Tag Archives: Barling’s Make ‘Ye Olde Wood’

Finding a Surprise Among the 7 Barclay-Rex Pipes – A Barling’s Make “Ye Olde Wood” Fossil EXEL 406 Bent Apple

Blog by Steve Laug

It seems like just a few weeks ago I was contacted by an older gentleman about purchasing his pipe collection. He sent me the photos and I was amazed at what I saw. He had Dunhill pipes, BBB pipes, Orlik pipes, Barclay Rex Pipes, a couple of Meerschaums and a whole lot of other pipes. All I could say as I looked at the pipes was what a collection it was. We negotiated a deal and I think we both walked away quite happy with the exchange.

You have seen the work we have done on the Dunhills, Hardcastles, H. Simmons all briar billiard and BBB pipes from the lot but there are still more. The above photo shows all of the Barclay-Rex pipes that were purchased from the New York City shop by the fellow we bought the collection from. It is one of two sandblast pipes that he had and it is a Canadian shaped pipe.

I have worked on several Barclay-Rex pipes in the past but this one was unique in many ways that will become evident in the photos below. When I looked at the various Barclay-Rex Pipes I decided to work on this apple. You can imagine the surprise that I had when I took it out of the box and look at the stamping expecting to see BARCLAY-REX New York and saw something totally different. This pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads Barling’s [arched over] Make [over] “Ye Olde Wood” [over]406 on the heel of the bowl. To the right of that it is stamped EXEL [over] Fossil. That is followed by Made in England (two lines) followed by T.V.F. (The Very Finest). The stamping is clear and readable and I was utterly surprised. The stem is stamped with remnants of the Barling Cross on the top of the taper stem.

Jeff took some photos of the Barling’s Make Ye Olde Wood Fossil EXEL 406 before he worked his magic in cleaning up the pipe. It is a an interesting pipe with a lot of potential and what appears to be a great sandblast under the grime and debris of the years. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thickness of the cake in the bowl and the thick lava on the rim top. The rim looks to be heavily damaged under the lava on the top and the inner and outer edges. It really is a mess. He took photos of the top and underside of the vulcanite stem showing the tooth marks, chatter and wear on the stem and button. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the briar. You can see the beautiful shape and the sandblast grain on the bowl even through the dirt and debris of many years. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that it is clear and readable as noted above. I turned to Pipedia to try and place this pipe in the timeline of the brand and was able find some helpful information which I have included below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barling). I believe that the pipe is a Family Era pipe so I read the article with interest and gleaned some information on the stamping on the pipe.

The first section I quote below is with regard to the nomenclature on the pipe. The one I am working on bears the stamping “Ye Olde Wood” and T.V.F. and the style name Fossil. I have highlighted the pertinent section in red.

Family Era Nomenclature:

Before discussing the nomenclature of the Family Era pipes it is important to note that there are no absolutes. Barling pipes from this period show a remarkable degree of variation when it comes to nomenclature. The following information can be applied in a general fashion.

According to Tad Gage, Pre-1946 stampings are minimal. Pre WW2 pipes rarely have size, shape or grading. But pipes have surfaced, hallmarked as early as 1925 with size marks, and as early as 1926 with model numbers. There may be earlier examples, and when we see them we will revise the dates.

Examples with silver hallmarks illustrate that a distinct change in nomenclature occurred around 1938-40, although clearly the war and London bombings impacted production of silver-mounted and of all English pipes. A George Yale catalog from 1941 features the familiar stampings such as “YE OLDE WOOD”, “TVF”, and style names like “Fossil”, and these were not generally found on pre-1940 pipes, although “YE OLDE WOOD” did inconsistently appear on some earlier examples. (Gage)…

The next section I am quoting is with regard to the Logo nomenclature. The Barling’s Make stamp is explained below. Following that I have included some information ont eh “Ye Olde Wood” stamp and the Barling Cross stem logo.

Logo Nomenclature:

…The “BARLING’S MAKE” has the word “BARLING’S” arched over the word “MAKE” in capital block letters. Barling used this block letter logo until late 1962…

During the 1930’s and early 1940’s the BARLING’S MAKE logo appeared in a small version with a simpler letter style. Following the War, the small “BARLING’S MAKE” logo was discontinued and a larger logo was used. The larger logo would continue to be in use until 1962, when the 1930’s style logo was reintroduced along with the new numbering system…

Ye Olde Wood Stamp:

Sometime around 1913, the “Ye Olde Wood” stamp made its appearance on selected pipes. An example exists stamped on a 1913 date hallmarked pipe.

