Tag Archives: bite marks

I Got the Kaywoodie-Delta Blues

Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, International Society of Codgers
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipesnm.biz (Coming Soon)
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

The Delta blues is a low-down, dirty shame blues. It’s a sad, big wide sound, something to make you think of people who are dead or the women who left you.
― David “Honeyboy” Edwards (1915-2011), U.S. Delta blues guitarist and singer

INTRODUCTION
I’ve been sitting on these two nice metal pipes, different brands but modeled after the original of their kind, designed by Frederick Kirsten, a U.S. professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington who was transferred to the aeronautics department and promptly changed the course of aviation history with the creation of the Kirsten Wind Tunnel for subsonic aerodynamic testing. He also upended the tobacco pipe industry and generally rocked the world of pipe enjoyers with his 1936 invention of a sleek aluminum radiator frame with interchangeable bowls. The patented revolution in a box was more or less a way to quit cigarettes by exercising his boundless creativity. He puffed cigars as well.

Maybe I’m just not as daring as the good professor. Whenever I find myself on the edge of pipe restoration territory I haven’t charted, I hesitate. I don’t panic or freeze in terror. I just pause to survey the terrain and get my bearings; to triangulate my coordinates, find my footing, and then one day, as if on an impulse but really because I’m good and ready, I take the next leap, with some faith.

And so it was last night that I looked at the Kaywoodie Smooth Billiard and Duncan Delta Rusticated Brandy with a dental lip – again – and without thinking grabbed them. The next thing I knew, I was looking around for the implements of cleaning and restoring I might need for the combined tasks and remembered another aluminum pipe I fixed up once, an Aristocob, and how I used a solution of white vinegar and baking soda to soak the metal. Although I had bought enough of each for a lifetime when I did the Aristocob, I discovered they were lost in my latest necessarily hasty move. The nearest Walmart would close in about a half-hour, at midnight. All of Sam Walton’s children here used to stay up round the clock, but now there are less than a handful that do, and only one within any kind of reasonable distance. They had too many problems with thievery and other shenanigans, you see, mostly through the dock doors, if you follow me. I armed myself against the natives, threw on a coat, petted my cats as they were curious about the sudden hullabaloo and hurried out the door. I was back before the witching hour.

As part of the map checking I did in comforting if only perceived preparation for these restorations, I noted that the Duncan Delta, of the English metal genre, as it were, came with a non-removable bit, as did the two Falcons in my personal collection. At this point I made that greatest of mistakes: I assumed there were no exceptions to the rule.

To be fair to myself, I showed the Kaywoodie and Duncan Delta to my friend and mentor, Chuck Richards, who is usually infallible, and asked how the bits come off for cleaning. In hindsight and an extended spirit of fairness, I’m not sure he looked all that closely at them.

“They don’t,” he said, with a certain amused grin he has. “You just have to work through them.” Or something to that effect. Taking a seat on the couch with the supplies I would need to proceed, I had no idea what I was in for. I can’t wait to show Chuck the mind-boggling discovery I tripped over, figuratively speaking – about halfway through the restorations. To those in the audience who know the astonishing secret of a certain rare Kaywoodie metal pipe made from 1955-1959, with this particular surprise only included during the first year or so of that period, Shhhh! Don’t spoil the revelation for others when it comes, in good time.

RESTORATIONS

I had prepared an empty macaroni salad tub, by cleaning it with scalding water and dish soap, for the vinegar-baking soda soak of the aluminum pipe bodies. It was the widest container I had but also deeper than it needed to be. Into the tub I measured about a tablespoon of baking soda, then added the vinegar and watched it fizz madly until the powder dissolved. I placed the two parts in the mix and added more vinegar until they were almost covered. Considering the possible effects on the bits, I spontaneously chose the bolder path and pushed down a little on each one until they were submerged. The bubble action was really something to see – much more active of an interaction than an OxiClean bath – but I had other things to do. The bowls needed cleaning in the worst way, the bases in particular. The moisture from tobacco creates steam, and Kirsten’s system, which is used in metal pipes still today, traps and cools the steam in the stem. Much of the resulting very sticky, cloying gunk ends up on the bottoms of the bowls and can be cleaned in seconds by anyone who enjoys these pipes. But as Steve put it perfectly in one of his blogs on a particularly messy Generation 1 Kirsten A, I’ll just quote him: “The cleaning in seconds must not have been something that the previous owner of this pipe ever read or understood.” https://rebornpipes.com/tag/kirsten-pipes/

Taking also from this great blog the idea that metal pipes are, for the most part, sturdy things that can outlive generations of a single family of pipe enjoyers, I launched a three-pronged assault on the bottoms of the bowls alone. First I swabbed them and the rest of the bowls’ exteriors with cotton gun cleaning squares soaked with purified water; then the same with Everclear swabs, and next superfine steel wool on the bases and rims. The Delta base, being metal and somewhat pocked with corrosion, needed a little more work with sandpaper before another round of steel wool.

An odd trick of sight makes the rusticated Duncan bowl, which indeed has a wider outer diameter than the smooth Kaywoodie (about 5” compared to 4-3/8), appear as if it would need a bigger reamer to clean out most of the excess cake. But the Duncan only took a 19mm fixed reamer while the Kaywoodie held a 21mm. I smoothed the chambers with 320-grit paper followed by 200, followed by long and careful consideration of the next step. While I started restoring pipes with the habit of stripping the old finish completely, I have taken to avoiding that step for the most part on different levels of thinking, primarily two. One, I never know for sure what I’ll find beneath the finish that might have been better left uncovered, and two, I have become more purist in my approach, liking the idea of imitating the original.

Nevertheless, I concluded I just didn’t care for the light brown shade of the Kaywoodie or the dark brown of the Duncan. As the former was of U.S. origin and the latter of British make, I reasoned, that would make them cousins, as some folks on either side of the Pond refer to each other. But I wanted them to be more like brothers. Therefore, “Off with their stains!” I heard a voice cry in my head, and dunked both bottoms up into an Everclear bath, careful to leave the bases above the alcohol level. While the 190-proof alcohol changed from clear to something else, I removed the frames from their long vinegar-baking soda soak, rinsed them thoroughly and began to “work through” the Duncan frame with pipe cleaners dipped in more Everclear, still shocked, as always, at the filth that came out. Seriously, how hard is it to run a cleaner through your pipe now and then? Are restorers the only people who do it? Deep breath; exhale. I suppose that’s a rant better left for my upcoming Encyclopedia of Pipe Trips. Still, seven bristly cleaners through the frame later, and three swabs soaked with alcohol to clean out most of the mess in the round bowl connector, not to mention having to use my wire cleaner to dig out the muck in the grooves of said connector, I thought I was finished with that part. But now, looking at the photo above, I see it needs a little more work. I’m going to soak the connector in Everclear and scrub it some more. Give me a few minutes to make it shine better, and I’ll be right back with another picture. There. That was easy, and I for one feel better. Plus the picture tells the whole story!

