Tag Archives: beveling a rim edge

Cleaning up a Vertically Challenged Dunmoor Imported Briar Squashed Tomato

by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. My brother Jeff and I went through quite a few of our pipes and I pulled out some unique ones that I was interested in working on. I packed them and took them home with me. The next pipe is one we purchased on 05/09/2024 from an antique store in Vernonia, Oregon, USA. The pipe has a rusticated finish with a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and around the rim top. The stamping was on the left side of the shank in a panel. It read Dunmoor [over] Imported Briar. There was no shape number or other hints to the manufacture on the pipe. The bowl had a light cake in it and the rim top had some lava built up. The stem had an inserted silver O on the topside of the taper. The insert in the centre was missing. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself had a light cake on the walls and bowl bottom. The rim top showed some light lava and the inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see the open hole in the centre of the stem logo.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe.There was little information on the Dunmoor brand online. I checked all the standard sites and books of brands I have available to me. There were other Dunmoor pipes for sale all listed as US made pipes but no links to a maker. I did a final check on Pipephil’s site using the logo on the top of the stem to direct my search. There I found a US Made pipe with the same silver O on the stem surface. It appeared that the center was black. Here is the link to what is known as a Medico Cavalier (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/motifs/mo-ring.html#medico). The logo seems identical. It is similar enough for me to link the two pipes. I checked my stem and found that the center of the O was missing and I could blow air through it. That would need to be fixed. I have included a screen capture of the information on the site below.Now it was time to work on the pipe. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the cake in the shallow bowl and to scrape off the lava on the rim top. I used a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the walls of the bowl. I checked for damage on the bowl walls and it was in good condition.I scrubbed out the inside of the shank, mortise and the airway in both the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It cleaned up very well.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the damage around the bowl edge and the lava build up on the rim top. I polished it with 1500-3000 sanding pads. It is looking much better at this point in the process.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way rustication has depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to start with the missing centre dot on the logo. The issue was that without the centre dot it was wide open and air was drawn through easily diverting the airflow from the button. I cleaned out the hole in the logo with a pipe cleaner. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it in the stem from the tenon end so that it was directly below the hole. I filled in the hole with black CA glue and used some accelerator on it to cure it quickly. I removed the pipe cleaner and sanded the repair smooth with the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The finish pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This Dunmoor Imported Briar Squashed Tomato was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers Section very soon. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Cleaning up a Pipe Hunt Find from Idaho

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

A few weeks ago, I visited my Dad and family in Idaho Falls, Idaho. While there my Brother Jeff and I did a bit of pipe hunting. We did not find much but we did find an interesting Banker shaped pipe in an Antique Mall. The price was right ($35USD) so we picked it up and brought it home to Jeff’s house. The surface of the briar has been roughened, perhaps by steel wool or a wire brush. The finish was rough to the touch but it looked like there might be some nice grain underneath. With the use of a lens I could read the stamping on the topside. It read House of Lords [over] Made in England. There was the remnant of the shape number on the right side of the shank next to the bowl. It could be a 52S shape. The bowl had a cake in it and the rim top had a thick coat of lava built up. The stem had a crown stamp on the topside of the saddle. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a few photos of the pipe in the car on the way home and have included them below. I reamed the pipe while I was staying with Jeff. I forgot to take photos of the pipe before I reamed it. I brought it home to finish my work on it. I took photos of the pipe when I took it out of the box this afternoon. Jeff had scraped the lava off the rim top and we cleaned up the outside of the bowl. You can see the damage to the finish in the photos below. Whoever had done the work on it had made a mess of it. This was going to be a fun one to bring back to life. I took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of both of them. The bowl itself looked quite clean after our reaming. The rim top showed some darkening on the top and down the outside edges where it had run over the rim top. The inner edge was rough from being reamed with a knife and would need to be cleaned up. The photos of the stem show the light oxidation and tooth marks/chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to show the proportions of the pipe. I turned to Pipephil’s site (www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-h3.html#houseoflords). I did a screen capture of the section on the site. It shows the stamping on the left side of the shank that matches the stamping on the topside of the pipe I am working on. The crown stamp shown on the stem I have is a lot like stamping on the stem I have. I am including the information from the side bar that says that House of Lords is a brand from Samuel Gordon and possibly a Sasieni second (J.M. Lopes, op. cit.). I further followed the link to “Gordon” and learned that Samuel Gordon had founded the brand “GORDON” in 1910-20 eras. This is the link for Gordon brand of pipes; www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g4.html#gordon