This logo will continue to be used in the decades to come. Initially it was used to designate a higher grade than the average, much as the “Special” grade would after the Second World War. Price lists show the “Ye Olde Wood” pipes as a separate grade from the basic BARLING’S MAKE pipe. Eventually, “Ye Olde Wood” came to represent the company to the world. The use of “YE OLD WOOD” as a stamp prior to 1940 was haphazard, at best, although the company used the slogan in advertising materials from the early teens onward. (Gage)

Crossed Barling Stem Logo:

It is not known when the crossed Barling stem logo first appeared, but an example exists on a pipe with a 1923 date hallmark. And several of the mid 1920’s pipes added in this update also feature the crossed Barling stem logo.

Lastly, I have included information on the shape number and the size stamping on this pipe all of which help to date it.

Model Numbers:

Model numbers were occasionally stamped below the logo as early as the late 1920’s.

Nichols Numbers:

Pipes intended for the US Market have a 3 digit model number. However, Family Era Barlings may have two numbers, not just three, and they may also have a letter following the model numbers. For example, the letter “M” following a model number would indicate that the bowl is meerschaum lined.

Stamping model numbers on the pipes became much more common after WW2, though like all Barling nomenclature their appearance is a bit haphazard…

Other Nomenclature:

The “MADE IN ENGLAND.” stamp was in use in the 1930’s thru 1962. As with all things related to Barling nomenclature there are variations. Sometimes there is no “MADE IN ENGLAND.” stamp. Examples exist with a “MADE IN LONDON” over “ENGLAND” stamp. And, there are examples with “MADE IN ENGLAND” with no period after the word “ENGLAND”.

Size Stampings:

Up to 1926 and possibly beyond, Barling used specific, completely unrelated, model numbers to designate the various sizes of a specific shape. They produced pipes in three sizes, small, medium, and large.

Barling’s published price lists show that they continued to offer pipes in only three sizes, small, medium, and large until 1941. That’s it, small, medium, and large. So when someone claims that they have a 1930’s EL, EXEL, or other size, they are mistaken.

In 1941 the published range of sizes expanded. Going from the smallest to the largest, they are SS, S, S-M, L, EL, EXEL, and EXEXEL. There is no “G” for giant. Giant pipes, or magnums, which are oversized standard billiards, were not stamped “G” but are commonly identified by collectors as such because they are obviously large relative to even EXEXEL pipes, and carried no size stampings (Gage)…

With the information from Pipedia I knew that I was working a Barling’s Make “Ye Olde Wood” Fossil from the time period between 1941 and 1962. It is a beautifully sandblasted pipe that has some great grain. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff carefully cleaned the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals of the shank, stem and shank extension with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and lava on the rim top. The finish looks much better and has a deep sandblast that is quite beautiful. The rim top is in rough condition with chips out of the top and inner edge of the bowl making it out of round.. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver I was amazed it looked so good. Here are some photos of what I saw. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. The inner edge of the rim was in rough condition with chips and nicks in the sandblast of the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl out of round. I would take some work to straighten out the issues. I took close up photos of the stem end of the pipe to show the condition of the surface and button. I took a picture of the stamping on the underside of the shank and it was faint but readable as noted above.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the rim top and the inner edges of the bowl. The first photo shows the condition of the rim after I had lightly topped it and what the edge looked like before I started. I decided to rebuild the chipped areas on the rim top and edges with briar dust and CA glue. I layered the CA glue on the edge and top and used a dental spatula to press briar dust on top of it. It took multiple layers on the rear and back edge and rim top before I was happy with it.When I finished the repairs I used a Dremel and burrs to reproduce the sandblast finish on the rim top to match the bowl sides. I stained the rim top and edges with a combination of Black, Walnut and Cherry stain pens to match the colour of the rest of the bowl. I took pictures of the finished rim top to give an idea of the completed look of the repair.

