Tag Archives: Andrew Selking article

Kaywoodie Connoisseur 49 Large Oom Paul

Blog by Andrew Selking

It is an honor to once again write an article for Steve’s blog. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Andrew and a bit obsessive about Kaywoodie pipes and the entire Kaufman Brothers and Bondy’s (KB&B) family. Until recently my favorite pipe has been a four-digit Yello Bole 2062 small Oom Paul. I’ve had this large Oom Paul in the drawer, waiting for restoration, for over a year. (Sorry I forgot to take a before picture).I start this pipe as always by soaking the bowl in the alcohol bath. Here is the pipe right after it came out.Next I reamed the bowl. As you may have noticed this is a rather large bowl, my reamer barely reached the bottom. This also accounts for the reaming damage done to the rim.The pipe has a replacement push stem, which initially caused me to think it was an export model, but looking at the shank you can see the groves that the stinger originally screwed into.I find that the alcohol bath does a nice job of softening any protective coating or wax. In order to remove the rest, I used 0000 steel wool and acetone.Here is what the pipe looked like after removing the finish.My next step was to further clean the insides of the pipe and stem using a retort.The average bowl takes two cotton balls to fill it, three if it’s kind of big. This bowl swallowed four cotton balls. Here is a picture of them after the retort (notice how the boiling alcohol pulled the tar out of the wood).As you may have noticed in previous pictures, the rim on the bowl was in rough shape; scorching, reaming damage, and deep dents. I planned to top the rim and the end of the shank to remove some of the worst damage, but I decided to leave the dimensions as close to original as possible; so I refrained from getting crazy with the sand paper.

I used 150 grit sand paper on a piece of glass to top the rim and shank, followed by some 400 grit. A note of caution when topping an Oom Paul, the shank and the bowl are close to each other. Be sure not to take off wood where you don’t intend to.Once the rim was to my liking I started on the bowl with the 400 grit wet/dry. I sanded around the marking on the shank and kept the stem inserted while working on the end of the shank to prevent rounding. Here is the bowl after the 400 grit.After the 400 grit I turned to a progression of micro-mesh pads (1500-12,000 grit) to polish the wood.I used the same progression on the stem. I polished the stem using a rotary tool set on the lowest speed with white rouge and carnauba wax. I used my buffing wheel (aka heartbreaker) with white rouge and carnauba wax on the bowl. I reassembled the pipe and wiped on a couple of light coats of Halcyon II wax. Here is the finished result. Just to give some perspective on the size of this pipe, here is my four-digit yellow bowl for comparison. Normally I wait to smoke a restored pipe until after taking pictures, but we were without power this morning so I loaded the bowl with some Dunhill Early Morning Pipe and commenced to smoke. The draw is fantastic! After about an hour I thought I must be getting close to the bottom of the bowl so I got my pipe cleaning tool and started to clean the bowl. I had only smoked half the bowl! This the first pipe I’ve encountered that has a basement!

I now have two Oom Paul pipes in my collection. I imagine they will vie for my attention for a very long time.

Dave’s Four Dot Sasieni

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Blog by Andrew Selking

I’ve been out of touch for the past few months, between moving, home renovation, and finding a new job my free time has been limited. Dave is sneaky though, he sent a picture of a pipe he bought and asked me if I thought I could fix it. Of course I said yes. Here is the pipe as it looked upon arrival. There is an obvious chunk missing from the button, but there is also a small crack on the other side of the stem. That was uglier than it looks.

I did my normal procedure of cleaning the inside of the pipe first. Dave was kind of worried about how the alcohol might affect the finish, so I used new alcohol and only left the bowl in for about 45 minutes. I soaked the stem in an Oxyclean bath.

The tar on the rim came right off after removal from the alcohol bath. Next I reamed the pipe using my Castleford reamer, used a brush on the inside of the shank, followed by a retort of the bowl. As I suspected the pipe was pretty clean.

Before dumping out the Oxyclean, I ran a pipe cleaner through the stem. It was not too dirty. I followed that by a retort and more pipe cleaners. That was the easy part, the fun was about to begin.