Anyway, enough time had passed to take the bowls out of the Everclear and scrub them cleaner and dry inside-out with more cotton swabs. I used the steel wool again on both, lightly on the Kaywoodie to make it shine before heightening the effect with a micromesh progression, and vigorously to take the finish of the rusticated Duncan down still more until it was actually reddish, for which I had hoped. Re-staining both with Lincoln Marine Cordovan (Burgundy) boot stain, I flamed them with my Bic and set them aside. Now, at last, I near the dramatic moment I know you have all been waiting for! Is that the faint fade-in of a drum roll I hear, or an auditory hallucination? Due to my slight deviation from following the restorations of each pipe part by part – starting when I cleaned the Duncan frame and instead of moving on to the Kaywoodie, continued to the bowls – I did not learn the wonderful nature of the Kaywoodie until I attempted to work through it with bristly cleaners as I had the Duncan…

…and the whole thing came apart in my lap! There were the bit that wasn’t supposed to come off and some bizarre, vile, noxious looking thingamabob that looked like a wire brush. I picked it up with distaste and tossed the whole dark, stained mess in the leftover Everclear from stripping the bowls. I knew that would clean it up somewhat, and it did. With the brush out of the Kaywoodie frame, by the way, the metal was quite easy to clean. That should have been a clue, but my first thought was that someone had stuck the brush inside the frame as a makeshift filter. (It is truly scary how close and yet so far from the truth I can be sometimes in my denser moments.) At least I had the sense to recognize that the resulting hole in the frame was gaping wide, and turned to pipephil.eu for help, which I found as I almost always do. It was the second metal “filter” pipe in the Kaywoodie models A-K section, the Filter Plus, made from 1955-1959. A convenient link to Smoking Metal led me to the rest of the story. http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=133

As it turns out, the brush is not a fluke, of course, but an original Kaywoodie nylon brush filter that was only included with the pipe during the first year or so of its four-year run. The filter brush has 5,000 fibers. Now, I want y’all to think on that fer a spell. Finding a pipe with one at all, much less intact, is a miracle. It’s no wonder Bill Feuerbach, president of S.M. Frank & Co. Inc., owner of Kaywoodie, is quoted at the link above as saying of the Filter Plus, “It is one of the most indestructible and durable pipes I have ever run across.”

Check out the advertisement below from the first year the Filter Plus was made. Considering how easy it was to clean the frame of the pipe itself, despite (or because of) the dirty condition of the filter brush, it’s a shame they stopped making them. As the ad shows, the pipe cost $4, or $35.42 in today’s money. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/. Replacement or additional bowls were $1.50 ($13.28), and two-packs of the filter brushes were 35 cents ($3.10). Getting close to the finish line always makes my blood start to race! I buffed the two bowls with 4000 and 6000 micromesh. Then there was the Kaywoodie bit, which was looking a little rough. I sanded it with 200- and 320-grit paper before working my way up the micromesh trail, and moved on to putting a little Halcyon II wax on the Duncan. During a few of the 15 minutes or so it set in, I took the Kaywoodie Filter Plus billiard bowl and the bit (which indeed is removable) into my office. I buffed the bit with red and white Tripoli, then White Diamond, using the clean wheel between each; then the bowl with white Tripoli, White Diamond and a good coat of carnauba, again using the clean wheel in between.

Really only ten minutes more passed, at most, as I sat back on my couch, screwing the Kaywoodie bowl in and out of the frame threads and wiping it down, over and over, because it seemed like the minute hand on the clock was stuck there to spite me! Maybe that’s because I kept eyeballing it. But the time did pass, and I carried the Duncan bowl into the office for a quick spin on the clean wheel only. That was my reward for being so patient and all.

CONCLUSION
Well. Now that it’s all said and done, all I really have to add is that this pair of restorations was just plain fun. And full of surprises. And I learned a few new things I never imagined, too, and can’t wait to show Chuck!

ADDITIONAL SOURCE
https://www.reddit.com/r/PipeTobacco/comments/3a5hf9/info_on_falcon_pipe_markings/ Info on FD18 stamp

Cleaning up a WDC Milano Hesson 1925 Long stem Billiard

A Dr. Grabow Color Duke Billiard Renewed

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Most of the Dr. Grabow Color Duke pipes that have come across my worktable have been in rough shape. The paint has been chipped and the finish ruined. This is the second one lately that I have worked on. The first was the Cherry Apple Red Dr. Grabow Viscount that my brother found for me. This second one is a White Billiard with a saddle stem. It is one that was made for a paper filter rather than a stinger/spoon apparatus. The pipe is stamped Color Duke over Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Adjustomatic over Pat. 2461905. The Patent Number is for the Adjustomatic tenon.

The pipe came to me from a friend quite awhile ago and I just got around to working on it. It was in pretty decent shape other than being dirty. The finish has some dents in the bottom of the bowl on the right side. There was some staining on the right side of the shank at the stem/shank junction. The rim was dirty and had some darkening and a few spots where the finish was worn off. The bowl had a cake that would need to be removed. The screw in tenon was dirty but the stem aligned with the shank perfectly. The stem itself was dirty inside and out. There was tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem near the button. On the underside was a deep tooth mark in the center about ½ inches from the button. The next photos show the pipe when I brought it to the work table.

I took some close-up pictures of the rim and the dents on the bottom of the bowl to give a clear picture of the issues with this pipe.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to the bare briar. I used a pen knife to clean up remaining cake that the reamer left behind.

I scrubbed the finish with cotton pads and Murphy’s Oil Soap as I did not want to use anything that potentially would damage the painted finish on the bowl. My intent was to get the grime off the finish and to remove as much of the rim darkening as possible without compromising the paint on the rim or edges.

I rinsed the bowl with warm water and dried it off with a towel. Here are some photos of the cleaned bowl.

I cleaned the inside of the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. With the bowl cleaned inside and out it was time to address the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem to clean off the dirt and tooth chatter. I wiped it down with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove the dust and to examine the dent on the underside. After the deep dent was cleaned I filled it with a few drops of clear super glue. Once the glue dried I sanded the repair to make it flush with the stem surface using 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the entire stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges. The repair spot is beginning to blend in very well.

I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by dry sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

In the past buffing the painted bowls and the Grabow stems has caused me a lot of grief. I have found that these stems can take very little heat that the buffing pads generate so I hand buff them with Paragon Wax and a shoe buffer. I buff the bowls the same way using the shoe buffing brush and a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. If you are interested in this pipe email or message me and make an offer. It could easily join your rack. Thanks for looking.

A Passion for Rhodies and Dogs – Stem Repair on a Dunhill 52081 Rhodesian

7 Replies

Blog by Dutch Holland

With this blog it is my pleasure to introduce you to the work of Dutch Holland. His work comes highly recommended to us by Dave Gossett who has been a contributor to rebornpipes for a while now. Welcome to the blog Dutch. It is great to have you here.

A number of years back I had the good fortune to acquire a Dunhill 52081 Bent Rhodesian. I readily admit to a passion for Rhodies and Dogs that borders on obsession. Several years later I came across a second pipe of the same year and style but a different finish. The temptation was overwhelming and I succumbed. The problem was this second pipe not only had been poorly used but it had a nasty chip in the top center of the bit at the button. But the price was right and at worst, I could always invest in a replacement bit. These Rhodies were only offered for a few years and they don’t come on the market very often so I made the decision to buy. That pipe sat in the “Awaiting Action” box in my shop for a number of years. I really wasn’t sure just how to deal with the repair but last year I decided to give it a shot and to my pleasant surprise found it was neither difficult nor complicated. As you can see from the picture above it’s all but invisible. It requires very close inspection by a knowledgeable eye to detect.

I’ve broken the process down into steps outlined below. Being able to fix a broken bit can do for you what it’s done for me, allowed me to rescue a pipe I really wanted. So here’s one way to do it.

Repairing damage to a pipe stem is an easy five step process. This kind of repair can be done by the hobbyist and makes an old pipe serviceable again at a very modest cost. The outcome is very dependent on the skill of the repairman so a few tries on an old stem for practice is recommended. The better your skill set, the better the final result but it’s neither difficult nor complicated, just time consuming. Some question the durability of this kind of repair but my experience is that they hold up to normal use quite well. I don’t recommend the use of harsh chemicals for cleaning but with reasonable care the repair will last a very long time and for the hobbyist it’s more than adequate for your average project.