From there I turned to the Sasieni listing on Pipedia and scrolled down to the list of seconds that was given there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni#Sasieni_Seconds). From that information I learned that the pipe was definitely linked to Sasieni. The fourth listing in the screen capture Now I knew I was dealing with a Sasieni made pipe which helps explain the stamping on the pipe including the Made in England on the topside of the shank. I did a quick search of rebornpipes and found an article on a pipe I had restored that was the same shape as this one. I have included the link (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/10/25/cleaning-up-a-london-made-charleston-banker/). Have a look at the blog and you will see the shape I am referring to. I am also including some photos of the pipe that show the parallels to the one that I am working on now. I turned to work on the pipe next. Since it had been reamed and cleaned a bit I could forgo that part of the process. I used a 320 grit sanding pad to remove the darkening from the rim top. There was some burn damage on the back inside edge and the front inside and outside edge. I Then used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the top an inward bevel that took care of the damage to the inner edge and cleaned up the rim top. The pipe was beginning to look much better. I still needed to sand the rough finish but I liked the rim top at this point. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the roughened finish. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to get a sense of the progress on the finish. It was looking better with each pad I used. I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and get a sense of the grain around the bowl sides. I am very happy with how it is looking at this point. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and a drop of olive oil after each sanding pad. The briar really took on a patina that began to look better with the polishing. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I work it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covers every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the way sandblast has depth. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to break up the remaining oxidation. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth. It began to look good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. More than usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I really am looking forward to the final look when I put a pipe back together, polished and waxed. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and shank. This House of Lords Banker was another fun pipe to work on. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. 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 the pipe is 2.08 ounces/59 grams. The pipe will be on the rebornpipes store shortly in the British pipe makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I working on it. As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Moving another one of my own – an LHS Parklane De Luxe Billiard 19

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

This is another pipe that I have taken out of my personal collection as I just do not use enough to warrant keeping it. This pipe was one that I purchased long ago but have no memory where it came from. I don’t think I ever smoked it to be honest. It is a pipe I should have smoked as it is attractive enough but did not. It is time to move it on to someone who will enjoy it. The airway in the shank and the mortise are very clean. The smooth finish and rim top were in good condition but it is dull and lifeless looking. The inner edge of the rim has a bit of damage on the backside. The stamping on the pipe on the left side of the shank reads Parklane [over] LHS in a diamond [over] De Luxe. On the right side it is stamped US PAT. 1,908,630. The shape number 19 or 61 is on the underside of the shank. The finish is a medium brown. Once it is polished the grain will show clearly. The colour of the stain goes well with the Cumberland or Bowling Ball stem. There is a white bar inset logo on the top of the stem. There is a threaded metal tenon and stinger apparatus on the stem. The stem is in excellent condition with no tooth chatter or marks on it. It is dirty from sitting in my cupboard but otherwise looks goo. I took photos of the pipe before I did my clean up work on it to prepare it for you. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to verify the description above. The rim top is a bit of a mess with darkening and burn marks around the edges and heavier at the back of the bowl. The Cumberland style stem looks quite good on both sides. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The white bar on the top of the stem also is clean and looks good.I took the stem off the bowl and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of proportion of the pipe. You can also see shape of the pipe and some interesting grain on the briar. I decided to start my work on the bowl by dealing with the burn damage on the back inner edge of the bowl. I used a piece of folded 220 grit sandpaper to give the edge a slight bevel all the way around the bowl to blend in the damage. The top also had some damage so I gently topped it on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged portion of the rim top and give the backside some more thickness. Once finished, it looked quite good. The shank and mortise were very clean and a quick run through with a pipe cleaner proved all that was necessary. I polished the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. There was a small sandpit on the front of the bowl about mid-bowl. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust and debris. I gave the bowl and shank a coating of Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips 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 polished it with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finished polishing the stem with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. This LHS Parklane De Luxe Billiard 19 turned out to be a great looking pipe. With polishing, the grain shines through clearly. The Cumberland style taper stem is in excellent condition and works great with the polished briar. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished LHS Parklane De Luxe fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. 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 the pipe is 32 grams/1.13 ounces. It is a great looking pipe that I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American (US) Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.