As you can see the missing chunk is a problem. The crack on the other side looked like it could keep going, so I drilled a hole to stop it. You might notice a slight micro crack to left of the main crack. Turns out there was a chunk of vulcanite hanging on like a loose tooth. Of course it came out very easily, leaving a stem that was missing most of the button on both sides.

The first thing I do when building a new stem is fit some rolled up wax paper inside the stem. I’ve found that the CA glue does not stick to it and it helps give shape to the inside of the stem. I use ground charcoal (which I purchased at the pet store and ran through a coffee grinder and sifter) and CA glue. I started by filling in the hole that I drilled to stop the crack. Once I had that filled in and sanded smooth, I started building up the stem below the button. I forgot to mention that I use CA accelerator throughout the process. I find that you can work the glue within 2 to 3 minutes instead of having to wait overnight.

Once the stem was repaired, I put layers of clear tape on the stem under the button to serve as a form for the glue. Once the tape was even with the button, I started adding CA glue and charcoal. I put a small amount of charcoal on the bottom of a plastic cup, add a drop or two of CA glue and mix it with a push pin. I use the push pin to add the material to the stem, followed by a few drops of accelerator. Once the material is built up, I start to sand and file it into shape. I use needle files and 400 grit sand paper. This gets me to the final step, which is addressing the micro pits.

I filled the micro pits with a mixture of CA and charcoal, but used much less charcoal than before. I used 400 grit sandpaper and needle files to get the final shape. I then used 1500-2400 grit micro mesh with water to smooth it all out. Since the bowl was in nice condition and I wanted to preserve the finish, I started polishing with 3200 grit micro mesh. I used a progression of 3200-12,000 grit micro mesh on both the bowl and the stem. Here is what it looked like once it was ready for the buffer.

I polished the stem using my rotary tool with a felt pad and white diamond, followed by carnauba wax. My rotary tool has variable speed and I use the lowest setting. I used white diamond and carnauba wax on the bowl with the buffing wheel. Here is what the pipe looked like when I finished. This is my second repair of this type. My ultimate goal is to do repairs that look like the original. Thanks for looking.

Rescuing a Kaywoodie Flame Grain Meerschaum Lined Doggie

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Blog by Andrew Selking

To paraphrase Samuel Clemmons, reports that I’m no longer messing with pipes are greatly exaggerated. Between a cross country move, a new house, renovations to said house, and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I have not spent as much time working on pipes as I would like. I did manage to squeeze in this nice Kaywoodie Flame Grain Meerschaum lined doggie.

According to a Kaywoodie brochure from the era, Flame Grain pipes were made from “200 to 400 year-old briar burls…the last of their kind to be found in the world.” The meerschaum inlaid Flame Grain is a “superb Flame Grain Kaywoodie with an inlaid inner bowl of imported Turkish meerschaum. This pipe combines the outstanding qualities of the two best materials in the world in which to smoke tobacco.” This pipe represents the pinnacle of American pipe making. As a point of reference, in 1947 this pipe would sell for $12.50 while Dunhill pipes started at $10.00.

As you can see, it took some imagination to see a pipe that might compete with a Dunhill.

The stem was under-clocked and heavily oxidized. The bowl had very thick cake and a buildup of tar on the rim. There was some kind of protective finish on the bowl that left a film after the alcohol bath. Additionally, the stinger was cut. On the plus side, I could see some really nice grain and the stem was virtually unmolested.

The first thing I did was soak the bowl in alcohol. I was hesitant to do that, because I was afraid the alcohol would cause the meer lining to deteriorate. At the same time I was also worried that if I didn’t soften the cake first, just using the reamer might damage the lining as well. I compromised and soaked it for about two hours and the cake came out nicely.

While the bowl was soaking, I used Oxyclean and warm water to soak the stem. Since it was missing the end of the stinger, it was easy to get the worst of the gunk out with a pipe cleaner. As I mentioned, the stem was under-clocked. To fix this problem I usually heat the stinger with my heat gun until I can easily rotate back into place. As the tip of the stinger heats up it transfers heat into the stem and loosens the glue. The whole heat transfer thing wasn’t working very well with this pipe, so I stuck a small nail in the stinger. That worked like a charm.