What you will need:

Supplies
CA Glue, Activated Charcoal, a small drink bottle cap, light cardboard, Pipe cleaners, Scotch tape and some tooth picks

Tools
A small file set, Sandpaper (400, 600 & 1000 grit) and a set or Micro-Mesh pads (1500 to 12,000 grit)

The Process

Step 1, Rough Sanding.
Sand the area to be repaired with the 400 grit sandpaper, beveling the area of the break to provide the maximum bonding area for the repair mixture. I like the courser grade as it scores the area around the break and reduces the stark contrast between the repair area and the rest of the bits surface making the repair difficult to detect. Clean the area to be repaired well and make sure it is free of any contaminants which might inhibit the bond of the glue/charcoal mixture. I usually use a high proof alcohol (Wild Turkey 101)

Step 2, Support the repair.
Insert support into the airway to prevent the mixture from invading it. A piece of light cardboard will do the trick. First rap the cardboard in Scotch tape (mixture won’t stick to the tape) and slide it into the slot. Then slide a pipe cleaner into the slot under the cardboard to force a snug fit up against the repair area.

Step 3, Making and applying the repair mixture.
Place a portion of the activated charcoal in the drink cap. I use a spoon on a Czech pipe tool as about the right amount. To that I add the CA glue until I have about a 50% Glue mixture and then gently stir until the charcoal is completely mixed with the glue. I like to let the mixture set for 15 seconds to allow any air bubbles caused by the mixing to escape. Using the tooth pick apply the mixture to the repair area until the build-up is higher than the bit surface. There is some shrinkage when the mixture dries so extra depth is essential to getting a smooth, flat surface when finished. Work quickly as the CA glue thickens rapidly. If necessary repeat this step to get the surface level to where you want it. In the example shown below I added mixture twice. First to fill the gap and a second time to rebuild the button area.

Step 4, Rough sanding & Shaping
Once the repair mixture has cured, (I usually leave it for several hours, probably overkill but I find it shapes better if it’s well cured) start with the files and reduce the excess mixture and get a rough shape. Do not try to get a close finish to the shape you want as the files are quite course and will leave significant scratches on the surface. Allow for this by leaving some surplus material in place. Now with the sandpaper progressively contour the surface starting with the 400 and moving to 600 and then 1000 grits. Slow, careful sanding works best using the sandpaper to contour the fine details. Sometimes air bubbles get caught in the repair mixture and will leave a tiny void in the surface. Should this happen add a thin touch of the CA glue to the void and re-sand. The imperfection will become un-noticeable. Keep in mind that any irregularities in the surface will become traps for contaminants so don’t be too forgiving of them.

Step 5, Finishing the bit
Now you’re ready to restore luster to the bit. Here Micro-Mesh is a great solution for the task. Progressively sand the bit starting with the 1500 grit and progressing up to the 12,000 grit. The human eye cannot detect scratches left by the 12,000 grit pad so the surface looks shiny. I don’t recommend buffing as an alternative. You can quickly undo all the painstaking work you have just completed. As a final step in the process a light buff with white diamond followed some carnauba wax will give you a great shine and inhibit future oxidation.
So there you have it. Give it a try. You can’t make a broken bit much worse than it already is so there’s little at risk. Who knows, you might like the results and there’s something very satisfying about being able to rescue a pipe others would consider a lost cause. This technique was shared with me by Dave G and it works well so I pass it on with my recommendation.

Note
In subsequent tries I’ve found this solution works invisibly Vulcanite but is more detectable on acrylics.

Found an Old Patents Pending Generation 1 Kirsten A

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Another pipe from the treasure trove my brother Jeff sent me was an early Kirsten. The metal barrel is stamped Kirsten in script on the left side of the barrel and on the underside it is stamped Pats. & Pats. Pend. – A. When I received it the bowl would unscrew from the barrel and it had no metal cap on the bottom. It was a wooden bowl without the cap which along with the stamping pointed to an early Kirsten. The stem and rod were stuck in the barrel and the adjustable valve on the front of the barrel was frozen solid. The valve had evidently been frozen for some time as someone had used pliers on it to try to remove it. They had left behind the tooth marks of the pliers on the aluminum valve cover. Because of the vulcanite lip on the stem that sat against the barrel that there would not be a rubber grommet between the stem and the barrel. The bowl had a thick, rock hard cake and the bottom of the bowl was not visible to see what the condition of the screw head was like. I have no idea how the pipe man ever drew air through this pipe as the bottom of the bowl was solid. The finish on the bowl was dull and lifeless with no grain visible through the grime. The top of the rim was covered with over flow from the cake in the bowl. It was a large bowl initially so once the cake was gone it would be an inch in diameter. I looked up information to see if I could find a cut away drawing of the Kirsten and found this one and a bit of history and information on the concept of the Kirsten pipe. The following is from the Kirsten website https://www.kirstenpipe.com/page_pipestyles.shtml and https://www.kirstenpipe.com/page ourstory.shtml “It is by no means merely puffery to say that Professor Frederick K. Kirsten was a genuine American original. He first sailed to this country in 1902, as a cabin boy from Hamburg, Germany. After successfully rounding the Horn and eluding the shanghai gangs of the West Coast, he navigated the educational system at the University of Washington to become a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering. Here, his inventive spirit took wing. He created the world-famous Kirsten Wind Tunnel, Air-washing equipment for factories, an air-cooled Utopian Bed, and, most notably, a revolutionary propeller which enables boats to stop and turn on a dime. Today, in the same waters where he jumped ship almost 100 years ago, ocean-going vessels are landed by sturdy tugs driven by Kirsten cycloidal propellers, piloted by equally sturdy captains smoking cool Kirsten pipes.”

“Rightly called the coolest pipe in the world, this latter innovation came about when a doctor advised Professor Kirsten to switch from cigarettes. He quickly dreamed up a way to trap the moisture, tars and tongue-biting acids which attack the users of briar pipes. After 50 years and counting, Kirsten pipes are still produced by the Kirsten family, faithfully following the basic designs of this father of invention.”

“Professor Kirsten revolutionized pipesmoking by creating the Radiator stem. When tobacco, which is 30% to 60% moisture, is lit in the bowl, it creates steam. As the smoke is drawn through the stem, the steam is cooled and condenses into a liquid. This bitter-tasting liquid is trapped in the stem, along with tars, nicotine and tongue-biting acids.”

“Only clean, cool, moisture-free smoke passes through the intake tube to the mouthpiece. To remove the trapped liquid, you simply remove the valve. You can clean a KIRSTEN in seconds by pushing a tissue through the bore of the stem, exactly as you would clean a gun barrel.”

The cleaning in seconds must not have been something that the previous owner of this pipe ever read or understood. I decided to work on the bowl first as it was the only part of the pipe that I could remove at that point in the process. I took the photo below to give an idea of the thickness of the cake and the minimal size of the air hole at the bottom of the bowl. You can see that it is virtually clogged and the airflow would be very restricted. The lack of a cap on the bottom of the bowl can be seen in the next three photos. The first two photos show the state of the finish. In the second one you can see the grain peeking through the grime on the finish. In the third photo you can see the stamping on the bottom of the bowl. It reads Kirsten Pats Appl For.

I put the barrel and stem in an alcohol bath to soak overnight to try to loosen the frozen stem and rod. I reamed the bowl with the largest cutting head on the PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I used a pen knife to work on the bottom of the bowl and was finally able to see the characteristic Kirsten screw. I sanded the inside of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper and used an ice pick to remove the screw. From the underside of the bowl I inserted the ice pick into the drilled centre of the screw and tapped it gently and the screw came free from the bowl.

I lightly topped the rim on a topping board to remove the damage and the build up on that surface.

I scrubbed down the exterior of the bowl and rim with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the remaining finish. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the grain that was revealed in the process.

I cleaned the inside and the outside of the screw with a tooth brush and alcohol until it shone.

I sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to clean up the scratches and smooth out the finish on the sides and top of the bowl. I wet sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-2400 grit and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads.

