1500-12,000 grit micromesh pads. When the stem was shiny I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond. I gave it several coats of Obsidian Oil to bring the vulcanite some life. Then I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it. The first picture below is of the underside of the stem and the second one is the topside of the stem. The tooth marks and scratches are gone.

I restained the rim of the bowl with medium brown aniline stain and wipe it on and off with a cotton pad. I was trying to match the smooth portions on the side of the shank. The finished stain was a perfect match to the rest of the bowl. I buffed the rim with White Diamond as well and waxed it with Halcyon II wax to give the bowl a shine. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is pictured in the last series of photos.

A Mystery Dragon Pipe and Its Journey

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I had this old Dragon pipe sitting around in my box of pipes to be refurbished for a long time. I had no idea where it had come from but it seemed like a folk art pipe to me. It was solid wood and for a long time I thought it might be Manzanita wood or the like. I cleaned up the outside but never smoked it. The drilling on the bowl was not completed and the airway was blocked as well. So it sat forever. The shank had a crack in it that seemed to have developed as the pipe was made and I figure that the original maker just stopped working on it at that point. The tenon was metal and screwed into the mortise and the stem. The stem was also wood and was very comfortable in the mouth – thin, large, flat blade with an open flared slot in the button.

I cleaned out the dust and grit that had built up in the dragon’s scales and wings and also filled the crack in the shank with briar dust and super glue. Once it had dried I sanded the joint down to remove the excess glue and dust and then waxed the pipe with carnauba to give it back its shine.

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I was chatting with T-bear (Ted Haviland) one day and decided to send it his way. Like me he is a collector and lover of the unusual. Unlike me he is a pipe maker with a lot of talent and the tools to give this pipe a work over. I sent it to him and he drilled out the shank to open it up. When he did he found that the shank had been plugged with rubber and once it was out he could blow through the airway. He used his lathe and drilled the bowl out the rest of the way to meet the airway in the bottom. Once he had done that he set it aside as a keepsake I guess. I called him and encourage him to give it a smoke. He did and wrote back to me to tell me what a great smoker it is. But he wanted to know what kind of wood it was. I had no idea and told him so but it continued to bug me. Image

One evening I was chatting with Chuck Richards about the pipe and mentioned that I thought it was Manzanita wood and he wondered if it might be Rhamnus Wood from China. I sent him pictures of it and he quickly fired back this reply:

Steve, there is no doubt that your pipe is an example of the Northern Chinese Tribal Rhamnus Wood Pipe.  If I get a chance to get some photos of mine, you will see immediately…..the shape of the bit, the scallops overlapping the junction of the bit and shank, the flow of the dragon’s mane and the shape of his nose.  Now for the fun news.  There are currently none available on the Chinese Ebay, and while the smaller plain pipes sell inexpensively, the Dragon pipes are a hefty $350.00 now. Do and advanced search for Rhamnus completed listings, and you will get a good look at the range of color in this wood.

With that news digested I sent Ted an email to finally answer his question. He was as excited as I was and sent me an immediate reply.

Steve
How interesting! Like you, I would never have guessed that this rascal had such a fascinating provenance. A Chinese Tribal pipe…wow!

The piece’s value to me is not a monetary one, but lies in the thoughtfulness of a friend who cared enough to notice my penchant for the unusual, and the generosity to gift this lovely pipe to such a grumpy old curmudgeon. It is even more special for all of that, and will remain always in my collection….when it’s not in my rotation!

Thank you for a fine smoking pipe, a great collector’s piece, and a wonderful tale to tell my friends!

T-
PS…this will be great fun to smoke at next year’s Pipe Show!

Well, it just goes to show you, you never know what you might find in a box of estate pipes. I really wish that pipe could talk so it could tell of its travels from tree to carver to whoever sold it, to the east coast of the US and then to Canada where it sat in my collection for awhile and now it is in Missouri. What tales that pipe could tell. Smoke it in health Ted. It is a beauty and to me one of a kind.

Reborn Kaywoodie Super Grain Long Shank Billiard

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I have grown in my love of the older Kaywoodies. The ones I have worked on are made of some great briar and have classic English shapes. The stems are comfortable and well engineered. The finishes are usually above average and they smoke great – even with the four-hole stingers! I picked this one up on a recent trip to the US. My wife and I were on our 37th Anniversary trip and we always visit antique shops and malls as well travel. This one was one of about 8 that I picked up on that trip. The briar under the grime was quite nice and the pipe showed some promise.