Next I did a retort on the bowl and stem.

After scrubbing the insides with brushes, q-tips, and pipe cleaners, it was time to tackle the exterior issues. I used 0000 steel wool with acetone to remove the tar build up on the rim.

I continued with the 0000 steel wool over the rest of the bowl to remove the film on the finish. After cleaning the bowl, I used 3200-12000 grit micro mesh to polish the bowl. This is what it looked like afterwards.

I used 400 grit wet/dry with water to remove the oxidation from the stem, followed by 1800-2400 grit micro mesh with water. I finished the stem with a progression of 3200-12,000 grit micro mesh.

I set up my buffer and polished the bowl with white diamond and carnauba wax. I used my variable speed rotary tool with white diamond and carnauba wax for the stem. Here is the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

A KB&B Capitol

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Blog by Andrew Selking

As a collector of old KB&B pipes, I have searched for a KB&B Capitol for a very long time. First of all they just have a unique look, kind of like an upside down poker, but what really interests me is the craftsmanship required to make a threaded briar insert. There is very little information available about these pipes, about the best I could find is that it was made between 1919 and 1924.
When I received the pipe it had some cake built up in the bowl and tar stains on the rim and the stem was unmolested. The biggest issue was that the insert was firmly stuck. In fact a previous owner tried pliers to get it out, based on the gouges along the top. I tried the usual method of freezing it, but to no avail. I wrote Steve for any ideas and he suggested doing a retort. That didn’t work either. I finally ended up soaking the bowl in alcohol for 24 hours, freezing it, then heating it with my heat gun. With the help of a rubber kitchen gripper, it finally broke loose.
In these first pictures you can really see the tar build up on the inside of the pipe.

I soaked the stem in Oxyclean. The stem was marked “Hard Rubber” and exhibited no oxidation after soaking. It was pretty filthy though. I used a pipe cleaner soaked in the Oxyclean solution to remove as much gunk as possible, this was the first pass. Next I turned my attention to removing the serious tar build up in the inner bowl. I found my dental pick was the perfect tool for this task. The bottom of the inner bowl had a biscuit of tar.

I used an alcohol soaked cotton ball to loosen the tar in the threads. Since this pipe has two bowls, I did a retort with just the outer bowl followed by a retort with the inner bowl inserted. I love the old stems. I did a retort on the stem. It was nasty, but the boiling alcohol did the trick.

The design of this pipe makes it extremely easy to clean, although I doubt that ever happened prior to my getting ahold of it. A couple of q-tips and a pipe cleaner and the shank was clean. Next I tackled the stem. I used 400 grit wet/dry with water followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. You will notice the small washer, I use that to make sure that I don’t round off the edges of the stem. You may have noticed in a previous picture that there was a piece missing at the top of the inner bowl. I spread a small amount of CA glue into the hole with a push pin followed by briar dust and accelerator. I also noticed a small fill residing under the band, so I picked out the old fill and replaced it with briar dust and CA glue. The exterior of the bowl was caked with tars and grime, so I used acetone and 0000 steel wool to clean it up. That was only minimally effective, so I ended up sanding the whole thing. I used 400 grit to get the worst off, followed by a progression of micro mesh pads, 1500-12,000 grit. While working on the bowl, I also polished the stem with 3200-12,000 grit micro mesh pads. One of the things Steve talks about is using Obsidian Oil after each third set of pads. Since I don’t have Obsidian Oil, I used a very small amount of mineral oil with the 3200 grit pad. It really cut down on the dust and seemed to help the rest of the pads polish more effectively. Here is the pipe ready for stain and polishing. I don’t know if the stamping on the stem was originally filled in white, but I thought it might look nice. I used my correction pen to fill in the letters. I removed the excess correction fluid with my rotary tool and some white diamond. I then polished the stem with carnauba wax. I stained the pipe with a medium brown stain and polished it on the buffer with white diamond and carnauba wax. Here is the final result.