I took the barrel out of the bath and put it in a cup of boiling water. I dipped both ends into the boiling water hoping to break one of the frozen ends loose. I was able to remove the stem and the rod assembly after the alcohol bath and the boiling water dip. The stem and the rod were quite brown with the shellac of old tobacco juices. Of course dipping the stem in the boiling water caused the oxidation on the stem to come to the surface.

I scrubbed the rod assembly with 0000 steel wool and alcohol to remove the shellac coat that had built up and polish it. There was some corrosion that came to light at the middle of the rod. I would need to work on that once I had cleaned up the stem. I sanded the stem and rod with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches.

I worked on the stem and rod with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbing down the stem with Obsidian Oil. The micromesh pads removed the last of the corrosion on the rod and polished it. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave the stem another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I failed to take photos of the final steps in the micromesh process but it is the typical procedure and each successive grit of pads gave more of a polish to the vulcanite. I cleaned out the stem and tenon with alcohol and pipe cleaners inserted from both ends. I was able to clean out all of the oils and tars and the cleaners came out clean. Now the bowl and the stem unit were cleaned, polished and ready to go once I was able to remove the valve from the end of the barrel. This was proving a very difficult task. I had put the barrel in the freezer overnight hoping to loosen the valve – no luck. I had boiled it multiple times – no luck. I had given it several alcohol baths – no luck. I let it sit with penetrating oil in the barrel to try to loosen the valve end. I tried to drive it out with a round end file and a small hammer. Nothing worked. I posted that on rebornpipes and got a response from Old Man in the Cave suggesting that I heat it with a heat gun.

I geared up for the process. He had suggested setting the barrel in a wood vise which is a tool I don’t have yet. I chose instead to hold the barrel with some insulated leather gloves over the heat gun. I heated the barrel with gun until it was hot. Then I used a pair of pliers that had cotton pads on the jaws and gave it a light twist and the valve came free. I don’t know if the heat from the gun finally did what I should have done in the first place or if the combination of methods finally came together and it worked. It does not matter as the valve finally came free. I now know why the later models of Kirsten pipes came with a rubber o-ring around the valve and the stem so that it provided something between the two metal pieces and the barrel. Somehow the combination of tobacco juice and saliva left to sit becomes shellac or lacquer that is almost impossible to break free. Thanks to Old Man in the Cave the valve is free and I could finally clean out the barrel and put the pipe back together. The next photos show the condition of the valve once I was able to remove it from the barrel. You can see the tapered angle of the top portion of the valve (on the right below the cap). The lacquer or shellac that bound the valve in the barrel is also very evident. I am guessing that there would have been much more if it had not been sitting in alcohol and been heated so much. But even that little band held the valve tightly in place.

I scrubbed the valve and the inside of the barrel with 0000 steel wool. I ran the steel wool through the barrel to clean out the build up inside and then used a wooden dowel to push alcohol soak cotton pads through the barrel to clean it until it shone. I cleaned out the inside of the valve with alcohol and cotton swabs. I was able to get everything shining again. It took some work to remove some of the tooth marks that were on the valve end from previous owners who had attempted to turn it but I was able to sand them smooth with micromesh sanding pads. They are still present but not as obvious.

Once all the parts were clean and polished I greased the valve and the end of the stem and rod unit with Vaseline so that it would slide into the barrel with less resistance. I know that it will not stop the buildup of tars but it will at least slow it down. The next photos show the disassembled pipe and then the pipe put back together. The valve turned easily and I aligned the hole in the valve with the hole in the top of the barrel where the bowl screwed in place. The airflow was clear and unrestricted.

I hand buffed the barrel with Meguiar’s Scratch X2.0 to remove the scratches and give it a shine. I rubbed on some Conservators Wax and then hand buffed the barrel with a shoe brush. I buffed the briar bowl with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean flannel buff. Once I had finished I screwed the bowl in place and buffed it a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

I took the pipe apart so that I could take the next two pictures to show the cleaned and polished parts. Everything is once again in working order. It was clear looking at all of the parts that I was dealing with a Generation 1 Kirsten. These were made between the years 1936-1958. The wooden bowl on this generation connects directly to the metal barrel and there is no metal cup spacer. It is a pretty flush fit that goes flat against the barrel. On the underside of the metal barrel it is stamped with one or more of the following “Pat. Appl. For” (1936-38) and “Pats. & Pats. Pending” (1938-1958) over “Made in USA” – S” (or applicable size – S, M, L). There are no O-rings on the bit or metal shank insert.

A Rescue Dog – Restoring a Chadwick “Supreme” Rhodesian

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The third pipe my brother Jeff picked up in the lot from the Montana was one of my favourite shapes. In the photo below of the pipes at the seller’s antique shop it is the pipe on the far right of the picture. Looking at it in the photos I wondered if it was a Peterson 999 or a GBD 9438 two of my all time favourite pipe shapes. I was pretty excited to see what it was once he got the pipes. Everything about that pipe shape made me think that my guess was not far off. When the pipes arrived in Idaho my brother called and read me the stamping. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank Chadwick over “Supreme”. On the right side it was stamped Imported Briar. At that point I was scratching my head. It still looked like an English-made pipe to me but I had not heard of the Chadwick brand. When the pipe arrived in Canada I looked it over and was still convinced it looked English-made. I looked in Who Made that Pipe and it was listed there as made by Wally Frank in the US and England. The next photos show what the pipe looked like when it arrived here. There is a lot of promise underneath all the grime. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the rim was covered with the overflow of tars and oils down the sides to the double ring. The finish was dirty and almost gone. I am not sure if the pipe had a natural finish or was stained but it was no longer clear what the original had been like. The double ring had a large chunk missing on the front of the bowl. There were two fills on the bowl front that were shrunken and looked like dents. The shank was dirty. The stem was chewed and gnawed on to the point that the button was virtually gone on the top side. There was a chunk missing from it on the top middle of the button. There were deep tooth marks on the top and bottom of the stem near the button. The stem was oxidized and scratched and had a build-up of calcification about an inch up the stem toward the shank. Inside the stem and shank was very dirty. The airway to the bowl was clogged and I was not able to blow air through it. It looked to me that there had originally been a stinger in the tenon but it was no longer present.

I took some close up photos of the stamping and the condition of the bowl, rim and stem before I went to work on restoring it. You can clearly see the stamping on the left side of the shank – Chadwick Supreme. The rim is in nasty condition. I am not sure how the last pipe man had ever fit much tobacco in the bowl. All I know is that it must have smoked really well because it looked as if he had never laid it down. The stem condition is also clearly shown with tooth marks and gnawing on the button top and bottom.

Before I started cleaning it up I wanted to learn a bit more about the brand. I have cleaned and used quite a few Wally Frank pipes over the years and knew that other companies in Europe often made their pipes for them. It was highly likely that this was a British made pipe. I checked on Chris Keene’s Pipe Pages and found the Chadwick name in the Wally Frank Catalogue for 1939. None of the other catalogues would open but at least I had the information that I needed. The first photo below is of the whole page. The second is of the right top corner where the Chadwick line is mentioned. The third is of a Chadwick Display Cabinet that was provided to tobacconists and stores that sold the line.

Now I knew that the Chadwick line was indeed made in England. My guess was correct and I would go one step further and guess that they were made by Comoy’s or GBD. The advertisement says that the pipe was “custom-made in London with the deliberate precision of English master pipemakers. The Chadwick is our sincere effort to present a fine quality London made pipe from sweet smoking Algerian Briar Root at a modest price.”

What interested me was that the pipe came in three different finishes – Rough-Rugged, Natural and Dark. I am pretty sure that the one I had was originally dark finished as the dark finish would hide the fills on the bowl and they would be blended into the briar. That gave me the direction that I would go in restaining the pipe once I got to that point in the restoration process.