The bowl was in good condition and still round. No one had gone made with a knife or a reamer and ruined the bowl shape. The finish was shot and there were dark places on the wood from ground in dirt and grime. The stem was oxidized and there was some rippling along the stem for the first inch back from the button. I am still wondering if the stem had been trimmed and a new button cut on it. There are some conflicting signs regarding that. The slot is the typical KW slot in the button and the stem is meaty around the button. The taper looks right so I am not sure. The bowl had some caking but oilier tar rather than carbon cake – it reeked of cherry tobacco! The rim was damaged on the front from tapping out the dottle. This one would need some TLC and work to bring it back. ImageImageImageImage

I reamed the bowl and cleaned out the tars and oils that were in it. I also put it in the alcohol bath to soak for a half an hour while I worked on the stem. When I took it out of the bath I dried it off and then wiped down the bowl with acetone to remove the remaining stain and finish that the bath did not remove. I really like the way the acetone removes the finish and leaves the pipe clean and ready to stain. You can see in the four pictures below the shiny spots and dark spots on the briar where I needed to concentrate the work to remove the finish and grime with the acetone. ImageImageImageImage

The damage to the front of the bowl and rim required that the bowl be topped. I removed about 7mm from the height of the bowl to remedy the damage to the front. If I had not done that the bowl looked out of round. The damage made the front rim seem thin. It was not as the curve of the damage accounted for the apparent thinness. I topped it as pictured below using medium grit emery cloth to remove the damage and then following that up with 240 grit sandpaper and finally sanding with a fine grit sanding pad to remove the scratches left behind. ImageImage

When I finished the work on the rim I wiped the bowl down one last time with the acetone to clean off the dust and grime of the sanding and prepped the bowl for staining. In the photos below you can see the state of the bowl as it stood ready for staining. The grain is very nice. The grime was removed and the dark spots lightened. The rim was back to a clean and sharp state and ready to stain. The darkened spots on the right side of the bowl influenced the choice of stain used on the bowl.

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I chose to use a medium brown aniline stain to give some coverage to the dark spots but still allow the grain to come through. I applied the stain with the dauber and then flamed it to set the stain in the briar. Then I repeated the staining and flaming a second time. Once it was done I wanted to remove a bit of the opacity of the stain so I used some acetone on a cotton pad and wiped the pipe down until it had the saturation that I was looking for. In the next series of four photos below you can see the colour and the saturation levels. At this point I had not buffed the pipe or polished it on the buffer. In the third photo you will note that the stem was under turned and would not line up straight with the shank. ImageImageImageImage

To correct the under turned stem I heated the stinger apparatus with my heat gun – avoiding heating the vulcanite. I wanted to soften the glue in the stem holding the stinger in place so that I could readjust the turn on the stem. Once the glue is heated and softened I screw the stem back in place and twist the stem in the shank until it aligns. I have to repeat it often to check on the softening of the glue. Once it is aligned I cool the stem and shank with running water and then dry quickly so as not to cause oxidation or damage to the finish. ImageImageImage

I continued to sand the stem to remove the oxidation and waves in the surface near the button using various grits of sandpaper. I started the process with medium grit emery cloth to level out the waves and remove tooth marks. Then I used 240 grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches left by the emery cloth and level the stem. I followed that up with 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth it more and remove more of the scratches. I finished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12,000 grit to bring the stem to a shine. I coated it with Obsidian Oil and let it sit, repeated the application and wiped it down. I then gave the whole pipe a buff with White Diamond and then several coats of carnauba wax for protection and shine. ImageImageImageImage

Piet Binsbergen “Hot Rods” – Piet Binsbergen

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Well I am known as the visual artist, the mad man, the cowboy with a drill bit! This story is about my custom pipes offering you some history and the reasons why I do what I do.

I enjoy pushing boundaries at times and do so due to my training in the arts up to masters’ level. I do pipe repair and still hold firm that pipes need to brought back to life as close to their original state as possible. I would never dream of doing a custom job on a Dunnie shell for instance, or a pipe that remains in a repairable state.

My “Hot Rods” are custom renditions which I keep in my own collection. These are pipes lying in ICU close to flat line. They are in a poor state, often with busted shanks or missing or broken stems. You name it, these pipes have a terminal diagnosis.  From here on I have fun. I tend to push myself a little further each time with the challenge being to save the pipe at all costs. Some I have won and others lost but no matter how bad they are, I give them my best shot.