Making a Simple Light Box

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Blog by Andrew Selking

I saw a post by Andrew on one of the forums I follow and wrote and asked if he would post it here. It is something that I have been working on for a while now and to read Andrew’s work. Without any further ado here is the article.

Let me preface this by saying I am not a photographer and I only have vague memories of learning about light in science class. I’m also frugal, so when I started looking for ways to take better pictures of my pipes, cost was big consideration.

So let’s build a light box. First we’ll start with the materials:

medium size cardboard box
white tissue paper
white duct tape (you could also probably use white masking tape)
white poster board (the thin flimsy kind)
day light bulbs (14W compact fluorescent)
ideally three directional lamps

Cut out square sections on three sides of the box. Tape the top of the box and cut out a square section for the top. I used some of the scrap cardboard to reinforce the top. Next tape your poster board in the inside of the box. You will want it to curve from inside the box so that it makes the item you’re photographing look like its floating. Use the white tape to cover any cardboard that is inside the box. Finally, tape your white tissue paper over the openings on the two sides and the top.

I don’t have a fancy camera, but it does have a setting for slow flash to help give a better fill. I also use the close up setting. I was having problems getting my darker pipes to show up in the pictures. I tried more light and it still didn’t help much. I accidentally discovered that changing to a darker background makes the wood easier to see. I have an example of a pipe photographed with the all-white background and the same pipe photographed with a green towel in the background.

I know a lot of you out there do some really great work restoring pipes, while others have amazing pipe collections. This is an easy way to let others appreciate what you do. I hope you found this post useful and I look forward to some amazing pictures.

1934-35 Yello Bole Carburetor

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Blog by Andrew Selking

The more I work on old Yello Bole pipes, the more I appreciate them. First of all, they used the same briar that went into the higher end Kaywoodies. From my experience you might find a Yello Bole with one fill, but otherwise spectacular grain. This pipe is no exception, stunning swirling birds-eye and spectacular cross grain, with one fill on the bottom of the bowl.

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that this pipe is from 1934 or 35. The carburetor patent was granted in 1935, this pipe is stamped “Pat Applied For.” Interestingly enough, it also has a patent number on the bottom of the shank. Additionally, the four digit number was used by Kaywoodie until 1936. The first two numbers indicate the finish and the second two numbers indicate the shape.

When I got the pipe it had the usual heavy finish that Kaufman Brothers and Bondy (KB&B) put on the Yello Bole line to cover imperfections.

As you can see from the picture, I was working on more than one Yello Bole stem. While the stem soaked in Oxyclean, I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath to begin loosening the gunk inside. After soaking overnight, I used my Castleford reamer to ream the bowl. The cake seems to come off easier if I ream the bowl right after the alcohol bath. I normally document cleaning the inside of the pipe, but for some reason didn’t this time. I did the usual retort on the stem and bowl, followed by scrubbing the inside of the shank with a brush, followed by q-tips dipped in alcohol. I used pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol to remove the last of the tar build up in the stem.

Once the internals were sorted, I decided to see what was under the varnish. I used 0000 steel wool and acetone to remove the worst of the finish. Here are some details of the markings on the bowl.

With the varnish off I could see the single fill on the bottom of the bowl. I used my dental pick to remove the fill… And repacked it with briar dust and CA glue. I use accelerator with the CA glue. This gives me the ability to start rough shaping the fill within a minute or two of application. I used 150 grit to knock of the high spots, followed by 400 grit to blend it in. I used a progression of micro mesh pads, from 1500-12,000 to remove most of the dings in the bowl and to prepare the wood for stain and final polish. I used 400 grit wet/dry with water on the stem, followed by micro mesh pads (1500, 1800, and 2400) with water. Next I used micro mesh pads without water (3200-12,000) to polish the stem. Finally I buffed the bowl with white diamond and carnauba wax on the buffer. I used my rotary tool (the generic term for a Dremel that isn’t made by Dremel) with white diamond and carnauba wax to polish the stem. Here is the final result.

Some better detail of the grain.

I forgot to mention that I tried something new to highlight the grain. I normally use a coat of black aniline dye followed by a brown or mahogany. This time I used dark walnut as the base coat. I like how it turned out.