I love reading these old catalogues and seeing the life time warrantee on the pipes and the fact that the pipe originally cost $2.50 with postage paid from the Wally Frank factory.

Armed with that confirmation of British origin for this old pipe I went to work to restore it to its former glory. I worked on the bowl first. I wanted to ream back the cake to bare wood to see what I was dealing with in the bowl. I set up the PipNet reamer with the smallest head first and found that the cake was incredibly hard. The cutting head barely made a dent in the cake. I took the largest sized cutting head – same diameter as the bowl and work on it and with a lot of force was able to begin to make a dent on the cake. It was just too hard to go too deep with the tool. I used a pen knife to try to cut back the lower portion of the cake but could not even cut into it because it was so hard.

I decided to soak the bowl and soften the cake in an alcohol bath. I dropped the bowl into the bath and left it overnight to soak and soften the cake. In the morning I took it out of the bath and dried it off with a coarse cotton towel. The soak also had the effect of softening the lava on the rim and cap so that when I dried the bowl most of it came off in the process. I was able to ream it back to bare wood with the use of a PipNet reamer and a KLEENREEM reamer. I used the drill bit part of the KLEENREEM tool to open the airway into the bowl and remove the clog. With that gone I could freely blow air through the bowl. The final photo in this set shows the conical bowl on the reamed pipe.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to clean off the remaining finish and the grime left behind after the soak and the reaming process. The damaged rings on the front of the bowl are visible in the photos as is the damage to the rim top.

I lightly topped the bowl on a topping board using 220 grit sandpaper to flatten the rim top and to remove some of the rounding to the outer edge of the bowl. I used a dental pick to remove the fills that had shrunk on the bottom front of the bowl in preparation for replacing them. I packed briar dust into the holes and then dripped super glue onto the packed briar dust. I packed briar dust into the missing section of the double rings on the front of the bowl. I put super glue on top of the briar dust fill to build up the repair. I added more briar dust on top of the fills on the bowl front and on the repair to the rings. I sanded the patches on the bowl front with 220 grit sandpaper and smooth it out to match the surrounding briar. I sanded the patch on the ring repair with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. There were still some low spots on that repair so I refilled the area with some more super glue.

I set the bowl aside to let the repair on the rings cure before I cut the new rings into the bowl front. While it was sitting I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and the calcification. I wanted to clean up the stem before I worked on repairing the tooth marks and gnawed button. I cleaned the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners.

I scrubbed out the tooth marks on the stem and the button with a cotton swab and alcohol in preparation for the repair I would do there. I mixed the patching material using finely crushed charcoal capsules and black super glue. I mixed the two to blend the materials. I use super glue that gives me 45 seconds of time before it hardens so I have to work quickly.

When I had the paste mixed well I applied it to the tooth marks and built up the button with a dental pick and dental spatula. The repair is anything but beautiful at this point but the mixture adds strength to the repair that the glue by itself does not give with tooth marks and damage of this magnitude.

I set the stem aside to cure and went back to the bowl. I used a Buck Knife, a pen knife and a sharp-edged needle file to cut the lines in the patch on the bowl front. I wanted the new lines to connect seamlessly to the lines on either side of the repair. These three blades always have worked for me to get a good straight line match. When I had finished cleaning up the lines on the bowl the stem repair had cured enough to begin to shape the button and clean up the tooth repairs. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to begin to shape and smooth out the repairs.

When I had the basic shape of the button set up the surface was quite porous on the button surface and in one spot on the tooth repair on top of the stem so I gave them a top coat of clear super glue to fill in the pores left behind by the super glue/charcoal mixture. I set that aside to dry.

I cleaned the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was one dirty shank. It took a lot of scrubbing to clean out the grime. I scrubbed until the cleaners came out clean and white. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol to remove any last dust or grime in preparation for staining the briar.

I decided to stain the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain that I had thinned by half to give it a medium brown colour. I wanted to aim for the dark stain that was noted in the Wally Frank Catalogue above. I figured it would give me good coverage on the fills and the repair to the rings. I applied the stain with a cotton swab and then flamed it with a lighter to set the colour in the grain. I wiped down the freshly stained bowl with alcohol on cotton pads to even out the stain and to give it more transparency so that the grain shows through. When I was through I was happy with the colour and with the way it hid the fills on the bowl and the repair to the ring on the front of the bowl.

By that time the stem repair had dried and I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the stem patch and do more shaping on the button.

I filed the slot in the stem to smooth it out and shape it. I also sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further shape the button. I wet sanded the stem and button with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside for the oil to dry.

I sanded the bowl with the micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit to polish the briar – bowl, shank and rim, to bring out the grain. When the grain began to pop I buffed the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a far cry better looking than when I started. This one is a keeper. Thanks for looking.

Restoring An Eagle Cool-Dry Billiard

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe was another gift pipe sent to me by Pam. It is in decent shape. The stem is oxidized and has some tooth marks on the top and bottom side of the stem near the button. The tooth mark is like a vertical slit on the top and bottom side about ½ inch up the stem from the button. There is also a small tooth dent near the button. The metal part of the stem and tenon were integrated into the stem rather than in the shank of the pipe. The finish on the pipe was shiny and showed that the lacquer or varnish that had been used was peeling in spots on the front of the bowl. The stamping was deep and readable. There were quite a few fills on the bottom of the bowl. The largest was on the bottom front edge of the bowl. It had shrunken and was a large pit that ran across the front of the bowl. The bowl was heavily caked and the buildup on the beveled rim was hard and chipped looking. There were some nicks on the outer edges of the rim from when the bowl had been tapped out. The shank was not too dirty and the mortise appeared to be lined with a white tube of some sort. The Eagle Cool-Dry has some unique plumbing in terms of system pipes. It is different from any of the other pipes like this in my collection. The rest of the ones that externally look like this one, the Keyser Hygienic and the Millard Perfect Pipe are actually very different in terms of design. They have a metal insert at the end of the shank that acts as a condenser area with a tube extending from the airway into the condensation chamber. The stem also has a metal tube insert and no tenon but is a military mount stem that inserts into the chamber. The two tubes either meet in the chamber or sit in the chamber. The Eagle is very different in terms of design from the other two mentioned above. The shank is lined with either clay or meerschaum – hard to tell by just looking. My tendency is to assume it is clay. The porous tube is inserted into the shank forming the mortise of the pipe and extending to the end of the shank (see photo below). The metal tenon integrated into the vulcanite stem sits snuggly into the lined mortise. Once I clean it up I may be more certain what the material that makes up the mortise lining. As I worked on cleaning up the pipe I took a little time to see if I could ferret out any information on the brand and the manufacturer of the pipe. I looked for Cool-Dry pipes and found a metal Falcon like pipe that uses the same threaded bowls as Dr. Grabow Vikings. I looked for Eagle Pipes and found a clay pipe manufacturer in Montreal, Quebec in the late 1890s but nothing on a briar pipe maker of that name. I searched for patent information on the internals of the pipe under both the Eagle and the Cool-Dry name and found nothing specific on the system in this pipe. The one thing I did find was that the pipe was made by the Hudson Universal Pipe Co. who also made the brands Excelsior, Harrington Park, and Hilex. This information came out through some notes I found while Googling the brand.

Having that information in hand I looked for the pipe on the Pipephil Stampings and Logos website and interestingly found the following picture and short information. The brief notes under the picture confirm that Hudson Universal Pipe Co. was one of the makers of the pipe. The pipe I received has the same stamping as the one pictured below. The one I have does not have the stem logo but rather is stamped ITALIA on the underside of the stem next to the metal portion of the stem.