Now a bit of Pipe lore history from the dark continent, South Africa. Smokers here are few and far between. As RSA is no bigger than the state of Texas our smokers per capita will never service the demand for good pipes and tobacco. We have but a few collectors. The majority are smokers who pride themselves in workhorses such as the famous Keyser pipe smoking OTC heavily doused aro’s in them. Now, we were a British colony until the mid-1960’s so it is not uncommon to find older GBD’s, Pete’s and even antique Dunnies floating around here. As a matter of fact most British pipe makes are here in their dozens with the American and European pipe manufacturers taking a back seat.

During the apartheid years most countries in the world imposed sanction on South Africa reducing the inflow of pipes to a trickle. Being a commonwealth country we were still able to obtain Brit pipes. America and the most of Europe would have nothing to do with us. Most imported tobacco ground to a halt with South African tobacco farmers inventing the most hideous blends the world has ever seen. During the late 80’s and 90’s the South African rand lost plenty of value and after the new ANC Government took charge in 1994 we have been experiencing a slippery slope with the current exchange rate. An example of this is the pound stirling sitting at 12 to 1  and the US dollar close to 9 to 1.

The abolishment of Apartheid and the emergence of the New Democratic South Africa meant that the world re opened trade relations with South Africa. This meant that the tobacco shops locally were now again stocking Italians, Danish and American pipes. Great you may say. Think again! With the current exchange rate, expect to pay an average of $250-00 for a mid-range Savinelli which has established itself well here during the post-apartheid years. So what do we do? The solution is simple. Hunt ebay, import good tobacco and say your prayers that your orders and purchases arrive in one piece and that Mr Import Duty Officer does not sniff you out.

My journey into pipe restoration was born from a need to survive. I needed to learn the trade with speed if I was going to dabble in this pass time. It took years of experimentation and thank the Pope for the internet indeed. I found pipes in barns, begged friends and ex pipe smokers and family members for their boxed pipes to experiment on. I made headway and met some great people along the way. Mike Mitchely “Muddler”, David Peterson from the Virtual Smoking Lounge, Steve Laug, Jan Pietenpauw, Alan Philips from Sturks tobacconist in Cape town, Charl Goussard, Dean Swanepoel and the list goes on. I made friends not only locally but worldwide. We traded, gifted and swopped pipes and tobacco. My friends sent me pipes as gifts with the result being that I have to date Lee von Erck, Rad Davis, Mark Tinsky, Chris Askwith pipes in my collection to name just a few. For this I am eternally grateful.

As soon as my skills were honed I put up a website (www.binsbergenpipes.co.za) in the hope that I may meet fellow smokers and collectors around the world. I was surprised! I met people who wanted pipes cleaned, repaired, restored etc. My client base now reaches the far corner of the globe. What seems to be happening is that most of my friends locally and abroad, shop on ebay and send the pips to me for restoration.  The result is that I am paid for my services with pipes, tobacco, etc. as I simply cannot accept money from friends.  The regular Jo Soap down the road however, is billed for my services which to date keeps this pass time self-sufficient. I am not making any profit and I am happy with this arrangement as this life style now pays for itself.

A big pipe enthusiasm injection for South Africa came with the inception of the Brotherhood of International Pipe Smokers forum in December 2010. In conversation with a fellow pipe smoker from Cape Town, Dean  Swanepoel who is a web designer, we bounced around the idea of the first South African based Pipe Forum. The first question was who would join this forum? After all we are up against the big guns, Pipe Chat, Tamp and Puff, Brothers of Briar, Smokers Forum and many more. We took the leap of faith and soon friends made on other forums came to the BIPS campfire. It was decided to keep BIPS a closed forum holding membership low in order to keep a sound brotherhood medium. Members are recruited on an “invite in” basis only, not that we are snobs but in order to keep a tight nit community of brothers who care for one another. It has become a cyber-home for all the members, a place to kick up feet and enjoy the pleasures of wood and leaf.

In returning to my “hot Rod” pipes, it was important to offer the background history in order for the reader to understand the viewpoint of a South African repairman. Now, where do I find the pipes? Well, I scout antique markets over weekends and public holidays. South African’s seem to be patriotic buggers at heart and such markets are well attended with buyers seeking out Afrikana memorabilia of years past. This is where I find the gems at give-away prices. Make no mistake, they are near dead and price says it all. I pay on average for the pipes you will see here a mere average of R 30-00 ($ 5.00 to $8.00). It was here I noticed the inflow of many Brit pipes, especially GBD’s. These are entry level pipes from the 50’s and 60’s, nothing special at all.  GBD Populars and New Standards seem to be in overflow. Also Sasieni seconds destined for international markets stick their heads out once in a while. I have found some big scores too, a 1959 Dunnie Shell in mint condition in its box with booklet and sock, some Peterson’s,  BBB’s and Comoy’s either carrying the original names or their second lines. Either way, this makes little difference as we are after old wood which become reborn.