Here is a better view of the stem and bowl. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Heritage Heirloom 98S Bulldog

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Blog by Andrew Selking

I am always on the lookout for high quality American pipes that have yet to gain the popularity of some of the more well-known European makes. Heritage pipes appeal to my sense of American pride, craftsmanship, and value. These pipes were made in the Kaywoodie factory, but on a completely separate line. Heritage pipes were Kaywoodie’s answer to Dunhill. According to one of their brochures, Heritage pipes were made from “briar burls seasoned and cured for up to 8 months,” with only “one briar bowl in over 300 selected to bear the Heritage name.” “Heritage stems are custom fitted with the finest hand finished Para-Rubber stems. Mouthpieces are wafer thin and concave.”

The Heritage line began in the early 1960’s, with the trademark issued in 1964. The line was started at the request of Stephen Ogdon, (who worked for Kaywoodie in 1962). Mr. Ogdon had previous experience working for Dunhill, either running the New York store or working for Dunhill North America. Mr. Ogden was made President of Heritage Pi pes, Inc., Kaywoodie Tobacco Co.,Inc. and Kaywoodie Products Inc. as well as a Vice President of S.M. Frank & Co. Heritage Pipes were produced from 1964 until 1970 (Source Kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org).

Here is a link to a Heritage brochure:

The Wonderful World of Heritage Briars

The best part about Heritage pipes is, for the most part other collectors have yet to discover them and you can still find one for a reasonable price. I found this fantastic bulldog in a lot of pipes otherwise unremarkable pipes. It had a good bit of cake, some tooth marks, and what looked like mold on the stem.

With concerns about cleanliness in mind, I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath. I also soaked the stem in Oxyclean. After soaking overnight, I used my Castelford reamer to clean the cake. I checked the cleanliness of the shank with a brush and was pleasantly surprised. I retorted the shank, sorry no pictures this time, and after a few q-tips and fuzzy sticks the shank was clean. Next I retorted the stem. It was also relatively clean; this was a fuzzy stick dipped in alcohol right after the retort. I used two fuzzy sticks dipped in alcohol just to make sure. I wanted to tackle the grime on the bowl and tar on the rim, so I used 0000 steel wool and acetone. Next I turned my attention to the stem. I used 400 grit wet/dry sand paper with water, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. Since the stem had some tooth marks, I mixed up some clear CA glue and ground charcoal. I applied the glue with a straight pin and added accelerator to dry it. I used a small flat file to shape the repairs followed by sanding with 400 grit and micro mesh pads.

The bowl had some scratches and was darker than I preferred, so I used a progression of 1500-12,000 grit micro mesh pads to get it ready for polishing. I buffed the bowl on the wheel and used the rotary tool on the stem. Here is the final result.

Thanks for looking.

Another Pre-War Yello Bole

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Blog by Andrew Selking

In my quest to corner the market on pre-war Yello Bole pipes, I snagged this nice little oval shank Dublin. It’s between a group one and group two size, my smallest reamer head only fits about half way into the bowl. The best part is the pipe had not suffered serious abuse. It had some tar on the rim, along with a few nicks and a small tooth mark on the back of the stem. Here is what it looked like when I got it. You will notice the varnish, in a lot of cases a finish like that is to cover up imperfections in the briar. So it was with a little trepidation that I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath. While the bowl marinated, I soaked the stem in Oxyclean. Next I reamed the bowl. As I mentioned earlier the reamer head didn’t fit all the way down, so I carefully removed the remaining cake with a small pen knife (which you can see in the corner of the picture) and a dental pick. Next up the retort. Judging from the stinger I didn’t expect a dirty pipe.

The stem was a little dirtier, but a second retort cleared it up nicely.