When I brought the pipe to my work table I took the following photos to give an idea of the condition it was in when I started. I have spoken of the finish and the general worn condition of the bowl. The rim and cake issues have also been mentioned. The photos show the oxidized stem and aluminum. The bowl has an attractive shape and there is something about the old pipe that drew me to it.

The next two photos are close up shots. The first shows the large shrunken fill on the bottom front part of the bowl. The second shows the thickness of the build up on the rim and the cake in the bowl.

I took the pipe apart to show the nature of the tenon and stem apparatus. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation on the stem and to prepare it for the repairs that needed to be done to the tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I sanded it and removed much of the oxidation and minimized the tooth chatter. I then scrubbed the stem with alcohol to remove the dust and debris in the tooth marks. I filled them with a bubble of clear super glue – both the two spots next to the button (1 on top and 1 on the underside) and the two vertical cuts or marks (one on each side). I set the stem aside to let the glue cure.

While the glue dried I worked on the bowl. I sanded the top of the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the cake that had built up on that surface. I would need to continue to reshape the rim. I reamed it back to bare wood with a PipNet reamer.

I continued to sand the rim and also sanded the inside edge of the rim with the 220 grit sandpaper. I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish coat and the grime that collected on the briar through the years.

The next photo shows the clay/meerschaum insert in the shank that lined the mortise on the pipe. I cleaned it with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. I picked out the large fill on the front of the bowl with a dental pick until the sandpit was clear of the white putty. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton swab to clean out any remaining debris. I used the dental pick to press briar dust into the sandpit and packed it in. I dripped a couple of drops of glue into the dust. Unfortunately the glue ran down the face of the bowl. I am using a new kind of glue and it is very thin and dries slowly. I sanded the surface of the bowl to remove the heavy overdone patch until it was smooth with the surface of the bowl. I then added a little more briar dust to the patch and used the tip of the pick to put some more glue on the repair.

When the glue dried I sanded the patch until it was smooth. I sanded the entire bowl with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches. I wet sanded the bowl with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper and then with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol and cotton pads to remove the sanding dust in preparation for restaining the pipe.

I gave the bowl a coat of dark brown aniline stain and flamed it with a lighter. I gave the pipe several more coats of stain and flamed each one. When the stain had dried I hand buffed it with a cloth and then gave it a light buff on the wheel with White Diamond. The first two side view photos of the bowl show it with a red tint that really is not as prevalent as it appears. The photo of the bottom of the bowl is more accurate in terms of the colour of the pipe.

I sanded the repaired stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repair into the surface of the stem. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches in the surface of the stem.

The stem was quite clean on the inside so it took only one pipe cleaner to take out the sanding dust that had collected inside. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the pipe and stem on the wheel with Blue Diamond. I gave the aluminum a light buff so as not to darken the buffing pad and carry the metallic colour onto the vulcanite or the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and then buffed the pipe with a clean flannel buff. I finished by buffing it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The glow of the briar and the vulcanite are really set off by the burnished aluminum portion of the stem. It is truly a beautiful pipe. Thanks for the pipe Pam it is a keeper. Thanks also to each of you who are reading this blog.

A Pair of Millard Perfect Pipes – A Sandblast Apple and Dublin

9 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

When I came across the Millard – the Perfect Pipe coupon in the two boxes of Kentucky Club that I found I was fascinated with the look of the pipe. It reminded me of the Keyser Hygienic pipes that I had restored over the years. The stem that fit into the metal mortise shank insert and the tubes on the inside of the stem and the shank were similar. While the Keyser tubing in the shank looked identical the one in the stem was different. Keyser was directed downward while the Millard was two straight tubes that met in the mortise. They did not touch but the metal chamber became a condensing chamber, or as they call it an Action Trap, for the smoke and collected the moisture before it continued through the tube in the stem. I looked up the brand online and found the following advertisement postcard that shows the way the system works. I found that the stems were interchangeable between the shapes that the pipe came in. The straight stems could be easily transferred from pipe to pipe. In fact the pipe originally came with an extra or replacement stem. The pipe came in a sandblast and a smooth finish in six shapes – apple, Dublin, billiard, pear, pot and bent. It came in two sizes: medium or large. In the advertisement below you can see that the pipe cost $3. I also found that Mastercraft supplied the pipes through the coupon sales. Knowing a bit of history about the company I know that they did not make pips so they were sourced from the original manufacturer.I mentioned in the Kentucky Club Blog that I would love to get my hands on one of these. I received a comment from one of the readers, Pam who offered to send me one. She had picked one up in a lot of pipes she was working on restoring. I could have it. I thanked her and she sent me the following photos of the pipe. It is a little (or what Kentucky Club called Medium in the advertisement above). It was a sandblast apple. It was in decent shape and would clean up quite nicely. The finish was spotty and the stain was lightened and missing in some spots. The rim had some buildup of tars. The cake was quite thick. The inner rim edge was out of round. The stem was oxidized and had some calcification in front of the button.

While I awaited the arrival of Pam’s gift I took a look on eBay and found that the pipe that I had pictured in the Kentucky Club Blog was for sale. The seller wanted $12 for the pipe. It was a Dublin shaped pipe with a smooth finish. It looked to be a Medium sized Millard as well. On a whim I put a bid on it and won. The seller said that it was restored but my past experience with these kinds of sales made me pretty certain that all that it meant was that it was polished. Now I went from no Millard pipes to two in a matter of days. The photos that follow were from the seller. The pipe looked sound. The finish was pretty decent though there were ripples and dents on the bowl sides. The beveled rim was not clean and there were still spots where the tars had been left and polished. The inside of the Action Trap was dirty with tars and oils. The stem had some tooth chatter and dents. Once the pipe arrived I would have a better idea of what I had to work with on this one.

Pam’s gift pipe arrived first. It was a beautiful smaller sized apple (even though the advertising from Millard called it a Medium). The length was 6 inches. My original assessment from the photos proved to be pretty accurate. The finish was worn but the sandblast was quite nice – shallow but still tactile. The light spots on the top of the shank were spots where the finish was gone but the blast was still present. The cake was thicker than I thought it would be, particularly in the bottom of the bowl. The bowl was more out of round than I had guessed and had a burn spot on the back middle inner edge that contributed to the misshapen inner edge. The tar build up was deep and there appeared to be a burn spot on the top of the rim at the front right side. The inside of the shank, the Action Trap, was dirty and had tar, oil and tobacco shellac. The airway was tight and constricted when I blew air through it. The stem was oxidized and under the calcification there were some deep tooth marks and cuts that would need to be addressed. The inside of the stem has a chamber with the tube in the middle and that area was dirty with tars and oils. The airway was constricted even more than the one in the shank. I was pretty sure that something was clogging it and causing the constriction. The slot had been reduced by half with the buildup of grime.

The second pipe arrived at my home a short time after Pam’s. It too proved my original conjecture about the concept that some people have of what “restored” means. This pipe had been given a light polish on the briar and the stem. The polish had merely wiped over the dents, dings and scratches on the briar. There were ripples along the top of the shank. The rim still had spots of tarry buildup that had been polished and there were scratches from what looked like a quick scrub with a coarse scrubber. The bowl had a slight ridge around the inside just below the rim from an incomplete reaming. The inside of the Action Trap was dirty and the oils and tars had hardened. The airway was constricted and dirty and the opening in the bowl bottom was plugged with grit. The aluminum mortise insert was oxidized and dull. The stem was oxidized and there were ripples in the surface from where someone had either buffed hard or tried to remove tooth chatter or tooth marks. The inside of the stem chamber was dirty with tars and oils and the inside of the stem looked as if it had never seen a pipe cleaner. So much for the term “restored”.

I decided to work on both pipes at the same time so that I could compare the internals and the briar on them. It would be a fun project to do them both together and watch the truly restored pipes emerge from the tired pipes that had arrived at my work table. The next four photos show the pair together.