With the rim repair completed I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” it with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth dents in the surface of the vulcanite. I was able to lift the majority of them and interestingly the small pin hole on the topside sealed off. I filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue. Once the repairs cured I used two files to flatten out the repairs and recut the sharp edge of the button. I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them in the rest of the stem surface. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the faint stamping on the top of the stem with PaperMate Liquid Paper White. I worked it into the surface of the stamping with a tooth pick. When it cured I scraped off the excess with a tooth pick and a sanding pad. The stamping was faint on in the middle but more readable on the edges.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. With the bowl and the stem finished I put the beautiful Sandblast Barling’s Make Fossil 406 EXEL Bent Apple back together and buffed it on the wheel using Blue Diamond to give it a shine. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It really is a great looking sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are – Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of this large pipe is 1.55ounces /44grams. This Barling’s Make Fossil Bent Apple is another great find in this collection. It is a shape that touches all of my buttons. It is one that I am still trying to figure out what to do with. This is another pipe that has the possibility of transporting the pipe man or woman back to a slower paced time in history where you can enjoy a respite. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Working on Paresh’s Grandfather’s Barling’s Make Ye Olde Wood Fossil 271

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Blog by Steve Laug

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Paresh, my friend in India reached out to me over Whatsapp to talk about a few more of his Grandfather’s pipes. He was confident in working on many of them but there were a few that he wanted me to try my hand on. His wife Abha would ream and clean them for me so I would be able to start with a relatively clean pipe. The third pipe was a sandblast Barling’s Make billiard with a vulcanite stem. It was another pipe that was in rough condition when Paresh and Abha started working on it. They reamed the thick hard cake with a KleenReem pipe reamer and clean up the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap. They also cleaned the interior with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The pipe was in very rough condition. There were cracks in the bowl on the front and the left side. The rim was beat up and out of round. It had been reamed with a knife sometime in its life. The stamping on the underside of the bowl and shank read Barling’s in an arch over Make over Ye Olde Wood. Next to that was the shape number 271. Further down the flattened shank it was stamped with an EL followed by Made In England, Fossil and T.V.F. The stem was lightly oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks on both sides. It had a faint Barling’s cross logo on the top. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the damage on the bowl to give a better idea of what I was working with on this pipe. The rim top was a real mess with nicks, chips and damage under a coat of tars. The bowl was out of round but workable. There were two cracked areas – one on the front of the bowl from the rim down and one on the left side from the rim down. Paresh and Abha had reamed the bowl for me so the inside was quite clean. The stem was in pretty decent shape with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem near the button and some oxidation. The bowl was a real mess and it would be a challenge. I took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. As noted above it reads Barling’s in and arch over Make and the Ye Olde Wood over 271 on the bottom of the bowl. The shank is stamped EL followed by Made in England, Fossil and T.V.F.I decided to clean up the remaining thin cake in the bowl to get back to bare briar. I wanted to see the extent of the damage on the walls of the bowl interior before I addressed the damage on the outside of the bowl. I used a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to scrape away the remaining cake. Once it was clean, I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the bowl walls and the inner edge of the rim.To clean up the rim top and remove the serious damage on that portion of the pipe I topped it with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. I remove the damage portion and flattened the top of the rim. I would need to repair the cracks in the rim top and then rusticated it to match the finish on the bowl.I wiped down the surface of the briar with alcohol on a cotton pad to clean off the grime. I drilled tiny pin holes at the end of each crack on the exterior of the bowl in hopes of stopping the spread of the crack. I filled in the damaged areas around the bowl and on the rim with briar dust and clear super glue. At this point in the process the repairs appear quite crude. Lots of work still remains to blend them into the sandblast finish of the bowl. I used a brass bristle tire brush to work over the repaired areas on the front and side of the bowl. I wanted to clean up the rough edges of the repair and try to blend it into the finish around it. The bristles are stiff enough to remove the edges and I think works well to blend it into the surface of the surrounding sandblast. I lightly topped the bowl again to smooth out the roughness of the repairs on the rim surface.I used some small burrs on my Dremel running at a slow speed of 5 to try to recreate the look of the sandblast on the rim top. It took a bit of doing but I think it gives the rim top a better look than the smooth finish. I blended a walnut and a Maple stain pen to approximate the mottled finish on the rest of the bowl. It worked pretty well I think. I will show full photos shortly. To fill in the cracks on the inside of the bowl and to protect it from burn out or further cracking I mixed up some JB Weld. It dries hard, is heat resistant and when dry is inert and does not gas off or breakdown (according to all I have been able to read). I used a dental spatula to apply it to the inside of the bowl. Once it cures for a day I will sand it out and remove the majority of it other than what will remain in the damaged areas. I wiped off the rim top with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove the small drops of JB Weld that were on the surface and restained the rim top and the repaired areas on the side and front of the bowl. I will still need to buff the bowl and wax it but it is getting very close to the look I am aiming for with this repair. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the grooves and crevices of the sandblast finish with my fingers and a horsehair shoe brush. I want the product to go deep into the finish because it works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. Once I was confident that it was deeply worked into the blast I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth to polish it. The pipe really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and went to work on the stem. I cleaned the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. Once the stem was clean I checked it with a light for more potential problems inside. It was clear and spotless. I sanded the stem surface with worn 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation (carefully avoiding the stamping on the top of the saddle).I filled in the tooth dent on the top of the button on the top side of the stem and the two tooth dents on the underside with clear super glue.Once the glue hardened and cured I filed the repairs flat and reshaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked over the surface of the stem again with the sandpaper to blend in the repairs.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to polish out the scratches. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I avoided the stamping on the top of the saddle. There is still some oxidation there that I left because I did not want to damage the stamp. It is a nice looking stem nonetheless. I carefully polished bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and lightly buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The transparent mixed brown stain worked really well with the black vulcanite stem. The sandblast finish looked really good. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inches. This is the third of the three of Paresh’s Grandfather’s pipes that he sent me to finish. I will pack the pipes up and send them back to India this week after I give the bowl a bowl coating. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of them once he gets to load them with his favourite tobacco and carry on the pipe man’s legacy of his Grandfather. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me as I worked over this beauty.