With the internals sorted, I could now see what lurked under the varnish. I used 0000 grit steel wool and acetone to remove the tar on the rim and the varnish. I was pleased to only find a single fill. It was the pink putty though, and I hate pink putty, so it had to go. I’ve tried as many different techniques for fixing fills as I can think of. My current technique is to use a push pin to spread a small amount of CA glue into the hole, next I pack it full of briar dust, followed by a drop of CA, followed by a drop of accelerator. The nice thing about using accelerator is you can work the repair right after drying off any remaining accelerator. Here is what the repair looked like before sanding. Next I tackled the oxidation on the stem. I used 400 grit wet/dry with water followed by 1500, 1800, and 2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. I always hold a washer over the tenon to prevent rounding the shoulders of the stem. Here is the stem after removing oxidation. I still had the tooth mark on the bottom of the stem to fix, so I mixed up some clear CA and finely ground charcoal dust and applied it with my push pin. You may notice the yogurt container, I use that to mix the glue and charcoal. When it gets too dirty I throw it away and get a new one. I used 400 grit sand paper to shape the fill, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh. I usually don’t use water when sanding down fills. I removed the top coat of finish on the bowl with a progression of 1500 to 2400 grit micro mesh pads. Next I used 3200 to 12,000 grit micro mesh pads to polish the entire pipe. You will again notice the washer on the stem. Here is the pipe ready for final polish. I used my rotary tool with white diamond and carnauba wax on the stem. I took the bowl to the buffer and used white diamond and carnauba wax on it as well. Just a word of caution when using a buffer, hold onto whatever you’re buffing with both hands.

Here is the final result. Thanks for looking.

Using a Rotary Tool to Buff Stems

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Blog by Andrew Selking

I have been looking for a better way to make my pipe stems look good for a very long time. I started out just using high grit sandpaper, next I got a buffing attachment for my drill, after that I moved up to an actual buffer. I added micro mesh sanding pads, white diamond rouge, and carnauba wax, but still had problems with getting a consistent shine. Of course the other problem with buffing stems, especially stems with sharp edges, is the tendency for the buffer to catch the edge and fling the stem across the room. How could I ever improve my stem work?

Fortunately one of the pipe restoration gurus who does this for a living let something slip on a discussion board. He mentioned that he uses a variable speed buffer. My first thought was, “that sounds expensive,” but after giving it some thought I realized that I had a variable speed rotary tool (that’s what you call a Dremel knock off). I paid $19.99 from Harbor Freight tools and it even came with a large selection of attachments.

Here is a recent example of a stem I did using this tool. The previous owner did take care of the pipe, it was well waxed and clean inside, but if you look closely you can see the telltale signs of oxidation. I gave the stem my usual soak in Oxyclean, which revealed the full scope of oxidation to be dealt with. (Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry).

Some people have asked me why use Oxyclean if it makes the stem look so bad. The answer is, the oxidation is present regardless whether you choose to address it or not. If you polish over the oxidation you will eventually end up with a shiny brown stem.

To remove the oxidation I use 400 grit wet/dry sand paper with water. Since the water makes the stem artificially shine, I dry it to make sure I get all the oxidation. Another trick I learned from one of the articles on Steve’s blog was to use a washer at the end of the stem to prevent rounding the shoulders. It’s well worth the effort. Since this stem had so many flat surfaces, I use a small plastic kitchen scraper as a sanding block with the 400 grit.

After the 400 grit I use 1500, 1800, and 2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. Here is the stem after that treatment. While I waited for the stem to dry I retorted the pipe and cleaned the shank. I didn’t take pictures of the process since the pipe was basically new. Once the stem was dry I used a progression of micro mesh pads from 3200 to 12,000 grit to polish the stem. In my opinion polishing with the micro mesh pads is the real key to a nice looking stem. As you progress to a finer level, you’re removing the scratch pattern from the previous one.

Now comes the fun part, making it shine! This is what my set up looks like. The rotary tool, white diamond, carnauba wax, and the felt pads for polishing. Notice the speed adjustments.

To buff the stem, I set the speed to 1 and load the felt pad with white diamond. I hold the stem in one hand and apply the pad with the other. It is important to keep the pad moving, if you leave it in one place too long it will start to dig into the vulcanite. This isn’t a fast process, but I find I can get a lot better control and consistency with the shine. Once the stem is buffed to a high luster, I switch out buffing pads, turn the speed to 2, and proceed with the carnauba wax. As you can see the stem turned out pretty well.