What you are about to see are the finished pipes. Some have made their way into my smoking rotation; others are yet to get there. Either way, welcome a part of my crazy world. In conclusion, most of the pipes were found at markets, others come from friends as far north as Michigan and down south in Mexico City. Unfortunately I do not have before pictures but you may get the idea.

Most of the pipes come to me looking like this, and trust me, this is a good one with a solid heart beat!Image

The Green Mamba

Pipe: GBD Canadian (Cadogan era, 1980’s) Shape 262

Location: Mexico City

Price: Gift from Eric Hyland (Mr. E)

Diagnosis: Broken Clear Lucite Stem

Sandblasted the stummel. Stained the pipe green. Fabricated a green Lucite stem. Image

The Fire Starter (Blitzkrieg)

Pipe: GBD Popular, Shape 3781

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Price: Gift from Alan Philips (Sturks Tobacconist)

Dignosis: Ugly chubby Lovat, a perfect candidate

Sandblasted the stummel as it was full of putty fills. Replaced the stem adding an olive wood shank ring. Sanded the shank and shaded the stem to go from yellow through red to black using leather dye hence the name fire starter. The process is time consuming as the stains go on and sanded with 1200 grit paper, restained and so on in order to obtain the shading in colour. Image

The Hippo

Pipe: Carey Magic inch Pipe

Location: Michigan, USA

Price: Gift from Chuck Rewalt (Velveteagle)

Diagnosis: Smooth bowl full of fills and dents. Chewed mouth piece. Heavily smoked and caked.

Sandblasted the stummel. Stained it black. As this is a “magic inch” pipe the stem needed to be salvaged. I sanded the teeth marks out and reshaped the bit. This was difficult as the stems are plastic castings. I added a hippo bone shank ring stained green that I got from the pipe maker Jan Pietenpauw. Image

The Black Beauty

Pipe: GBD Popular, shape unknown

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa (antique market)

Price: R 20-00 (ZAR)

Diagnosis: Snapped stem, heavily smoked, Burn mark on bowl from leaving the pipe in an ashtray next to a burning ember or cigarette. This was a major eyesore.

Replaced the stem. Did not opt for any shank adornments here. Sanded the bowl and stained it black to hide the burn mark in the wood. Image

The Red Head

Pipe: GBD Popular, shape 3781

Location: Pretoria, South Africa (antique market)

Price: R20-00 (ZAR)

Diagnosis: Broken stem. Heavily smoked, dings on rim from knocking pipe on hard surface.

Under all the dirt, grime and dents the wood on this one was good. I lost 0.5 mm on the rim to remove dents. Sanded the bowl and restained it. Replaced the stem adding an olive wood flush shank ring and contrasting it with a blue raised Lucite ring. Image

The Reject

Pipe: GBD, Cadogen era Billiard, shape unknown, stamped RJ (I take it that GBD stamped the pipe reject as it carries no marking on the stummel but has GBD printed on the stem)

Location: Pretoria, South Africa (antique market)

Price: R 50.00 (ZAR)

Diagnosis: Cracked shank. Stem was intact but it was a yellow Lucite saddle with restricted draw.

Heavily smoked. Dings on bowl.

A tough call. Repaired cracked shank by spinning brass sleeve to fit flush on the shank. Added olive raised shank ring. Sanded and restained the bowl. Image

The Half & Half Virgin

Pipe: GBD Virgin, Shape Unknown

Location: Ghana, Africa.

Price: Gift, Duncan Nebbe (Rhodesian). Scored in a lot of GBD pipes on Ebay. Most were cleaned, this one flat lined.

Diagnosis: The lot of pipes were in a barn or some place exposed to the elements for many years (we suspect). Fine cracks appeared on the outside of the bowl. Stem broken. In a shocking state. It lay around the in the trash box for some weeks before it called to me.

We all know GBD Virgin are not blasted pipes due to the quality of the wood. This one needed to be blasted to remove the surface cracks in the wood. I masked the shank in order to retain some faint nomenclature and the word ‘Virgin’.  Bowl restained and a new stem fitted. Tambotie shank ring added. Image

The MOERSE Billiard

Pipe: Byford/Orlik, shape unknown

Location: Pretoria, South Africa (Hospice charity shop)

Price: R15.00 (ZAR)

Diagnosis: Heavily smoked. Dings on rim from knocking pipe on hard surface. Dings and fills on the bowl. Stem clogged and chewed.