A Barling’s Make ‘Ye Olde Wood’ Pre-transition 37

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Blog by Kent Mosher

Kent and I both graduated from Multnomah in Portland, Oregon though a few decades apart. We connected on Facebook in one of the pipe smokers groups. I invited Kent to write up some of his restorations for us on rebornpipes. I also asked for a brief bio to introduce him to the readers. I include the bio below and immediately following that is his first restoration on rebornpipes. Thanks Kent for the blog and a warm welcome to rebornpipes.

I have been smoking a pipe since I was 18 years old. While pipe smoking was in my family history with my Grandfather, he died before I was born and my father smoked his dad’s pipes only a few times when I was a kid. So my journey into the pipe was completely unguided and self-taught (and a secret from my parents at the time). I had no mentor or club or YouTube to teach me how.

Being a young man when I began my journey into pipe smoking, I did not have much of a pipe-buying budget to speak of. I found that I could acquire higher quality pipes for my collection by buying vintage and used pipes (I only later learned these are known as estate pipes) instead of new pipes. My first real pipe was an Ebay purchase of a Savinelli 614 Silver, which I chose based on the little knowledge I had of quality pipe makers at the time (and the oom-paul shape made it easy to hide from my parents).

After that, I just always opted for estate pipes when shopping for an addition to my collection. In fact, I didn’t purchase a new, unsmoked pipe for 13 years. But it took me a decade before I learned how to properly clean up a used pipe. Once I started cleaning up my own collection using acceptable methods (mostly learned from rebornpipes) I realized how much I enjoyed breathing new life into derelict pipes that should otherwise last several lifetimes. So I keep learning ad experimenting, some ideas succeed and some fail. I’ve ruined a few pipes beyond repair. I saved a few from the grave. I am grateful to Steve and all the contributors to Reborn Pipes blog for teaching me the way into something I now deeply enjoy.

A good briar pipe, under the care of the sort of character that pipe smokers tend to be, should outlast its owner for several generations. When you invest in a pipe, you are folding in a piece of family lineage that will connect you to generations ahead of you.

To date, my most valuable pipe is not my most expensive one. It is the one given to me by my dad, who, as a young man bought it as a gift for his dad; a man who died before I was born. I never met my grandfather, but every time I smoke his pipe, I engage with him as a third generation owner of a piece of his daily life.

This is the sort of experience I hope to offer to those who receive pipes I have worked on. To give something upon which, after many years of enjoyment, you and those after you will not be able to put a price.

Here is his restoration of a Barling’s Make.

I buy lots of estate pipes on eBay. And lots at yard sales and antique shops. Though they are much harder to find in your own local antique stores, there is something much more satisfying about finding a great pipe buried among the shelves and bins of cluttered antique dealer booths. eBay pretty much offers anything you might want to add to your collection, if you have the money to spend and want it enough. Local estate pipes have to be found and you never know what you may or may not come across.

If estate pipe shopping on eBay is like following GPS directions to predetermined coordinates. Then local estate pipe shopping is like being on safari and making an unexpected discovery of buried treasure that others have been passing by.

For this reason, there are certain kinds of pipes I hope to add to my collection that I refuse to buy online because I want them to be one of those rare finds that I actually found.