I took some close up photos of the two bowls to show what I would be working on. The first photo shows the bowl of the apple shaped pipe. You can see the cake and the damage to the top of the rim. The bowl is out of round. The second photo shows the rim of the Dublin and you can see the scratches and the incomplete cleaning of the rim tars. The next photo shows the stems removed from the shanks. The stems are interchangeable so as I had expected from the advertisement shown above one stem size and shape could be used interchangeably on any of the straight pipes. I took a photo of the internals of the mortise insert to show the tube inset in the middle of the aluminum chamber. This is the Action Trap that the adverts spoke of. The “restored” Dublin was just as dirty inside as the untouched apple sent by Pam. While both look the same the tube in the Dublin extends further into the Trap than the one in the apple. The second photo shows the end view of the two stems. You can see the tube inset in the middle of the stem. Again the tube in the Dublin stem is shorter than the one in the apple. I am not sure the reason for this as when both are interchangeably inserted in the bowl the draw and fit is identical so it may well be just inconsistency in the manufacture. I cleaned up the inside of the Dublin bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the ridge along the top portion of the bowl just below the beveled rim. I scrubbed the rim with saliva and cotton pads to work on the tars left behind. I found that they were hard so I used a 1500 grit micromesh pad to sand and work on the deposits until they were gone and the rim was smooth. It also worked to remove the scratching on the rim that had been left behind by the previous “restoration”. I reamed the bowl on the apple with the PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. The second photo shows the large amount of carbon that I removed from the bowl.

With the bowl reamed you can see the damage to the inner edge that left the bowl out of round. There was a burned area on the rim at that point that did not go too deeply into the bowl but it was present. I scrubbed the rim with a brass bristle tire brush to remove the overflow of cake on the rim.

I scrubbed both bowls with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the spotty finish on the apple and the grime on both bowls. I also removed the polish that had been applied to the Dublin so I could work on the scratches and dings. After scrubbing them I rinsed them under warm water in the sink to remove the soap and the grime that had been loosened.

I scrubbed both bowls with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the remaining finish and clean up the briar. The finish on the Dublin was pretty clean. The one on the apple came off with the scrubbing and the remaining finish was removed.

With the bowls and finish cleaned up it was time to address the internals. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the debris in the shank and the mortise of both pipes. I used a folded pipe cleaner and a cotton swab that I thinned the cotton on to get inside of the mortise to clear out the build up there. To address the damaged rim on the apple I decided to top the bowl. I set up the topping board and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the rim to flatten it and remove the damaged areas. In doing this I found another burned spot on the front right top of the rim. I worked on the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to correct the out of round condition. When I was finished the rim looked far better. Now I needed to work on rusticating the rim to match the sandblast on the finish of the pipe.

To rusticate the rim I used a dental burr in my Dremel and carefully worked it over the surface of the bowl rim. It had to be deep enough to show, tight enough to look like a sandblast and somehow blend into the bowl finish. I carefully worked the Dremel over the surface being careful to keep it on the flat rim and not damage the edges of the inside or outside of the bowl. The next two photos show both the burr and the work done on the rim. Though it is a little hard to see the rustication came out really well. It will become clear in later photos. I stained the bowl and rim with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied the stain and flamed it. I reapplied it and reflamed it.

The next photo shows the rustication very clearly. I touched it up with a dark brown stain pen and then waxed the bowl and rim with a microcrystalline Conservators Wax. The bowl was looking far better.

With the basic work done on the bowls and rims I turned my attention to the stems. I cleaned both stems with pipe cleaners, alcohol and cotton swabs until they were clean. I picked out the slots on both stems with a dental pick to make sure they were wide open. The stem on the Dublin had a very tight draw. I ran a straightened paper clip through the stem and a large chunk of tar and cotton from pipe cleaners dropped out of the end. The draw was unconstricted and the airflow was clear in both stems. I sanded both stems with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and also clean up the tooth marks and ripples in the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded them with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. I repaired the tooth damage and the cuts in the surface of the stem for the apple with black super glue. After the repair had dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponges once again. I wet sanded the stems with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stems down with Obisidian Oil and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave the stems another coat of oil and dry sanded with 6000-12000 grit pads. I buffed the stems with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave them several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed them with a clean flannel buffing pad and then a microfibre cloth.

I polished the aluminum ferrule/mortise inserts on the shanks with the last three grits of micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed them down with a jeweler’s cloth. I lightly buffed the stems and bowls with Blue Diamond and then gave the entire smooth pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the two pipes with a clean flannel buff and then with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. The inside of the Active Trap is stained but it is clean. These are a couple of great looking pipes now. The rusticated rim worked really well with the finish on the bowl and gives the apple a clean look. The clean beveled rim on the Dublin has a rich shine that shows the grain off very well. The finished pipes are shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Repairing and Restoring a1929 Irish Free State Billiard

5 Replies

Blog by Aaron Henson – 11/29/15

I think the thrill of the hunt is part of what makes this hobby so enjoyable. Going into a new store or happening upon a pipe in an unlikely place, never knowing just exactly what you are going to find and always keeping a lookout for that forgotten gem.

This past summer I was on vacation with my family in Seaside, Oregon. Between Seaside and Astoria I visited 14 different antique stores and only two had any pipes at all. And of those, they were all on the pricy side; too rich for me.

Partly on a whim and partly out of desperation, I went into a second-hand store that I had passed by several times. It was more “junk” than “antique” and of course that is where I made my score although I didn’t think so at first. Three pipes: the first was a non-briar volcano with “Italy” stamped on the bottom, the second was a Medico that was in such bad shape it could only be used for parts but the third was intriguing with a silver band. I could not read the markings for all the filth on the pipe. I negotiated with guy behind the counter and walked out will all three for $15. It was clear that this had been a very nice pipe in its day. The wood grain that could be seen through the grime was beautiful and the Army Style push stem I thought gave the pipe a classy feel. When I got it back to the house and looked it over in better light, I noticed that the band had been rotated on the shank so the writing was upside down and in the dim light of the store I could not read it. Now I could see that it clearly said “Peterson” and “Dublin” stamped in the silver band.

A Peterson, my heart skipped a beat. I was well aware of Peterson’s long history of making quality pipes and now I had picked up an early model for 5-bucks!

The bowl had a good build up of cake and a fair amount of unburned tobacco in the bottom. Some build up of tars on the rim but otherwise seemed to be in good condition. The shank had clearly been broken, however and the glue used for the repair was spread all over one side of the bowl. The stamping on the band, as stated before, were worn and not very readable. The stem was oxidized and had a hole in the top near the button. This must have been a favorite pipe of the previous owner.

When I got home from vacation, I tried to understand the symbolic hallmarks on the band. Not being familiar with Peterson marking I sent a picture to Steve Laug to ask his opinion. Steve very graciously referred me to his Peterson expert, Mark Irwin. With Mark’s help I was able to understand Peterson’s hallmarking and dated the pipe as 1929 – placing it in the Irish Free State era: 1922 – 1937. At least, that was my interpretation of the third hallmark, an “O”.

I began by reaming out the cake with a Castleford reamer and took the interior back to bare wood. There were some burn marks under the tar on the rim so I elected to top the bowl with some 220 grit paper laid on the flat work bench. Next I heated the band with a flame and then using leather jawed pliers and carefully rotated the band back into correct alignment. The outside of the bowl I wiped down with a cotton pad soaked in acetone. This removed the grime and the glue. I had been worried that the glue was covering a crack in the bowl but it turned out that the person doing the shank repair had just been sloppy. The glue came away and revealed pristine briar underneath. In just the right light, I also could see a very faint IRISH FREE STATE stamped into the bottom side of the shank – Confirmation! The break between the bowl and the shank had been complete. I could see the seam all the way around the shank but it had been a clean break. There were no gaps, rounded edges nor missing pieces; so far, so good.