The Byford was a system pipe in its heyday.  The stem consisted of 3 tubes running back and forth in the stem in order to cool and purify the smoke. If it is not cleaned regularly the system gets clogged and there is nothing one can do to save it. I replaced the stem. The alu butt on the shank comes standard with the pipe. It was cleaned and polished. Buckeye Burl shank ring added. Bowl sanded and stained. Image

LOJ se Vlieg Masjien (Lord Oom Jan’s Flying Machine)

Pipe: Keyser Hygienic patent, shape Unknown.

Location: Pretoria, South Africa (Antique market)

Price: R10-00 (ZAR)

Diagnosis: Cracked shank. Broken Stem. Heavily smoked.

For those of you who are familiar with the Keyser pipe, this looks nothing like it. I may get shot for tampering with tradition South African pipe lore but this is how it came out. Named after the South African carver Jan Pietenpauw (LOJ) as parts for the pipe were salvaged from his reject box in order to fix the pipe. Brass shank ring added to repair the crack in the shank. Buckeye burl extension added to seat the shank extension. Stem was replaced by spinning down a pre mould to create a military mount fit. Image

A Beatup GBD 9438 Given a New Look

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I bid on this one knowing full well that it was going to take a lot of work to get it back to some semblance of beauty and functionality. When I found it on EBay I thought it might be worth the effort but let it sit for awhile and then before the bidding ended I put in my bid. I honestly think I was the only bidder so I got it for a pittance.

When it arrived it was more rough than the EBay pictures intimated. The front edge of the bowl and rim looked like it had been used as a hammer. Not only were there dents and holes on the front of the bowl but the rim was chewed up like it had been hammered out on a piece of concrete. The finish was absolutely gone. The surface of the bowl was permeated with oils and grease from dirty hands and from looked like having been laid on its side in a full ashtray! At least the bowl was still semi-round and there were no burn marks. The other remarkable thing to me was that the stem was virtually unchewed. That surprised me actually given the overall state of the pipe. It was very oxidized and a deep brown colour. ImageImageImageImage

I reamed and cleaned the bowl and shank to remove the grime and tars. It took a lot of pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol to clean things up. I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath and the stem in a bath of Oxyclean for a while and went about other work that I had going. I believe it soaked overnight before I got back to it. When I did I removed it from the bath, dried it off and went to work on the damaged rim and bowl. I used some medium grit emery cloth to reshape the rim. The tricky part here was to keep the angles even on all sides of the bowl. The front edge was heavily damaged and the rim itself was also badly chewed up. After the emery cloth I used 240 grit sandpaper to smooth the scratches out and then 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to finish the shaping. The series of three photos below show the progression of the shaping. ImageImageImage

Once the top was smooth and the shape retained I wiped the bowl down with an alcohol soaked cloth to remove any dust from the sanding. I also used a dental pick to clean out the rings around the bowl to prepare them for staining. I find that those collect a lot of grit and grime and can almost be smooth due to the buildup. I then stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain and flamed it to set the stain. I took it to the buffer and gave it a light buff with Tripoli to remove the excess stain and also give it a slight polish. Then took it back to the work table to work on the stem and to sand the bowl with micromesh to smooth the surface and bring the grain to the front. The pictures below show the stem after the soak in Oxyclean and then light sanding with 400 grit wet dry sand paper to remove the oxidation that was softened. The stem still needed more work to get out some of the stubborn places but it was getting close. ImageImageImage

I used micromesh pads 1500-6000 grit on the bowl and the stem to finish the smoothing and restoration. Once it was done and shining I gave the whole pipe a buff with White Diamond to polish it and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean soft flannel buff to polish. ImageImageImageImage

Stemming an Alan Stevenson Long Shanked Apple

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I was gifted this stummel by a friend who passed on one of Alan`s rejects or cast off pipes that just did not make the grade for him. This one came to me unfinished and without a stem. I worked on it quite a while trying to fit a stem. That seems like it should have been an easy task but it was not. There was a twist in the drilling of the airway that made all stems fit at an angle rather than facing straight on the shank.

I stained the pipe with a black under stain and then buffed it off to highlight the grain and then gave it a top stain of medium brown. I opened the airway a bit large to straighten it as much as possible. I faced the shank with sandpaper to even things out as much as possible. The problem with the twist in the airway did not allow a stem to face correctly so I banded the shank with a pressure fit nickel band. I fit a stem from my stem can so that the tenon fit well and then did minor adjustments to the outer diameter of the saddle to make a proper fit into the band. With the band I left it extended beyond the edge of the shank by a 1/8th of an inch. The stem fit well into that area for a good tight fit. I polished the stem and the bowl with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to finish. ImageImageImageImage