I recently marked one of these off my list; A Barling’s Make ‘Ye Olde Wood’ pre-transition model 37. While at an antique mall, I picked up a common pipe stand for $29 (I see one just like this at almost every antique mall I visit, but I won’t buy them for more than $10) and looked inside the humidor and found a real diamond of a pipe find. Rustling around in the dusty corners of old shops doesn’t always pay off. But when it does, it sure feels amazing. I was able to date this pipe, based on the stamp style and model number to the “Pre-transition” or “Family Era” between the years of 1941 and 1962. You can find the lengthy and near-scholarly article on the production history B. Barling and Sons pipes here: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barling.

This is the resource I used to date this pipe.

Two of the basic markers are these:
1. The size category of “EL” began in 1941.
2. The word “Barling’s” arched over the word “Make” as well as the 2-digit model numbers was used until 1962, after which they changed to 4-digit models numbers, marking the beginning of the “Transition Era” for the company. Since the rim of the bowl had a fair amount of buildup, I decided to clean that area up first and see what condition the rim was in under the gunk. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser wetted with saliva to rub away the buildup. It only took a few minutes of scrubbing to clear the rim of the junk and reveal a very beautiful top of the bowl.I was really torn about the next stage of restoration. On higher value pipes, I always try to leave a pipe as original as possible, only make changes to its form or appearance if they are not necessary to remediate damage or excessive wear. Two things happened that influenced my decision in this matter.

Unfortunately for this pipe, the sides of the bowl were very badly scratched and dented beyond what I might otherwise call a reasonable level of “character.” These needed to be fixed to make the pipe look as good as its reputation.
When the stem came out of the OxyClean bath, I discovered that the detergent had removed the color from the famous cross pattern “Barling’s” stamp. I switched to using OxyClean primarily because of its non-threatening effects of stamp coloring and inlays. But this was the first time I have seen OxyClean have this effect. I knew that classic white stamp had to be saved somehow. The stem was also still a bit oxidized in some areas after the bath. So, I made the decision to sand the damage out in order to fully restore the finish, including the stem stamp coloring. Before starting with any abrasives, I slowly ran all the dented areas, including the tooth chatter in the bit, over my heat gun to help lift out any impacted material in an effort to reduce the depth of everything that needed sanding. It helped a little, but still left much work to do. I started with the stem stamp. I stole some white nail polish from my wife’s bathroom drawer and used it to generously fill in the stamp, leaving extra over the top to sand down.I set the stem aside to let the nail polish to harden and got to work on the stummel. I sanded the stummel in two parts. Since the bowl had all the damage, I began wet-sanding the bowl only (leaving the shank alone) with 220 grit sandpaper. I followed that with a 320 grit wet-sand, and didn’t do any sanding of the shank until I got to 400 grit. At this 400 grit point, I attached the stem to begin sanding it as well along with the shank.Even in sanding the shank, I did not sand the nomenclature at all at this point. I carefully avoided all stamps with the courser grits, only giving a light passover of the stamp markings with 600 and 800 grit, just enough to break the gloss finish so it would take new stain. Once I reached 600 grit wet sanding, I now sanded the entire pipe and stem uniformly. I followed that with 800 grit over the entire pipe and stem, still treading very softly over the stamp markings.With all the sanding complete out to 800 grit, the stem came out almost exactly like most Barling’s of this age look present-day. They always have slightly worn centers of the stem stamp with solid color in the ends. It doesn’t look like a new stem. It looks like an old stem in really good condition. I was pretty happy with the result.
The whole pipe overall was looking really good, now scratch and dent free, sanded to 800 grit across the board (the dark areas on the stummel are just water that was on my thumb).From here, I took the whole pipe and stem together to my first polishing wheel loaded up with Brown Tripoli compound. Brown Tripoli has proven, for me, adequate to remove 800 grit scratches, and most 600 grit, when polished perpendicular to the direction of sanding. After insuring all the scratches were polished out, I was ready to stain the stummel. I went with PIMO Pipecraft’s Brown Mahogany dye, because, among the colors I had on hand, it looked closest to the original color. I flamed off two applications of the dye and left the pipe for several hours to dry. I came back after some time and polished out the new dye with brown Tripoli compound.

Then I wiped the whole pipe of any residual deposits of Tripoli compound and put it to my second polishing wheel loaded with white diamond compound to help give it a lasting gloss finish.

I hand applied two coats of Halcyon II pipe wax, let it dry a few minutes, and then buffed it out with a dry flannel wheel I have set up to turn at 55 rpm on a small drill press I modified to be solely used for slow speed buffing. The end result, I am really happy with. I hope that I have preserved this rare and great pipe in name and age. I won’t be selling this one, per the sentiments stated in my opening paragraph. I look forward to enjoying this pipe for years in my collection as one of those rare gems I discovered in the real world, away from eBay.