At this point I turned my attention to the stem. I put the stem to soak in a mild chlorine bath to raise the oxidation. A light sanding with some worn 400 grit paper removed the oxidation completely. I picked the loose material out of the hole, made backing plug out of toothpicks and slipped it into the airway. This would hold my patching material in place. Next I mixed up some StewMac black super glue with some activated charcoal powder and worked it into the hole with another tooth pick. I set the stem aside to cure over night.

When I came back to the stem I sanded down the fill with 220 grit paper. The plug blended nicely and I proceeded to polish the stem with 1500 – 12000 micromesh pads. Cleaning the inside of the stem was quite simple, four of alcohol soaked pipe cleaners (2 bristled and 2 soft) took care of the insides and the stem was done. Returning to the stummel, I began to work the bowl-shank joint back and forth with ever increasing force. I caught myself holding my breath, afraid of breaking the pipe beyond repair but dismissed that thought as fear of the unknown and pushed on. Eventually the crack began to open up and the shank and bowl were separated. I was surprised to see that the original repair had included two small brads – or pins – set on either side of the air hole to strengthen the break. Since the brads were already in proper alignment I decided to reuse them in my repair. After some research, I settled on the J-B Kwik Weld as my epoxy of choice. Its resistant temperature is less than that of original J-B Weld (300 vs 550 degrees); however, I do not think the shank should reach 300 degrees during a smoke. But the real advantage in my minds was that the set time is only 6 minutes compared to 4-6 hours. I didn’t want to have to come up with a way to hold the two parts together for several hours and risk the parts slipping.

In order to keep the airway clear during the repair, I pushed a pipe cleaner through the airway before smearing the epoxy on the both surfaces with a tooth pick. With the clock running on the set time, I pushed to the two parts together using the old brads as alignment pins. Looking back I think it would have been better if I had only used one of the pins. The fit was tight and I was fighting against the pins to get the two parts tight together when the time ran out on the epoxy. I was left with a larger gap between the pieces than I thought was right; I had been hoping for a flush fit. Before setting the pipe aside to cure I wiped off the excess epoxy and removed the pipe cleaner. I let the pipe sit overnight and the next day I used a dental pick to remove some of the epoxy from the gap between the stummel and bowl. The gap was very small, less than a 1/32 of an inch on top and near flush on the bottom. When the crack was as clean as I could get it, I filled it with briar dust and placed drops of clear super glue on top to hold the dust in place. When the super glue dried I smoothed out the repair with 220 grit sand paper. There were some minor dents in the bowl and I decided to steam them out by wrapping the bowl with a damp terry cloth rag and going over the rag with a clothes iron set on high. If you used this method I would advise keeping your figures well clear of the iron. Speaking from personal experience, you don’t have to be very close to the iron get burned by the steam. Fortunately, I did not drop bowl!

I sanded the entire bowl with 400 – 2000 grit paper to remove all the dents and scratches but being sure to stay clear of the marking on the shank. The markings were faint but I wanted to preserve as much of them as I could.

The bowl had beautiful grain and I wanted to use a light brown stain to highlight it. I used one part Fiebing’s light brown mixed with 2 parts isopropyl alcohol applied with a cotton swab in layers until the color looked just right. I flaming each layer and wiped off the excess with a cotton pad moistened with alcohol.

The next to last step was to polish the sterling silver band. For this I tried a new technique that I had recently learned on this blog using a small amount of cigar ash and saliva. I was careful not to polish too much – or at all – around the hallmarks. The final step was a trip to the buffer for three coats of carnauba wax on the briar and stem. I hand applied a light coat of Walker Briar Works carnauba wax sealer on the silver band and I buffed the pipe with a micro fiber cloth to bring up the shine.

A Mysterious Little Bent Billiard Brought to Life

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug
This is another pipe I picked up at the antique mall in Idaho Falls. It is a bit of a mystery pipe in that the stamping is faint on the left side of the shank. On the right side it is stamped Made in England. On the right side it is missing some of the first letters but is stamped _ ANTE_ over London. Searching through Who Made That Pipe the best option I found for that combination of letters was a CANTERBURY. The brand was made by Comoy’s. There is a very faint C in a Circle on the stem that also matches the CANTERBURY stamping so I think that may well be the stamping on this mystery pipe. The pipe was in pretty rough shape. The previous owner was in the antique mall when I bought it and he walked me through its deficiencies as he saw them. He had wrapped a piece of Teflon tape around the tenon to hold it in the shank. The stem itself had deep bite marks on the top and a large bit through on the underside near the button. The bowl had some fills on the left side and the underside that were quite large. The finish was shot and was dirty with lots of dents and dings. The rim was smooth but had tars and lava overflow. The bowl was heavily caked and the cake was as hard as rock. The inner edge of the rim was slightly damaged and out of round. The outer edge was clean with a small fill on the front of the bowl near the rim.

I took the next photos to give a clear picture of the bite through on the underside of the stem and a close up of the thick cake in the bowl.

I tried to ream the bowl with a PipNet reamer and barely made a dent in it. It was very hard. I decided to let it soak in an alcohol bath to soften the cake. I left it in the bath overnight.

When I took it out of the bath the finish was clean. The briar looked pretty good. The grain was quite nice. The fills softened and were white putty that would need to be removed and refilled.

The softened cake came out easily with the PipNet reamer and then I scraped it further with a pen knife. The next photo shows the cleaned out bowl. I wiped down the rim with a soft cloth to remove the tars. I lightly topped the bowl with a medium and fine grit sanding block to clean up the rim surface. The cleaned up rim looked very good.

I cleaned out the bowl and shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I picked out the putty fills with a dental pick. I filled in the holes with briar dust and then covered that with super glue. I added more briar dust to smooth out the repairs.

I sanded the bowl repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I forgot to take photos after sanding the bowl.

I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I cleaned out the bite marks on the top of the stem and the underside with a dental pick, alcohol and cotton swabs. Once they were clean I put some charcoal powder and black superglue on the bite marks on the top of the stem and leveled the repair with the edge of the dental pick. I set it aside to dry. Once the topside repair was cured I put Vaseline on the point of an old nail file that I use to repair bite throughs. I inserted it in the slot on the button. I mixed some black super glue and charcoal powder and filled the hole in the stem with the mixture. I spread it and leveled it with a dental pick. When the repair was finished I set the stem aside to cure once again.

The next morning I sanded the repairs on the top and bottom of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and with a series of sanding sticks to smooth out the surface. The sanding sticks allowed me to get a good angle on the sharp edge of the button. I started with the coarse stick and worked my way up to the fine stick.

I cleaned out the inside of the stem to remove the Vaseline and the dust from sanding using alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I heated the tenon with a lighter and inserted an ice pick in the airway in the tenon to expand the tenon enough to get a good solid fit in the shank. With the stem repair complete and the pipe clean inside and out I decided to do some contrast stain work on the bowl. I stained it with a black aniline dye for the first coat. I wanted to blend in the fills a bit and also highlight the grain. I was aiming for a darker colour in the finished product so this was the first step. I applied the stain and then flamed it. I wiped it off with alcohol on cotton pads to lighten the surface coat while leaving the black in the grain and the fills.

I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to remove more of the finish and then gave it a top coat of a medium brown stain. I applied it and flamed it before hand buffing it.

The colour of the pipe was still too dark to really make the grain pop so I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove some of the dark colour and to also minimize the scratches in the briar. I wiped it down with acetone to lighten it further.

With the finish on the bowl complete I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. Between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian oil. On the last rub down I let it sit until it was absorbed.

I buffed the pipe with Red Tripoli and White Diamond to further lighten the top coat of stain and to polish the stem. I then buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe is shown below.